usb GPS device autodetects as mouse
in [Windows XP]
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From: Jamie on 13 Jul 2010 02:36 Hi, I have a USB GPS device that I am using in windows XP, when I plug it into the USB port, windows autodetects it as a mouse, and the data that is sent by the GPS device makes the mouse cursor move around. The GPS software I have works properly and also can read the GPS device, but it is hard to use since the mouse cursor moves around by itself. Is there a way to prevent windows from autodetecting this USB device as a mouse? cheers, Jamie
From: Paul on 13 Jul 2010 04:06 Jamie wrote: > Hi, > > I have a USB GPS device that I am using in windows XP, when I plug it > into the USB port, windows autodetects it as a mouse, and the data that > is sent by the GPS device makes the mouse cursor move around. The GPS > software I have works properly and also can read the GPS device, but it > is hard to use since the mouse cursor moves around by itself. Is there > a way to prevent windows from autodetecting this USB device as a mouse? > > cheers, > Jamie > My guess would be as follows. 1) The USB GPS is really an RS232 GPS with a USB to RS232 adapter chained to it. So really, it appears to Windows as a serial port. 2) They used to make serial mice. That was a mouse that plugged into an RS232 port. There was code to check RS232 ports, and see if one of those kind of mice was connected. I suspect that is how a mouse is being detected on that port. First, Windows detects a serial (RS232) port. Then, the mouse detection function tests for a serial mouse, and thinks it has found one. The question then is, can you disable serial mouse detection on WinXP, in the same way as you can in these articles ? (WinNT and /NoSerialMice) http://support.microsoft.com/kb/131976 (Win2K and registry hack for serenum) http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q283063 According to this, the /fastdetect option in boot.ini , does the same thing as /NoSerialMice used to do. I don't see /fastdetect offered in the "msconfig" utility that manages boot.ini , so you might have to hack boot.ini the hard way (with Notepad). http://web.archive.org/web/20061206095427/http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/information/bootini.mspx If "msconfig" doesn't have the necessary option, a recipe for using Notepad is included in this article. Apparently, the attrib command, used in a command window, changes the boot.ini so it is no longer read-only. http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/how-to-delete-modify-or-disable-an-incorrect-or-duplicate-entry-on-the-xp-boot-menu/ I'd test this for you, if I could only remember where I left my serial mouse :-) I own one, but never used it. I checked my boot.ini and it already includes /fastdetect. So it looks like I may already be protected from something like this happening. Paul
From: Jamie on 14 Jul 2010 03:13 On 7/13/2010 1:06 AM, Paul wrote: > Jamie wrote: >> Hi, >> >> I have a USB GPS device that I am using in windows XP, when I plug it >> into the USB port, windows autodetects it as a mouse, and the data >> that is sent by the GPS device makes the mouse cursor move around. The >> GPS software I have works properly and also can read the GPS device, >> but it is hard to use since the mouse cursor moves around by itself. >> Is there a way to prevent windows from autodetecting this USB device >> as a mouse? >> >> cheers, >> Jamie >> > > My guess would be as follows. > > 1) The USB GPS is really an RS232 GPS with a USB to RS232 adapter > chained to it. So really, it appears to Windows as a serial port. > > 2) They used to make serial mice. That was a mouse that plugged into > an RS232 port. There was code to check RS232 ports, and see if one > of those kind of mice was connected. > > I suspect that is how a mouse is being detected on that port. First, > Windows detects a serial (RS232) port. Then, the mouse detection > function tests for a serial mouse, and thinks it has found one. > > The question then is, can you disable serial mouse detection on > WinXP, in the same way as you can in these articles ? > > (WinNT and /NoSerialMice) > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/131976 > > (Win2K and registry hack for serenum) > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q283063 > > According to this, the /fastdetect option in boot.ini , does the > same thing as /NoSerialMice used to do. I don't see /fastdetect > offered in the "msconfig" utility that manages boot.ini , so > you might have to hack boot.ini the hard way (with Notepad). > > http://web.archive.org/web/20061206095427/http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/information/bootini.mspx > > > If "msconfig" doesn't have the necessary option, a recipe for > using Notepad is included in this article. Apparently, the > attrib command, used in a command window, changes the boot.ini > so it is no longer read-only. > > http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/how-to-delete-modify-or-disable-an-incorrect-or-duplicate-entry-on-the-xp-boot-menu/ > > > I'd test this for you, if I could only remember where I left > my serial mouse :-) I own one, but never used it. > > I checked my boot.ini and it already includes /fastdetect. > So it looks like I may already be protected from something > like this happening. > > Paul Hi Paul, Thanks for the reply, I checked my boot.ini and it also has /fastdetect in it, and the GPS still is seen as a mouse. cheers, Jamie
From: Paul on 14 Jul 2010 05:19 Jamie wrote: > On 7/13/2010 1:06 AM, Paul wrote: >> Jamie wrote: >>> Hi, >>> >>> I have a USB GPS device that I am using in windows XP, when I plug it >>> into the USB port, windows autodetects it as a mouse, and the data >>> that is sent by the GPS device makes the mouse cursor move around. The >>> GPS software I have works properly and also can read the GPS device, >>> but it is hard to use since the mouse cursor moves around by itself. >>> Is there a way to prevent windows from autodetecting this USB device >>> as a mouse? >>> >>> cheers, >>> Jamie >>> > > Hi Paul, > > Thanks for the reply, I checked my boot.ini and it also has /fastdetect > in it, and the GPS still is seen as a mouse. > > cheers, > Jamie > OK, I found my serial mouse. Still in it's original wrapping, never used :-) Now, as noted previously, I have /fastdetect in my boot.ini, and when I connected the serial mouse to one of my USB to RS232 adapters, it was detected. So /fastdetect is not enough. I went to Device Manager, and located "Ports (COM & LPT)" entry. Under that, I have two entries. One entry is a USB to serial for my UPS automatic shutdown interface. The other entry is a USB to serial adapter that goes to a US Robotics dialup modem (for emergencies when ADSL is down for maintenance). I used that interface (COM3) for this test. So I tried double-clicking the entry under "Ports (COM & LPT)", for "USB Serial Port (COM3)". That is the interface the mouse is connected to for testing. Next, click "Port Settings". Then "Advanced". Under "Miscellaneous Options" is a tick box labeled "Serial Enumerator". I unticked that box (as it was ticked by default), and OK'ed my way out. On the next reboot, the serial mouse was not detected. Give that a try. HTH, Paul
From: Jamie on 14 Jul 2010 10:11
On 7/14/2010 2:19 AM, Paul wrote: >> > > OK, I found my serial mouse. Still in it's original wrapping, never used > :-) > > Now, as noted previously, I have /fastdetect in my boot.ini, and when > I connected the serial mouse to one of my USB to RS232 adapters, it > was detected. So /fastdetect is not enough. > > I went to Device Manager, and located "Ports (COM & LPT)" entry. > Under that, I have two entries. One entry is a USB to serial for my > UPS automatic shutdown interface. The other entry is a USB to serial > adapter that goes to a US Robotics dialup modem (for emergencies when > ADSL is down for maintenance). I used that interface (COM3) for this test. > > So I tried double-clicking the entry under "Ports (COM & LPT)", for > "USB Serial Port (COM3)". That is the interface the mouse is connected > to for testing. Next, click "Port Settings". Then "Advanced". Under > "Miscellaneous Options" is a tick box labeled "Serial Enumerator". > I unticked that box (as it was ticked by default), and OK'ed my way out. > > On the next reboot, the serial mouse was not detected. > > Give that a try. > > HTH, > Paul Hi Paul, Thanks for the reply, I opened device manager and plugged in the GPS device, and a "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port" popped up. I disabled this quickly and checked under "Miscellaneous Options" but didn't see the "Serial Enumerator". I reenabled the "Prolific USB-toSerial Comm Port" and then windows autodeteced the "Microsoft Serial Mouse". I quickly disabled this in device manager to prevent the mouse cursor from being hijacked by the GPS serial data. This works to make sure that the mouse isn't hijacked, and I checked in HyperTerminal and noticed that Com5 9600baud is still receiving GPS strings so it is working well now! Thanks for your help on this! :) cheers, Jamie |