Win98 SE Mouse and Printer

I just had to purchase a new hard drive for my computer which I built
about 4 years ago due to my old hard drive going out. It's been a while
since I started over from scratch using Win 98 SE as my OS. First I
installed Win 98 SE as usual, along with all the basic drivers for all my
supporting hardware. Everything worked fine at that point for quite a while.
Then I came across a problem getting my old printer, which is a Lexmark
x5150 Four-In-One, installed on my new hard drive. I tried everything
possible that I know of from the manufacturers website of the printer and
nothing worked so now I've approached Windows as the problem. I installed
all the Critical Updates from the official Microsoft Windows Update website
which not only didn't correct my printer problem, but also made my mouse
randomly move and point all over the screen uncontrollably just by simply
moving it. I have to re-boot each time this occurs and it happens constantly
shortly after re-booting. I've already tried removing the mouse and
reinstalling it from the system devices menu. I've had this problem many
times before with Win 98 SE, but it's been so long I don't remember how to
correct it.
As far as the printer in concerned...the problem with it is I can't get
through the installation and setup procedures for the drivers/software for
the printer. It's USB connected and Win 98 SE recognizes the new hardware at
startup whenever I remove the printer from the system devices menu and
reboot, but after going through the setup via Windows New Hardware or
bypassing that and using the Setup.exe which comes with the printer as the
driver/software package recommended by the manufacturer. The point at which
the setup or installation fails is after the printer is identified by the
manufacturer and particular model. Then it asks which port the printer is
connected to and gives a list of options which includes on the COM ports,
then the LPT port and ECC LPT port. There's no option for USB. There is a
button below that menu which is for adding ports but when I click on that,
nothing pops up and nothing changes. Also I've had this problem before, long
ago, but it's been so long since I didn't remember what I needed to do to
correct this either. Any help, suggestions, ideas, or solutions would be
much appreciated...thanks for your time!
SC

Sound's like you shouldn't install it using Windows Add
New Hardware. Use the setup, making sure you have USB
versions of the driver. As for the mouse, its' probably
going all over because the PC thinks the printer is on the
COM port your mouse is on, or something to that effect.
Once my computer thought my modem was connected to my COM
port instead of my mouse and that happened.

On an older HP printer that had the newfangled USB, I found that I had to
use a driver designed only for that connection. It was on the CD. The
default printer setup program didn't have clue either.
"Paramethius" wrote in message
...
I just had to purchase a new hard drive for my computer which I built
about 4 years ago due to my old hard drive going out. It's been a while
since I started over from scratch using Win 98 SE as my OS. First I
installed Win 98 SE as usual, along with all the basic drivers for all my
supporting hardware. Everything worked fine at that point for quite a
while.
Then I came across a problem getting my old printer, which is a Lexmark
x5150 Four-In-One, installed on my new hard drive. I tried everything
possible that I know of from the manufacturers website of the printer and
nothing worked so now I've approached Windows as the problem. I installed
all the Critical Updates from the official Microsoft Windows Update
website
which not only didn't correct my printer problem, but also made my mouse
randomly move and point all over the screen uncontrollably just by simply
moving it. I have to re-boot each time this occurs and it happens
constantly
shortly after re-booting. I've already tried removing the mouse and
reinstalling it from the system devices menu. I've had this problem many
times before with Win 98 SE, but it's been so long I don't remember how to
correct it.
As far as the printer in concerned...the problem with it is I can't
get
through the installation and setup procedures for the drivers/software for
the printer. It's USB connected and Win 98 SE recognizes the new hardware
at
startup whenever I remove the printer from the system devices menu and
reboot, but after going through the setup via Windows New Hardware or
bypassing that and using the Setup.exe which comes with the printer as the
driver/software package recommended by the manufacturer. The point at
which
the setup or installation fails is after the printer is identified by the
manufacturer and particular model. Then it asks which port the printer is
connected to and gives a list of options which includes on the COM ports,
then the LPT port and ECC LPT port. There's no option for USB. There is
a
button below that menu which is for adding ports but when I click on that,
nothing pops up and nothing changes. Also I've had this problem before,
long
ago, but it's been so long since I didn't remember what I needed to do to
correct this either. Any help, suggestions, ideas, or solutions would be
much appreciated...thanks for your time!
SC

Thanks for your help! I found both problems...the mouse had a corrupt
driver, or was conflicting with the WIN98 updates for some reason because I
changed the driver file for the mouse to a totally different one and it's
worked fine ever since. The printer problem was a missing patch from
Microsoft's Update website. The patch makes Windows 98 SE USB compatible on
a wider scale of hardware to my understanding. After installing the patch
and and uninstalling all printer software, hardware, and drivers before
re-booting...it found new hardware as usual on the restart, but like Travis
mentioned I installed it manually by clicking "have disk"...when it displayed
the screen which asked for the port, the CD-ROM took over and installed the
software with its' own installation and step-by-step guide similar to
installing a program by clicking on its' executable file. Then restarted
automatically and WIN 98 SE found a bundle of new hardware in addition to the
printer itself and its' driver files.

"Paramethius" wrote:

I just had to purchase a new hard drive for my computer which I built
about 4 years ago due to my old hard drive going out. It's been a while
since I started over from scratch using Win 98 SE as my OS. First I
installed Win 98 SE as usual, along with all the basic drivers for all my
supporting hardware. Everything worked fine at that point for quite a while.
Then I came across a problem getting my old printer, which is a Lexmark
x5150 Four-In-One, installed on my new hard drive. I tried everything
possible that I know of from the manufacturers website of the printer and
nothing worked so now I've approached Windows as the problem. I installed
all the Critical Updates from the official Microsoft Windows Update website
which not only didn't correct my printer problem, but also made my mouse
randomly move and point all over the screen uncontrollably just by simply
moving it. I have to re-boot each time this occurs and it happens constantly
shortly after re-booting. I've already tried removing the mouse and
reinstalling it from the system devices menu. I've had this problem many
times before with Win 98 SE, but it's been so long I don't remember how to
correct it.
As far as the printer in concerned...the problem with it is I can't get
through the installation and setup procedures for the drivers/software for
the printer. It's USB connected and Win 98 SE recognizes the new hardware at
startup whenever I remove the printer from the system devices menu and
reboot, but after going through the setup via Windows New Hardware or
bypassing that and using the Setup.exe which comes with the printer as the
driver/software package recommended by the manufacturer. The point at which
the setup or installation fails is after the printer is identified by the
manufacturer and particular model. Then it asks which port the printer is
connected to and gives a list of options which includes on the COM ports,
then the LPT port and ECC LPT port. There's no option for USB. There is a
button below that menu which is for adding ports but when I click on that,
nothing pops up and nothing changes. Also I've had this problem before, long
ago, but it's been so long since I didn't remember what I needed to do to
correct this either. Any help, suggestions, ideas, or solutions would be
much appreciated...thanks for your time!
SC