Kensington trackball

RickC Sniper · 10-04-10, 06:04 PM

Guys, I use a Kensington trackball and I need some help.

I have my tower a considerable distance from my monitor so I need to use long cables or sometimes even splice in order for cables to reach.

The trackball is a usb and I've been using a usb to ps2 converter and a standard ps2 cable. All was fine, except Windows 7 recognized it as a standard ps2 mouse. (Kensington had no Windows 7 driver anyway)

Now Kensington finally released a Win 7 driver but Windows did not recognize my Trackball when I tried to install the driver, so the driver install failed.

I got a powered usb hub and tried plugging the trackball into that, figuring Windows should recognize it when plugged into a usb port.

However, with it is plugged in via usb my computer won't boot. It hangs up and I have to force a reboot. Now when attempting to boot up it goes to 2 options...."Launch startup repair" or "start normally" are the 2 choices. Neither option works....the pc just hangs at "starting windows". I cannot even get it to load in safe mode. It DOES say in the boot sequence that it detects the usb hub and mouse.

Weird thing..... plug my trackball into the ps2 port and all is good again.

My question: Why do you think windows 7 won't boot when my trackball is plugged into its usb port?
I assume I need to use the usb to get the driver to work.
Got any suggestions?

The reason I want this to work is because currently I cannot use any of the advanced features of the Kensington and those are important to me.
I was pissed when I lost them when I moved on to Windows 7 and had to wait on Kensington to deliver a driver for it.

Kensington is no help.

antikristuseke · 10-04-10, 06:35 PM

Sounds like something borked during the driver install, you could try to roll back windows or to do a clean install to see if that helps. If not you dont really have any other option than to wait or to write a better driver

Though through some googling I find a workarround that might help. Install mouseworks, which should install fine, but wont let you run the controll panel, but then to get arround that install X-Mouse button controll which should restore most of the trackballs functionality.

RickC Sniper · 10-05-10, 04:52 PM

Are you referring to this mouse remapping software?
http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/X...tonControl.htm

That requires a 5 button mouse, and my Kensington Expert mouse has only 4.

I'm not sure I follow you. Are you suggesting using the x-mouse control to simply bring up the control panel or use it to customize the mouse buttons?

Based on what I know from the Kensington website....For me to get their driver to work I need the trackball connected via USB instead of the ps2 port.

Any Idea why my pc would refuse to boot when the mouse is connected via usb?

.............
(The custom features I'd like back are the precision acceleration and the axis lock.)

I will continue to experiment.

10-04-10, 06:04 PM	#1
RickC Sniper Undetectable Join Date: Sep 1999 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,221 Downloads: 132 Uploads: 0	Kensington trackball Guys, I use a Kensington trackball and I need some help. I have my tower a considerable distance from my monitor so I need to use long cables or sometimes even splice in order for cables to reach. The trackball is a usb and I've been using a usb to ps2 converter and a standard ps2 cable. All was fine, except Windows 7 recognized it as a standard ps2 mouse. (Kensington had no Windows 7 driver anyway) Now Kensington finally released a Win 7 driver but Windows did not recognize my Trackball when I tried to install the driver, so the driver install failed. I got a powered usb hub and tried plugging the trackball into that, figuring Windows should recognize it when plugged into a usb port. However, with it is plugged in via usb my computer won't boot. It hangs up and I have to force a reboot. Now when attempting to boot up it goes to 2 options...."Launch startup repair" or "start normally" are the 2 choices. Neither option works....the pc just hangs at "starting windows". I cannot even get it to load in safe mode. It DOES say in the boot sequence that it detects the usb hub and mouse. Weird thing..... plug my trackball into the ps2 port and all is good again. My question: Why do you think windows 7 won't boot when my trackball is plugged into its usb port? I assume I need to use the usb to get the driver to work. Got any suggestions? The reason I want this to work is because currently I cannot use any of the advanced features of the Kensington and those are important to me. I was pissed when I lost them when I moved on to Windows 7 and had to wait on Kensington to deliver a driver for it. Kensington is no help. __________________ Support Subsim http://www.subsim.com/store.html

10-05-10, 04:52 PM	#3
RickC Sniper Undetectable Join Date: Sep 1999 Location: Colorado Posts: 1,221 Downloads: 132 Uploads: 0	Are you referring to this mouse remapping software? http://www.highrez.co.uk/downloads/X...tonControl.htm That requires a 5 button mouse, and my Kensington Expert mouse has only 4. I'm not sure I follow you. Are you suggesting using the x-mouse control to simply bring up the control panel or use it to customize the mouse buttons? Based on what I know from the Kensington website....For me to get their driver to work I need the trackball connected via USB instead of the ps2 port. Any Idea why my pc would refuse to boot when the mouse is connected via usb? ............. (The custom features I'd like back are the precision acceleration and the axis lock.) I will continue to experiment. __________________ Support Subsim http://www.subsim.com/store.html

10-04-10, 06:35 PM	#2
antikristuseke Silent Hunter Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Estland Posts: 4,330 Downloads: 3 Uploads: 0	Sounds like something borked during the driver install, you could try to roll back windows or to do a clean install to see if that helps. If not you dont really have any other option than to wait or to write a better driver Though through some googling I find a workarround that might help. Install mouseworks, which should install fine, but wont let you run the controll panel, but then to get arround that install X-Mouse button controll which should restore most of the trackballs functionality.