ERROR: Driver=SERMOUSE failed to load

ERROR: Driver=SERMOUSE failed to load

Document number: 29003

The error message you are receiving At least one service or driver failed during system startup. Use Event Viewer to examine the event log for details. and when you go into the event viewer you see this message: Driver=SERMOUSE failed to load or The serial mouse does not exist or was not detected occurs when a serial mouse is expected but not detected. This is most often occurs when the serial mouse is enabled but there is not serial mouse attached to the serial port. If you have a mouse attached to the serial port inspect it to be sure it is of a type intended to be connected to a serial port. For more information see document 32006 — External mouse not working - use correct mouse type . Also try connecting a different mouse of the same type to see if the mouse may need replacement. For more information see document 32006 — External mouse not working - use correct mouse type.

If you have no mouse attached to the serial port then this message is usually not a problem. You should be able to ignore the message and work normally. You can get rid of the message by disabling the serial mouse driver. That means if you later want to use the serial mouse you

will need to re-enable it. If you want to sometimes use the serial mouse, and sometimes not use it, it is probably better to put up with the "error" message than make such significant configuration changes. If you are trying to use the serial port for other things, such as the Palm cradle, you may need to disable the serial mouse and use the PS/2 mouse.

These issues will generally only affect Windows NT4, your Windows 2000 machine should be able to detect and respond to attached devices appropriately.

WINDOWS NT 4.0

Push Button method

Manual method

Once you have disabled the serial mouse driver you should no longer get that error. If the mouse still does not work properly continue the troubleshooting process. If you need keystroke instructions see document 39030 — How to use keystrokes to troubleshoot mouse problems. If your internal mouse (or accupoint) is working and you prefer standard mouse instructions see document 39021 — How to troubleshoot mouse problems

To use a push button to install or uninstall the serial mouse go to the Software Library in Lotus Notes:

Open Lotus Notes, then open the Software Library by clicking the bookmark link.

You may need to look in your databases folder for the Software library bookmark
If you don't have the Software Library bookmark see document 16250 — How to add the Software Library database link to Lotus Notes for instructions on installing the Software library bookmark.

Click the Standard Software Package Installs icon.
Click By Package Name. This view will probably already be showing as it is the default view.
Scroll until you see the entry Serial Mouse Enabler/Disabler (NT4) and double click on it to open it.
Follow the instructions on the page to install the software. Be sure to install the correct software.

To disable the serial mouse driver on your Win NT 4.0 machine, follow these steps:

Close all open programs (e.g. Word, Excel, Lotus Notes etc should all be closed before you begin.)
Select Start, then Settings, then Control Panel.
Double-click on the Devices icon to open it.
Scroll down to Serial mouse (or Sermouse) or Logitech Serial Mouse.
Click on Star tup.
For Startup Type select Disabled and click on OK. You may get a message that "Changing the Startup Type for the Serial Mouse Driver device may leave the system in an unusable state. Do you want to make the change?" Select Yes.
Click on Close to close the Devices menu.