Don't unplug that mouse!

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May 23rd, 2003, 09:47 AM
JPicasso

Don't unplug that mouse!

Hey, a while back it was considered "bad form" to unplug a PS2 mouse from a computer that was running.

The consequences included "blowing a mouse port". Not knowing exactly what that
entailed, but wanting to err on the side of caution I've always been careful to make sure not to mess
with (un)plugging a mouse from a running computer.

So my question is twofold.

1. Was this ever a real issue, or did it just happen once to someguys cousin's boyfriends' sister?

2. If this IS/WAS a problem, have motherboard manufacturers figured it out yet, and stopped making
crap motherboards? or do we still need to be cautious?
May 23rd, 2003, 10:11 AM
Pirate

I always plug and unplug my usb optical mouse . Nothing serious happen . I do this because when I get up in the morning , I try to move the mouse but it doesn't move . So I did that and works fine . What's that MB manufacturer anyways ?
May 23rd, 2003, 10:35 AM
JPicasso

Not company specific.

I've just always heard that you shouldn't plug and unplug your mouse when the machine is running.
This probably dates back to 486 technology, but have never heard anything different.
May 23rd, 2003, 10:55 AM
Kantalope

USB ports are made to hot-swap - so unplug and plug to your hearts content.

For the older mice - you are plugging straight into the MB (mother board) and I would guess 9 times out of 10 that unplugging/plugging something would not be an issue. But that one time that something did go wrong --poof.

I think it was always just a better safe than sorry kind of thing. You can just unplug the hard drive from the board too - and usually nothing bad happens...usually.

Now that the MB only costs $100 - and the hard drive hardly more - maybe the time waiting to power up and down is not worth it.
May 23rd, 2003, 10:57 AM
Edneeis

I've always heard the samething but I do it all the time at work and nothing has happened yet. Sometimes I have to grab the keyboard and mouse from the server to work on another computer and when I'm done I just plug them back in and its as if the were never gone. Although on a friends computer if you unplug the mouse then plug it back in it doesn't work any more until you reboot, but no permenant damage. I'm sure that there is a potential for trouble though, the same with those static wraist bands when working with hardware, but how many people actually have or use one (unless that is your job or something).
May 25th, 2003, 05:33 PM
CyberSurfer

I have and use an anti-static wrist strap all the time, mainly coz I can't afford to replace bits of my pc....until next year that is, when my placement year starts...mwahahahaha!!!
May 25th, 2003, 05:59 PM
parksie

The old DIN plugs, apparently you could swap at will...I was told never to do it with PS/2 or the Apple bus peripherals (maybe they transfer more current over it?). I've swapped PS/2 mice out and not damaged anything, however the ports never seem to work right, and you need to restart anyway. I think that's more a software issue though.
May 25th, 2003, 07:03 PM
siyan

All I know is that I unplugged and replugged a PS/2 keyboard once on Win2K and it worked.....

But hey how often do you need to do that to your kb?

And everyone uses USB mice now...
May 25th, 2003, 07:13 PM
parksie

USB mouse and keyboard here. Although there are times when I want a PS/2 keyboard, because I know it's not going to go odd.....things like forgetting to include the right USB module when compiling Linux (yes, just the kernel).

I did # rmmod usbkbd once. Then it just sat there. How much of an idiot did I feel ;)
May 25th, 2003, 07:48 PM
siyan

Quote:

Originally posted by parksie
I did # rmmod usbkbd once. Then it just sat there. How much of an idiot did I feel ;)

Ahahahahahahahahah :D

Go grab an adapter...
May 25th, 2003, 08:08 PM
parksie

I have a USB->PS/2 for mouse, never tried it on a keyboard...not expecting it to work though.

Now, however, I make sure to do things remotely so that messing around like that doesn't cause too many issues :D
May 25th, 2003, 08:12 PM
The Hobo

Why's everyone using USB these days? My mouse has a USB attachment, but it came with a PS/2 adapter, so I just used that.
May 25th, 2003, 08:34 PM
siyan

USB gives higher refresh rates, and Plug+Play
May 25th, 2003, 08:57 PM
Sastraxi

Reason I prefer USB over PS/2 (right now anyway) is because I've got this handy USB hub right beside my monitor, and I have ~2m of mouse cable slack because of it. It's very nice. My keyboard however is PS/2, and the arm of my chair gets stuck on the cord which is too short anyways.
May 25th, 2003, 10:10 PM
DiGiTaIErRoR

Mice are plug-n-play complaint.

It's perfectly safe to plug and unplug them while the computer is in operation.

If you've ever installed windows and not had a mouse installed when you boot it'll show you a notice that there is no mouse and that it is safe to plug one in at that time so you'll have mouse functionality.

I use a PS/2 optical mouse. I've had it come unplugged during use and I've plugged it back in with no problems.
May 25th, 2003, 10:12 PM
siyan

Quote:

Originally posted by DiGiTaIErRoR
Mice are plug-n-play complaint.

Serial and PS2 are not PnP.
May 26th, 2003, 03:13 AM
Pirate

Quote:

Originally posted by siyan
Serial and PS2 are not PnP.

How come ? I thought they are !!!:rolleyes:
May 26th, 2003, 08:30 AM
siyan

PnP wasn't really invented/big back when those protocols were came up with. Especially Serial, which is truly ancient.
May 26th, 2003, 08:38 AM
parksie

PnP is something totally different anyway. It's for autoconfiguring IRQs/memory access addresses on expansion cards.

I've never had a physical issue with hotplugging serial, PS/2, USB, etc. peripherals. Some OSes take it better than others, I know 2000 happily swaps out PS/2 mice *if* you had one there to start with.

YMMV.
May 26th, 2003, 08:42 AM
siyan

Quote:

Originally posted by parksie
YMMV.

Jog my memory on that acronym....
May 26th, 2003, 09:00 AM
parksie

Your Mileage May Vary :)
May 27th, 2003, 04:30 AM
matheson

Re: Don't unplug that mouse!

Quote:

Originally posted by JPicasso
Hey, a while back it was considered "bad form" to unplug a PS2 mouse from a computer that was running.

The consequences included "blowing a mouse port". Not knowing exactly what that
entailed, but wanting to err on the side of caution I've always been careful to make sure not to mess
with (un)plugging a mouse from a running computer.

So my question is twofold.

1. Was this ever a real issue, or did it just happen once to someguys cousin's boyfriends' sister?

2. If this IS/WAS a problem, have motherboard manufacturers figured it out yet, and stopped making
crap motherboards? or do we still need to be cautious?

afaik this was an old wives tale but definitly for the more modern computers its ok, i do it all the time with compaqs and dells, no problemt (YET!!!)
May 27th, 2003, 04:35 AM
parksie

Quote:

Originally posted by siyan
PnP wasn't really invented/big back when those protocols were came up with. Especially Serial, which is truly ancient.

Ancient it may be, but it's still one of the easiest to use (ever used a high-end non-x86 server? They send the boot info to serial).
May 27th, 2003, 06:07 AM
stickan

Re: Don't unplug that mouse!

Quote:

Originally posted by JPicasso
Hey, a while back it was considered "bad form" to unplug a PS2 mouse from a computer that was running.

The consequences included "blowing a mouse port". Not knowing exactly what that
entailed, but wanting to err on the side of caution I've always been careful to make sure not to mess
with (un)plugging a mouse from a running computer.

So my question is twofold.

1. Was this ever a real issue, or did it just happen once to someguys cousin's boyfriends' sister?

2. If this IS/WAS a problem, have motherboard manufacturers figured it out yet, and stopped making
crap motherboards? or do we still need to be cautious?

I don't have an exacly answers to your question... But I think that I have plugged/unplugged the PS2 for the mouse and keyboard way over thousand times on a running computer whitout any "blowing".

But one problem can be that the mouse or keyboard sometimes stops to work and then you need to restart the computer.

That is my experince of PS2.

On the other hand I got a computer to stink once when I did this on the printer port when I connected a printer... But on the other hand our instructions where to do this when they didn't have any LAN installed yet and needed to share a printer with many computers.

By the way, the screen I think I have connected a couple of thousand times on a running computer whitout any problem to.
May 27th, 2003, 09:09 AM
siyan

Quote:

Originally posted by parksie
Ancient it may be, but it's still one of the easiest to use (ever used a high-end non-x86 server? They send the boot info to serial).

Nope :D

Seems rather odd though to do it that way, but I'm sure theres a reason...
May 27th, 2003, 09:23 AM
parksie

Think server. Think lack of monitor, or perhaps even graphics capability at all.