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xX_D4rkW1ng_Xx

I've recently bought a Trackball mice, a A4Tech WWW-23 one...since my laptop dosen't have PS2, i had to buy an adapter...and the mouse is not working, per title.

When it arrived, it had a bent pin i had to bend back into position, so that could be a point of error...

OR it's the adapter...it's a cheap one. And I'm not kidding when i say, that when i looked into the settings app...while the KEYBOARD of the adapter is fine...the mouse is detected, as i kid you not- a FUCKING, BARCODE READER. WTF?

It shows up as three separate devices in device manager, all under the same name, "HID-Compliant Mouse". I've opened it, and the internals look fine to me, tho i washed the ball.

https://file.garden/aderEhrc7hT3IuqS/IMG_20260409_153007_282.jpg https://file.garden/aderEhrc7hT3IuqS/IMG_20260409_153137_571.jpg https://file.garden/aderEhrc7hT3IuqS/IMG_20260409_153015_429.jpg
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parasquared · Posted: Sat Apr 11, 2026 12:18 am Post subject:

yeah, those cheap ps/2 to usb adapters show up as barcode scanners for some reason. as for the mouse not working, do you have another machine with native ps/2 to test it on? that could rule out the bent pin being the issue
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- parasquared

"In space there is no center, we're always off to the side"
- Ballad of Reverend War Character, Silver Jews

VCSMaster · Posted: Fri May 08, 2026 2:56 am Post subject:

I think the reason those PS/2 to USB adapters show up as barcode readers is because they're designed to let you use legacy Point of Sale equipment on newer machines.

They don't tend to work very well in my experience. I've not heard anything good about any of them. You really need a real PS/2 port for PS/2 stuff to work well. Finding modern desktops with them is not the easiest thing, but not the worst either. Finding a laptop with it... Good luck.

I agree with parasquared, plug the mouse into something else (keeping in mind that PS/2 is not a hot-pluggable interface at all!) and see if it works there.

parasquared · Posted: Fri May 08, 2026 3:53 am Post subject:

the POS explanation makes sense, i have seen barcode scanners that would connect to PS/2 and/or XT keyboard ports and just type out the numbers once a barcode was scanned. although i have to imagine those types of scanners are all 25+ years old because the majority of them have used USB of some stripe since about the 2000s, if i'm not mistaken
_________________
- parasquared

"In space there is no center, we're always off to the side"
- Ballad of Reverend War Character, Silver Jews

VCSMaster · Posted: Fri May 08, 2026 4:23 am Post subject:

If it makes you feel better, the USB ones just type out the numbers scanned as well. As far as I'm aware, that's how every barcode scanner has worked at least since the mid 80s. It's also why store employees can manually type in the barcode and it will "just work" without any further prompting.

An awful lot of them are RS232 serial and receive bus power from the computer, but in some places they are finally upgrading to powered USB. Not Power Delivery, powered UBS.

xX_D4rkW1ng_Xx · Posted: Fri May 08, 2026 7:08 am Post subject:

Update: I recently bought a diffrent adapter...still did not work, and this one had PS2 mouse on it's selling image...great

I understand that PS2 isn't problably commonly utilized anymore, but that dosen't mean you have to sell useless adapters.
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Why can't the internet be colorfull again?

VCSMaster · Posted: Fri May 08, 2026 11:07 pm Post subject:

The adapters work great when you use them with hideously outdated touch panels and Symbol barcode scanners.

xX_D4rkW1ng_Xx · Posted: Sat May 09, 2026 1:01 pm Post subject:

VCSMaster · Posted: Sat May 09, 2026 11:21 pm Post subject:

I'm not sure what you mean