"Paul" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:
"Paul" wrote in message
...
Jo-Anne wrote:

I'm getting beyond my depth, Paul. I thank you very much for all
your
research, but I'm not sure I can do everything you suggest or
whether
I'm
capable of ever fixing the problem. Here's what I've found so far:

* I did a search on Apfiltr.inf in the Windows\inf folder and found
nothing.
I then searched on just Apfiltr in the Windows folder (not just the
inf
subfolder) and found only Apfiltr.sys in Windows\system32\drivers.

* I checked the Properties of the Dell Touchpad again and found
that
for
both the working and the nonworking port, at Touchpad External
Mouse
Settings | Hardware, the Dell Touchpad location is "plugged into
PS/2
mouse
port." On the working port, the Perfit Mouse (USB) is at location
0;
on
the
nonworking port, the mouse is called an HID-compliant mouse
manufactured
by
Microsoft, and it too is at location 0.

* When I looked at the Driver File Details for the Contour Mouse in
the
good
port, there were several files in Windows\Contour and two in
Windows\System32\drivers. The two driver files are hidxmse.sys and
mouclass.sys. The one that's checkmarked is mouclass.sys. On the
bad
port,
the Driver File Details for the HID-compliant mouse are
Windows\System32\drivers\mouclass.sys and mouhid.sys.

Thank you for everything, Paul!

Jo-Anne



The last driver I could find reference to for the Contour Perfit,
should
have been here, but is not archived. The last driver might have been
offered
around 2008 or so, and then removed from the Contour web site.

perf206b2u.zip
Would the download at the bottom of this page not work (the one for
Contour
Mouse for WinXP, Vista, and Win7)?

http://ergo.contour-design.com/suppo...nloads/drivers

Jo-Anne
That appears to be for some other products, as near as I can
determine.

I couldn't examine that file with 7ZIP, and had to install it to have
a look. File is clean on Virustotal, and so I just loaded it into
Ubuntu WINE so I could get to the INF. This is the file I got.

C:\Program Files\Contour Mouse\Drivers\i386\cntmou.inf

DiskId1 = "Contour Design Mouse Driver installation disk"
Company = "Contour Design"
cntmou.SvcDesc = "Contour Design Mouse Driver"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_0702.DeviceDesc = "Contour Rollermouse PRO2"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_7501.DeviceDesc = "Contour Medimouse"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_7500.DeviceDesc = "Contour Unimouse"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_01f0.DeviceDesc = "Contour Minipro"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_08a0.DeviceDesc = "Contour Mouse"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_08a1.DeviceDesc = "Contour Mouse 1200"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_0401&Mi_00.DeviceDesc = "Contour Rollermouse Free 2"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_0800.DeviceDesc = "Contour Rollermouse Free"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_0903.DeviceDesc = "Contour Design Mouse"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_0700.DeviceDesc = "Contour Rollermouse PRO"
USB\Vid_0b33&Pid_0602.DeviceDesc = "Contour Rollermouse Classic 2"

I don't see the "Perfit" listed there.

And the way you'd verify, is put the Contour back in the working
port, go to Device Manager, click on the mouse entry, right-click,
select "Properties", then "Details", then select "Hardware Ids" from
the menu, and you should see Vid and Pid values. See if they match the
previous set of four I listed, or match anything in the eleven
in this posting. That'll give you some idea which driver to use.
It could be, they've stopped supporting the Perfit.

I'd give you a link to the infected driver, but I don't know
how exactly you'd clean it. The first level of infection,
was a tool bar. Once I got past that, the actual driver file
still had one item in it that virustotal detected. The only
file I could really trust at that point, was to load the
INF in a text editor :-) I wouldn't actually want to
try to install the thing :-) Bad mojo.

Paul

I think the Perfit mouse and the Contour mouse are the same. The
company
started with Contour, changed to Perfit, then went back to Contour (as
I
recall). I've asked the tech support guy to confirm, and I'll let you
know
if he does. In the meantime, here's what I got at Device Manager
Hardware
IDs for the Perfit Optical Mouse (USB)--all HID, not USB:

HID\Vid_0b33&Pid_08a0&Rev_0001
HID\Vid_0b33&Pid_08a0
HID_DEVICE_SYSTEM_MOUSE
HID_DEVICE_UP:0001_U:0002
HID_DEVICE

I don't know if it's of any value, but under Device Instance Id,
there's

HID\VID_0B33&PID_08A0\6&31329D32&0&0000

What do you think???

Jo-Anne
OK, the latest driver you pointed me to, would be installing
"cntmou.sys"
which is apparently listed in the INF as a service.

Yet, you reported you had "HIDXMSE.SYS" and "HIDMOUSE.SYS" in your
system. As if you'd installed the older driver. And the older
driver doesn't match (INF entry doesn't match), so using the
older install should have stopped.

The two driver types are quite different in design. The latest driver
uses "dpinst.exe" and Microsoft describes it as:

"Driver Package Installer (DPInst)

Driver Package Installer (DPInst) version 2.1 is a component of
Driver Install Frameworks (DIFx) version 2.1. DIFx simplifies
and customizes the installation of driver packages for devices
that have not yet been installed in a computer.

This type of installation is commonly known as a software-first
installation."

Not that the distinction is important or anything. I don't know if the
newer style of driver, was supposed to remove the older one. Your
situation might be perfectly valid, if you had two different Contour
mice, an old one and a newer one.

What bothers me a bit, is you have "Vid_0b33&Pid_08a0" using
"HIDXMSE.SYS" and "HIDMOUSE.SYS", when the latest driver is
using something else. The INF files I have, don't give a way
of ending up that way.

I'm thinking maybe the latest driver is designed to be a filter
driver, but I can't really tell that from the driver files. It's
just a hunch.

Notice that the old driver with the "HIDXMSE.SYS" and "HIDMOUSE.SYS",
that was more of a "real" driver, providing a hardware interface to
the mouse. Whereas the latest driver, is probably intended to "shim"
into
an existing set of drivers, such as the Microsoft "mouclass.sys" and
"mouhid.sys".

My mouse seems to create two entries:

Human Interface Device
USB Human Interface Device
Driver files = hidclass.sys, hidparse.sys, hidusb.sys, hid.dll

Mice and other pointing devices
HID-compliant mouse
Driver files = mouclass.sys, mouhid.sys

I suspect the first entry, somehow converts USB\Vid_046d&Pid_c01a to
HID\Vid_046d&Pid_c01a . The first part of one of those chunks of
numbers, is the "bus" the device is on. So they made a fake bus
called "HID" for my mouse. Your mouse seems to use that convention
as well, as your entry is HID\VID_0B33&PID_08A0.

Do you have two entries in Add/Remove from ContourDesign ? Perhaps
for the old and the new driver ? If you did have the old driver,
perhaps it should be uninstalled. Seeing as the new driver actually
matches in terms of the INF file and HID\VID_0B33&PID_08A0.

Paul




I don't have any Contour programs in Add/Remove Programs. What I do have
is
Dell Touchpad and Logitech Setpoint (although the Logitech mouse didn't
work
in the bad port either). I've never used the old-style (not optical)
Contour
mouse on this computer. My memory is that I bought the computer, plugged
in
the Contour optical mouse, and WinXP recognized it--and that was that. I
don't know when I tried plugging it into the other port and found it
didn't
work there, but it was a long time ago. It's probable that it hasn't ever
worked in that port.

I checked with the tech guy at Contour Design, and he said, "Yes the
Perfit
and Contour mouse use the same driver." Do you think I should plug the
Contour mouse into the bad port and then download and try to install the
Contour Mouse driver at

http://ergo.contour-design.com/suppo...nloads/drivers

Of course, I don't want to screw up the working port... If I set a
Restore
Point before downloading the driver, and if installing the software
screws
up the good port, is it likely I can get back to the way it was
before--either by deleting the program from Add/Remove Programs or by
using
System Restore?

One odd thing I may have mentioned befo When I unplug the mouse from
the
good port and plug it into the bad one, the first time I plug it in to
the
bad port there's no sound; and when I unplug it there's no sound. If I
then
plug it in again, there's the upbeat sound; and when I unplug it this
time
there's the downbeat sound.

Thank you!

Jo-Anne



As long as the latest driver, has a match in the INF for your Contour,
that
makes it the "right driver". If you want to try it (subject to setting the
Restore Point, and having a fallback plan), go for it.

If you don't have any entries in Add/Remove, it still raises the question
of where "HIDXMSE.SYS" and "HIDMOUSE.SYS" came from. They're not on my
WinXP SP3 CD. And according to the INF file, your Contour doesn't match
anything in the "old" INF, so there's no reason for the old installer to
run
and put those files there.

It's possible there is something peculiar about the electrical design
of that USB purt. Like, maybe it's not a pure USB port or something.
But I've never heard of such a thing, so it seems preposterous as an
idea. Does that USB hole have any unique color or markings ? Something
that makes it look different than the others ?

Paul


I haven't yet tried to update the Contour driver, although I'd be surprised
if the update worked, given that the Logitech mouse also doesn't work in the
bad USB port...

While I get up enough nerve to try updating the Contour driver, here's some
info about HIDXMSE.SYS and HIDMOUSE.SYS on my computer. Both files are in
the folder C:\WINDOWS\Contour\Setup\contour.cab. There's also a hidxmse.sys
file in C:\WINDOWS\sysem32\drivers. Both of the hidxmse.sys files are 43 KB.
All three files are dated 12/4/2003. I bought the computer in 2008; and as
far as I know, Microsoft found and installed the driver, so that probably
was what was available at the time.

The two USB ports on the right side of my laptop look the same. I checked
the manual, and there's no difference mentioned between the two. The third
port is on the back of the laptop, and it's a powered one.

Jo-Anne