My mouse no longer works, and after several dead ends, I have learned that my computer no longer thinks it has any ports....it is an IBM ThinkPad, Win98, with mouse, printer and two ISB ports....I don't want to do the whole "recovery" thing, but I am out of ideas....Help?

Which ports still work, and which don't?

None of them...my computer, or at least the diagnostics program, denies that they even exist, "No port found"

I presume your keyboard works. The diagnostic software may not be capable of detecting ports and other devices when Windows is running.

Open the System Tool in the Control Panel, then open the Device Manager and choose "View devices by type". Scroll down and expand "Ports" to see which exist. For USB port, scroll down and expand "Universal Serial Bus controllers".

Does the mouse work when Windows is started in Safe Mode?

No...and the devices list says no resources are allocated to any port, and efforts to "install" have failed

Grrrrrrr.....Does anyone have any further suggestions before I take the unhappy step of reformatting the whole mess?
If not, does anyone know of a place where I could store a boatload of word files while I wipe clean my slate?

Check to see if COM1, COM2, LPT1, and USB are enabled in the system BIOS.

Copy MSD.EXE from your Windows CD Tools\Oldmsdos folder to the Desktop. Restart the computer and, after the self-test beep, repeatedly tap the F8 key to invoke the Startup Menu. Choose Safe Mode Command Prompt.

Type C:\Windows\Desktop\MSD and press Enter to run the Microsoft Diagnostics program. Press L or C to view the port information (USB is not reported by MSD). When done, press Ctl-Alt-Delete to restart the computer.

I do not possess that disc, only the IBM Product Recovery CD....What next?

Msd.exe is available for download from thousands of sites. Try this one. I've downloaded it myself, and it is the genuine Microsoft program (i.e., no viruses or trojans).

If you prefer, a slightly earlier version is available from Microsoft. Download Emm622.exe to the Desktop and double-click the file. Delete the other files (Emm386.exe, etc.) which are extracted, leaving only Msd.exe.

TomGL2:

I tried both of the URL's that you suggested to MrsS & they both come up as Gibberish on my Computer.

Check your URL's, there must be something wrong with them.

The links worked for me, but the "fix" did not...Thanks, Tom, for trying to get my mousey issues solved...I reformatted yesterday, and all is now well...except that I still hve a ton of re-installing to do