My Laptop is...mean

[NovaTiger]

Many times, when I try to run a game on my laptop, the game launches but quickly minimizes and refuses to maximize for more than a second or so.

Then, when I play one of the games that DOES work, my mouse wheel does not act calibrated--if I move it a little, nothing happens, and when I move it more, it snaps to the other end of the menu or whatever I'm on.

Oh, and while I'm here, what does it mean when windows (XP) tells me that a program (usually a game I'm trying to install) is "not a valid win/32 application?" I know about the file in the windows folder by the same name, but I'm not sure of the connection.

The bottom line: Help? Is there anything I can do to improve (no, wait: "get in the first place" is more accurate) performance? The laptop's only about 3/4 a year old (which didn't stop it's hard drive from dieing one month out of the box).

 

[plowexvii]

Then, when I play one of the games that DOES work, my mouse wheel does not act calibrated--if I move it a little, nothing happens, and when I move it more, it snaps to the other end of the menu or whatever I'm on.

For this problem, try going to:

start - control panel - printers and other hardware - mouse

I believe from there you should find a tab that allows you to change your mouse from ps2 to whatever mouse you are using. I'm guessing from the information you gave me, you are not using a standard ps2 mouse. Very simply change the settings to your mouse, and, wallah, it should work.

I'm also guessing you have all the proper drivers installed for the mouse.

Let me know if this works.

Phill

 

[NovaTiger]

I figured out what my display issue was. It's kind of embarrassing: I uninstalled my monitor drivers instead of my graphic drivers by accident.

The mouse: I don't know. I've got a wireless optical and the receiver is USB but I have a PS/2 adapter on it because USB ports are ata premium right now. I need to buy a USB hub. There is no option to change the type that I can see. It just tells me what kind it is. This is interesting, though: I HAD a real PS/2 mouse before (I switched my desktop's mouse with my laptop's) and had the same problem--in fact, that's when I first noticed it and is the reason I switched mice, hoping to fix it that way. The drivers I know are installed correctly. I've gotten used to playing around with the wheel before I do anything so as to adjust it so that it has a "neutral" scroll. That way, instead of goofing everything up, it just does nothing--and can't be used.

Thanks for the input.