Questions about a mouse and a spill?

Question

About a month ago, my daughter spilled iced tea on my desk and the (laser or optical - whatever they call it) mouse that came with my computer stopped working. I've been using this weird thing that was for her laptop in the meantime, and I detest it. (It's a wireless one that works only on a too small pad that plugs into a USB port.) Anyhoo, I finally remembered to pick up another normal mouse, and it won't work. Could she have fried that thingy in the back of the computer where a normal mouse plugs in? If so, is it worth having repaired? (The computer is an HP Pavillion a6333w and it's only about 5 months old.)

Thanks for any help :D

Answer 1

When you plug in a new mouse, speakers, keyboard, etc. you have to restart your computer for it to start working most of the time.  If you've already tried that, then I don't know!

Answer 2

Zilla - it shouldn't have fried the USB port in the machine - Most computer accessories (keyboards, some monitors, mouses) have 'drivers' these are small software programs that allow the add on to run with your machine. Nowadays they are all 'plug and play' in that the software is actually inside the add on. For some reason your computer is not grabbing the driver for your new mouse. Make sure the device is plugged in all the way, and then turn your machine on and off. It that doesnt work do a search for the driver - type in the exact name of the device and add 'driver' to the search query and see what you get. Good luck.