Windows detects USB GPS as Serial Ballpoint - please suggest permanent modification to prevent any serial mouse detection

Hi Gellenb. I am working on this problem with a GPS device from Holux (m215) right now. My coworker solved it on XP by running the command "DEVCON.exe DISABLE *PNP0F09"

It seems to work on W7 as well. You may try this solution by getting hold of DEVCON.EXE: It is included in the Windows DDK (Driver Development Kit 7.1). Or you may download it from here, I believe: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/311272

EDIT: Seems like it works, but it has to be done for each separate USB port you will be using. I am working on trying to find a solution to this...

After all these years, I can't believe that no one at Microsoft has resolved this.  The answer under NT4 was add /noserialmice to the boot.ini.  Under XP it was changed to /fastdetect:port#.  Here today I worked for three hours trying to figure out why I could not get the USB/Serial adapters to work.  I had remembered years ago there was a problem.  Sure enough when I went looking for the no serial mice there it was.  I went into the Device Manager showing that Windows 7 x64 installed the Microsoft BallPoint mouse into the system on those com's.   I uninstall them, and Windows just puts them right back again after a reboot!  If there isn't anyone at Microsoft old enough to know what a BallPoint mouse is, go looking on the internet.  They are only technology from 15-20 years ago!  Surely there still has to someone has been working for Microsoft since the late 80's early 90's that know what they are, and what needs to be done to resolve this, even if it happens to be another bandaid like the editing of the boot.ini file from Windows NT 4 and XP.

How to completely remove driver for serial ballpoint mouse in Windows 7?

As many other people I am desperately trying to get the issue with the serial ballpoint mouse in Windows 7 solved.

I edited the value "Start" in the registry from 3 to 4 in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SerMouse, and this seemed to work for a while, but then suddenly the serial ballpoint mouse driver still took over.

The facts, as apparently not everyone at Microsoft seems to understand what is really happening:

1. The USB-to-serial adapter is installed as a COM-port.
2. Upon connecting to the GPS, the mouse behaved normally, so I assumed that Microsoft had solved the problem (I encountered the same problem in all my previous XP-laptops, but could solve it easily running "comdisable-software" supplied by Microsoft).
3. After a couple of days upon connecting to the GPS again, a driver installed itself, converting my USB-to-serial adapter into a serial ballpoint mouse. Although I have disabled the serial mouse in the registry, the serial ballpoint mouse is definitely there, jumping over the screen and I can only uninstall it by doing a system restore!! I was not online at that moment, so I am convinced that there is a driver incorporated in Windows 7 that found a way around the registry.

THIS DRIVER SHOULD BE COMPLETELY REMOVED, as disabling the serial mouse is not good enough.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE TELL ME HOW TO DO THIS???

I feel like a sailing dinosaur now, back to the Stone Age having an up-to-date operating system but not even being able to connect my navigation software to NMEA. Come on Microsoft, you've got to do something about this, it can't be too difficult!!

I had the same problem, cursor sometimes jumps all over the screen  

 Here's the fix:  Open Regedit. Navigate to

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SerMouse, and change the value "Start" from 3 to 4.  Reboot.

I found this on a website for a program to help with gps . Worked like a charm for me.

There is a reg file that will do the editing for you also.   http://www.curioustech.net/downloads/reg.zip 

http://www.curioustech.net/xport.html

Mark, this has been a major issue with most dongle USB GPS devices for ages. I have a GlobalSat ND 100 dongle that every single time it has been plugged in to either my XP Pro laptop, OR my new Windows 7 Home Premium system, that it enumerates my GPS as a "MICROSOFT SERIAL BALLPOINT MOUSE". Now, here's the real problem:  With my old XP Pro system, you could open the control panel, open device manager, and expand the tree - and then open mouse and pointing devices, and wait...when the enumeration process began once you plugged the dongle GPS in, if you were really fast, you could select the freshly-enumerated "MICROSOFT SERIAL BALLPOINT MOUSE" line, right click it (before your cursor went totally NUTS from the GPS words) and then hit ALT-U (uninstall driver).  Then, you could get enough control to hit "OK" to confirm...once done, the GPS driver would enumerate properly...FOR THIS SINGULAR BOOT-UP.

Sadly, with Windows 7, you can try this trick, but the sorry-thing wants to keep checking enumeration, and within seconds, it overrides the GPS enumeration and goes NUTS again.  My $75 GPS dongle no longer works, as a result...Guess I'll keep XP Pro so I can actually work with my computer in the field!

Yes, it is all the fault of the GPS device manufacturer apparently conflicting with MS naming/enumeration...then again, what is so important about 'SERIAL BALLPOINT' that it has to cyclicly check enumeration for itself...XP didn't do this?!!! I mean, geesh, if I UNINSTALL the driver, Win7 should get a clue that I don't want that driver! How about being able to uninstall that complete driver? I mean, you can do that now...but as soon as you plug in the GPS dongle, it re-installs and prioritize-enumerates, overriding other drivers...what gives?

By the way, this is also a majority issue with anyone using plug-in GPS'.  Just do a GOOGLE search for "UNINSTALL MS SERIAL BALLPOINT" and you will see EVERYONE asking how to stop this insanity...dating back over 5-years....

If you get any actual, working, semi-permanent solutions - PLEASE e-mail me! My GlobalSat GPS dongle is EXCELLENT for use with Streets & Trips, especially when ATV and off-roading...but it is worthless when Win7 won't support the dongle to work!