So I got called in to dispatch on a Saturday morning because a mouse on one of their critical machines was not working. I asked the user to trace the cable from the mouse to the PC to see if it was plugged in and she said when she follows the cable it connects to some other cable and goes into the wall. I didn't know what she meant so I figured a trip to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office was in order.
So I get to the S.O. and look at the computer. It's a 2008 asset with an old rollerball mouse. Rollerball on a 2008? No way...I figured maybe it had been replaced before or something. The user said she could swear that it wasn't the same mouse that's always been hooked up to the machine and maybe someone tried to change out the dead mouse over night. I traced the cable and realized what she was talking aboutwith the cables…it's a PS2 mouse that connects to a PS2 extender and is bundled with a bunch of other cables, then goes into the cube wall…I couldn't trace it to the PC. 
Instead, I thought to trace the cable from the PC to the mouse…that's when I realized a machine from 2008 does not have PS2 ports. That mouse can't be hooked up to this machine. There were two USB cables plugged into the machine, one for the keyboard and one for….let me trace it….keep going…a mouse?! Behind a monitor? Hidden?? What the??!
Turns out the PS2 mouse is for an older computer and was connected to nothing. It must have just never got pulled out of the bundle of cables when the machine was replaced in 2008. It somehow got put on the desk and the real mouse got placed behind the monitor where it was tricky to see.
All is well in dispatch now.
I love that 5 monitor setup. J
I almost feel sorry for this little guy. He's had a long productive life, but I think I'm going to have to take him out back and shoot him...
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