I installed Mandrake 9.0 on my Sony Vaio Z505LS laptop without a hitch. The touchpad works fine, however when I plug in a USB mouse it doesn't work. If I disable the touchpad then the USB mouse still doesn't work.

I have a USB to ps/2 connector that allows me to plug in a ps/2 keyboard and mouse to a USB port. If I boot with this plugged in the keyboard works fine but not the mouse.

Ideally I want to have both the touchpad and the external mouse to work so I can use the machine "docked" if I want.

open the terminal......then type in "mouseconfig" then choose the "intelli mouse (usb)" then enable the 3 button emulator.....then try it..........or maybe u doesn't enable the usb connection in your bios.......