HOWTO: reload mouse driver in Linux

Sometimes your mouse device (it can be even a touchpad or a trackball) can unexpectedly get stuck [maybe it's a new bug that should be reported?!] in the middle of your work (or maybe it just didn't get recognized after plugging/unplugging/replugging it in).
In such cases, reloading the mouse driver may help (e. g., for PS/2 mouse driver, Linux kernel module is called "psmouse"):

# modprobe -r -v psmouse
# modprobe -v psmouse

You can also get info on any kernel driver modules installed in your system to support different mouse types (e. g., for serial mice, the kernel module is called "sermouse"), and also check if it's currently loaded:

$ ls /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/input/mouse
...  sermouse.ko  ...
$ /sbin/modinfo sermouse
...
$ lsmod | grep sermouse
...

Notes:

1. you can check the dmesg log for any strange symptoms:

   $ dmesg | grep psmouse
   ...
   [    9.0123456] psmouse ... lost synchronization, throwing 2 bytes away.

2. the trick will fail if the needed kernel module is built-in (probably only reboot can help);
3. sometimes it's some X11 driver which causes problems (please check /var/log/Xorg.0.log);
4. if you use your mouse in console mode, perhaps it's good to check the post about gpm.

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Last updated: 2016-05-20