occasional freezes with external PS/2 mouse on Thinkpad T42p

[jkn]

Hi all
this may not be a gentoo-specific problem, but I thought I'd ask here to get a clued-up response

I run Gentoo on a Thinkpad T42p laptop. I use an external mouse connected to the PS/2 port.

Every once in a while (say, once a day maybe) the mouse cursor freezes. I then have to unplug the mouse, and reconnect it ... and things are fine.

Where should I look to try & find out what's going on? I have the BIOS setting ... 'disable trackpoint if external mouse connected' or whatever set.

Thanks
Jon N