I think almost of usrers use opto-electrical mouse.
I had met this phenomenon and now there is no this
happened because I changed the OS version.
I think it may be the compatibility between OS and
hardware of your computer.
Please confirm the CPU whether or not support 64 bits. If x86_64 CPU run under x86 OS, unpredictable symptom will appear. For example,
CPU of my computer is AMD sempron which support
x86_64, I install X86 Redhat FC3, the screen will be dark when first start the computer and directly select the Linux OS.
If I first select Windows OS and restart the computer it can work normally.
To solve this problem, I install X86 FC4, FC5 but this
symtom still reserves. After some time, I replace the X86 linux with RHEL4 4U4 X86_64, this phenomenon disappears.
Of course, the display card may be another cause.