Posted: 11/30/2007 3:30:45 PM EDT
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Weird thing happened today. I came upstairs to look something up and the monitors were is standby (ok so far). I shook the mouse to get back in and nothing. I hit a key and nothing. Then I noticed that none of the lights on the keyboard (caps, num, scroll) would work. Great, I think, the machine died. So I reset it and it boots up fine...however, still no input from the USB key/mouse. So, I power cycle the USB hub they are connected to: nothing. I plug the keyboard directly into the box: nothing. Now, I'm worried. I go fetch a PS2 key/mouse and reset the machine: key/mouse work fine. Then I noticed that none of my USB peripherals work at all. No matter where they are plugged in (front, back, etc); no port works. The devices power up (thumb drives, flash card readers), but are not recognized by the OS (WinXP pro). The only thing that I have done recently is to install a new version of iTunes for a Shuffle that I bought last night. The device worked fine last night and this morning (as did everything else). How would USB just stop working all together? Anyone ever seen this before? TIA |
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Go into device manager (right-click on "My Computer" and select Manage). Find the USB devices listed (look near the bottom of the list), right-click and select Uninstall for all entries. Reboot. They should reinstall at startup. If they still don't work, the controller hardware may be bad. Most are embedded on the system board, so that would suck. |
+1 make sure ALL USB DEVICES ARE UNPLUGGED FIRST after that plug each device in one at a time, and give it a few minutes to install them. if the mouse stops working again, the last device you plugged in could be problematic |
Yes - unplug all usb stuff first - good catch. I've seen the problem described in the OP when a USB device developed a short in the wiring where it is affixed to the usb connector. If the cord is constantly bent right at that area, the insulation can chafe and the inner separate wires can touch. That's not necessarily what is causing your problem, but if things fail again as soon as you connect a particular usb device, that is one possibility. |
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Nope. Just as I thought. I fried the USB controller. The thing has been acting a bit weird lately (would not recognize a device on one port, but would when switched to a different port). Oh well, I guess that is an excuse to get a new MB and dual-core processor. "Go go gadget, newegg-6mo-interest-free." 
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