USB Devices hardly working

**Karoline** · 26th March 2008

Came home last night to find that my mum said the mouse wasn't working. It is an optical mouse with red light, so the red light wasn't on. I changed ports with the printer and it worked fine for a few mins then stopped again, thinking it was the mouse i got another last night from my course. It has worked since, however , now my wireless keyboard wont work.... It has also a usb connection for the sensor. It will work fine for a few mins, and then stop. You have to pull it out then put it back in...
Making me think it must be usb port related? Maybe?
Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks in advance

**tombott** · 26th March 2008

Odd that they work for a bit and then stop working.
It could be hardware related, but usually hardware either works or it doesn't.
What OS are you running?

**Karoline** · 27th March 2008

It is Windows XP Pro...

**Nikki** · 27th March 2008

go into device manager see if it recognises it

**BertRoot** · 27th March 2008

I would say the controller is borked on your motherboard. Have any other functions stopped working as well? have a look in device Manager for items with a yellow triangle next to them. Not sure if the USB controller is driven by the Southbridge or by its own controller.

**biffo1** · 27th March 2008

If theres no Yellow Triangle with an exclamiation mark on it try uninstaling the drives for the motherboard and controller devices c will that help
You can access Device Manager by right clicking on your My Computer icon on the desktop and selecting Properties from the menu, then click on the Hardware tab > Device Manager. Or press the Windows key + Pause/Break key together, on your Keyboard to open it.

or

Close down the PC completely and unplug the Mains lead from the wall socket, unplug any USB devices connected to the PC.

When you have done that, press in the Power button on the front of the PC and hold it in for a minimum of 1 minute.

After you have done that, leave the PC alone for about 45 minutes.

When the 45 minutes is up, reconnect the mains lead, connect the USB devices and turn the PC on.

**Karoline** · 28th March 2008

I have done all this, and nothing came back on the device manager, they say they are all working fine. I now realised its actually only one of the usb ports on the back that is buggered.(i have 4 on back and 2 on front) If i put something in it will work for a while, so maybe it is just ready to break soon...