I've been having issues with USB devices recently.
Basically they'll sometimes stop being recognized at random times while Windows is running, sometimes (a lot of the time now actually) they won't be recognized at all when starting Windows and I'll have to keep restarting until I get lucky and my mouse and keyboard activate, not to mention luxuries like controllers and whatnot.
At first I thought this was a hardware issue with my motherboard or something but I'm very sure this isn't the case anymore. When in BIOS, the USB keyboard always works and the mouse is always lit up. It's only when Windows begins loading that they'll deactivate. Even more damning for Windows, sometimes the peripherals will reactivate just as I restart/shut down the computer. It's like as soon as whatever service or process there is causing the problem is terminated, they start working again.
I've also gotten BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER BSOD error twice. A few minutes ago when restarting Windows after installing updates, and the other time a few days ago I can't exactly remember the circumstances.
Things I've tried:
- Checking to make sure "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" is unchecked in the USB Root Hub in Device Manager (I have two USB Root Hub entries, I don't know if this is relevant).
- Making sure "USB selective suspend" is disabled in the power options.
- Uninstalling some Smart Technology something or other from Mad Catz/Saitek, I assumed since its some peripheral driver it might be causing the problem.
- Enabled USB Keyboard and USB Mouse in BIOS.
- Tried to update USB and mouse drivers using Windows' interface in the properties in Device Manager. It never does anything and just says it's searching for updates forever.
Some things that might be relevant:
- When the mouse and/or keyboard stop working, they still have entries in the device manager (when they're working, there's two). With the remaining ones (the ones that show even when the mouse/kb aren't working), in the device manager, properties, under details, and then Hardware IDs, they both show HID\SaitekMouse and HID\SaitekKeyboard respectively. I could be entirely wrong, but this seems like it might be a clue. I don't own any Saitek keyboards or mice, only a HOTAS flight stick.
- I have an external hard drive that uses USB, and it's never ever under any circumstances stopped being recognized by Windows. It's always worked. Makes me think this is some how specific to control peripherals.
- My mouse isn't dying. I tried with another mouse and it has the same problem.
- When I thought it was related to my motherboard, I thought a USB hub might help. I'm still using it anyway, but the mouse still keeps cutting out. The interesting thing is that the keyboard and USB controller ("Buffalo Classic USB Gamepad" if that matters) keep working fine. The whole thing has never shut off, though sometimes nothing will work when restarting windows.
- This issue seems to have started a few weeks ago when my graphics card died (GTX 460) and had to reinstall my old one (GTX 260). It wasn't a big deal, all I did was switch them and then reinstall the Nvidia drivers. I can't say it's directly related but they happened to coincide.
- I have a 1,000w PSU so I don't suppose it's a power issue.
I suppose if it comes to it, I can just reinstall Windows, but I'd like to avoid that if it it's possible, especially when I have a hunch that this is a Windows hotfix or a program uninstall away from being fixed.
My specs:
Vista Home Basic SP2
AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 2.8 Ghz
3gb DDR2
GTX 260 Core 216
Nvidia 590 sli motherboard
Thanks for taking the time to read this, I'll appreciate any help you can offer.