USB Problem..
 

I have been having a strange problem with my USB ports since i can remember. I will be playing a game and the USB slots will just shut off, leaving me without a mouse or my 5.1 headphones. All i have left is my keyboard which i must use to tab my way to the start menu and restart the computer. After my computer reboots, my USB slots turn back on and my mouse and headphones work perfectly. I can't really say what is causing this problem, it happens so rarely and so randomly its hard to say. At first i thought my top 2 USB slots were broken, so i switched down to the other 2 slots, but apparently that wasn't the problem. I wondered maybe it was a power problem, but i have a 450w power supply, and i'm sure thats plenty of power but who knows. What do you guys think?

Re: USB Problem..
 

USB is really for low powered devices, any device that uses alot of power that has a USB interface usually uses a seperate AC connection, so i wouldn't worry about your PSU or any of that. What i think may be wrong is maybe you jarred your USB connectors loose on your motherboard, these are the black shunt looking wires that connect your case USB ports to the motherboard, i'd double check those first.

ADDED:
Also check your resource settings in Device Manager, if you see a yellow exclamation point then you got a conflict of some sort. Another thing could be your OS (I assume you use XP SP2 correct?) Also are these ports and devices USB 1.1 or 2.0?

Re: USB Problem..
 

I'm running XP SP2, and both the mouse and the headphones are usb 2.0

Re: USB Problem..
 

Reformatting: The solution to all of Window's problems.

Re: USB Problem..
 

this sounds like a resource problem, IRQ or the sort. Make sure your BIOS settings are correct and check you have the right drivers for your motherboard chipset.

Re: USB Problem..
 

I had the newest 4 in 1 pack for my motherboard, but i reinstalled it anyway. I noticed that my BIOS were 2 version too old, so i upgraded them, and ever since my computer just seems to be worker better overall, especially the shut down time, it used to take a minute, now it takes a couple seconds. But as for the USB slots shutting off, so far so good. I'll keep my fingers crossed.