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General discussion

hp mouse and keyboard stopped working help.

Apr 22, 2011 6:22PM PDT

Hello,
my mouse and keyboard have stopped working periodically for about two months . the only way i get them to work again is by shutting down my pc and turning it on again. i tried a different mouse and keyboard and they did not work either. i noticed that the lights on the keyboard for num lock, caps lock etc. were not on and when i tried to turn them on by pressing the appropriate key they did not light up. i'm thinking that the mouse and keyboard are not the problem.

i'm running windows vista premium edition (322-bit),
with a AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 dual core processor 5000+,
current speed of 2.60 GHz,
memory type: DDR2-SDRAM (PC2-6400/800MHz)

and the mouse and keyboard i use are HP they use cords to connect to the computer. i was able to post this after i turned off the computer (which i was only able to do by pressing the on button) . I don't want to keep turning off the computer in order to get the mouse and keyboard working. if any one has any suggestions of what the problem might be or ideas on how to fix this i would greatly appreciate it. thanks for your time.

Discussion is locked

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My initial thought
Apr 22, 2011 11:02PM PDT

My initial thought, since you say that a different keyboard and mouse didn't solve the issue, is that you've got a failing USB port on your computer. Try plugging the keyboard and mouse into a different USB port. If that doesn't do it, then your motherboard's USB controller is starting to go, and that means you need a new motherboard.

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I was afraid of that
Apr 23, 2011 10:47AM PDT

Thanks for your help. The question i have now, is how do i go about replacing the mother board?.... Is it easier and less expensive if i just purchase a new processor? or do you have any other suggestions?....once again thank you for your time.

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Be detailed.
Apr 23, 2011 2:06AM PDT

One poor owner (they had been to the service counter many times) discovered they had to plug the USB keyboard in the rear of the machine. They were trying to use the front ports.

They exclaimed "no one told me that!" but there it was, in the setup sheet showing it plugging into the back. More exclaiming it was not telling them they couldn't plug it in elsewhere.

Go figure.
Bob

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more details
Apr 23, 2011 10:51AM PDT

Well, they were originally plugged into the USB ports on the back of the machine when the problem started. After reading through the manual, it suggested i try the USB ports on the front of the machine and the problem continued. so i'm thinking the problem might be the USB ports. what do you think?

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Yes.
Apr 23, 2011 11:10AM PDT

Which means we try all the ports and other USB and PS2 keyboards.
Bob