Ok for no apparant reason (desktop, using laptop to post this) my mouse and modem have stopped working. Incidently i'm using the same modem and mouse at the moment on this laptop, so it's not a hardware problem with them. Mouse Here's the thing, it does it with every mouse I connect (though I'lve only tried USB mice) I connect, the IR light is on for a second then flickers weakly then turns off, sometime the mouse works for a little right when I plug it in then stop. It used to work sometime after i restarted but now it doesnt at all. Every time i uninstall the driver and reinstall (by just pluging back in) it says there's an error in installing the device. In the device manager sometimes it says it's working fine. Sometimes it has Error 10: This device could not start. Modem Doesnt connect to the internet when I start up like it used to. In the device manager I get the message Error 10: This device could not start (same as the mouse). It's a USB device as well. I used to be able to fix it (though I'm not sure it was the same problem) by turning it off then on, it would try to connect (often fail but at least add the connection to the network connections) then i'd just repair the connection (often several times) til it finally connected. Now it wont connect at all, as I said I get that error in the device manager, off-on does nothing. Incidently my virus software is McAffee or however you spell it, firewall is zonealarm. My USB ipod, printer and scanner all work. As does my keyboard (tho thats not USB) PLease help, any suggestions at all appriciated, this one is over my head.

Do you have a bunch of USB devices connected? I wonder if you are overloading the 5 volt supply.

Yeah I agree with Aegis. Disconnect the devices that work and see if your mouse and modem work after that. Hmm I wonder what happened to decency and morality? Doesn't anyone remember them?

It sounds like your USB mouse is having a resource conflict with the USB modem, or another USB device, or either or both is having a conflict with another device. - Conficts between USB devices are rare but they do happen. E.g. I have a Logitech USB mouse (Wheel Mouse M-BJ58, an older optical mouse model) that conflicts with some but not all USB devices. When the two conflicting USB devices are connected one or the other often does not work. In the case of this mouse, it is a "combo" mouse that is designed and wired so it can also be connected to a PS/2 port - when I connect to a PS/2 port using the adapter that came with it, the mouse and the USB device that conflicted with it both work fine. If your mouse isn't a "combo" mouse, try another mouse, PS/2 or USB connected. Using a simple adapter to convert the USB connector on the cord WILL NOT WORK if the mouse is not a "combo" mouse because the mouse is not wired up for that. - If any of the USB controller related devices share an IRQ with another device other than another USB controller related device, that can cause weird problems, especially when a more sophisticated USB device such as a printer or scanner or modem or sound adapter or network adapter is also connected. Look in System Information on the left side - Hardware Resources - IRQs and see if another device is sharing an IRQ with a USB controller related device. It's OK for a USB controller card related devices in a slot to share an IRQ with onboard USB controller related devices. If it's card other than that that's sharing an IRQ, try moving the offending card to another slot - don't use the last PCI slot on the end closest to the middle of the mboard for anything except a PCI video card - that slot is forced to share it's IRQ with the video and that usually causes problems. Other possibilities - some devices do not work properly when connected to a USB hub, that is, a hub that is two or more ports connected to one USB port directly connected to the mboard, even if it is a "powered" hub that has an extra power supply so all the ports can be supplied with the standard 500ma even if all ports have something in them. If that kind of hub is not "powered" it shares the 500ma the one directly connected port provides with all the ports in the hub, and that can cause problems when more than one device is connected to the hub. Most multiple USB ports higher up on a case front are this latter type of hub. Any USB ports in a keyboard are probably this latter type of hub. - some wiring to USB ports on the front of a case, usually the two lower down on the case, that is wired to two port connections on a USB mboard header, is inadequate and some devices will not work properly plugged into those ports. - ports directly connected to the mboard, or ports in a USB controller card in a slot, or ports in adapter plates at the end of slots that connect to individual ports on USB headers on the mboard, are the most reliable ports to use. - Check the current voltages in your bios Setup. +5v should be within 10% of it's nominal value. If it's too high or too low, and/or if that or +3.3v or +12v are not within 10% or their nominal values, replace the power supply as soon as you can - it's failing.

Good news bad news and such. I checked the bios, all the voltages were in range. I unplugged everything and started the computer with only a wireless mouse (UBS still) plugged in, miraculously it worked, pulgged in modem, it got laggy. Reset and tried modem in a different spot, worked with the level of pre-'nothing works at all' problem. I.E disconnects every 5 miutes or so but hey, it works kind of. And the mouse works fine. The internet just disconnected and reconnected. Now my mouse wont work. Crap -_-. Ok just unplugged my mouse and the modem seems to be recovering to some extent. The only connections to the computer are: Screen Speakers & microphone (not USB) Modem (USB) Power I appear to have 7 USB root hubs, the modem needs 100ma power, all the hubs have 500ma I believe. No conflicting device on any of the USB controllers (not exactly what I was looking for). Going to keyboard brows the net for a while and see if it disconnects just as often. Thanks for your help O_o. This is odd. Any other suggestions? Or advice for navigating with keyboards >_>

System Information lists all devices that share IRQs and/or I/O addresses etc. under Conflicts and Sharing, but that's a misleading title because there is no actual conflict being shown unless there is an entry that starts with RED lettering. There may be something under Components - Problem Devices if there is a conflict, but usually there's nothing there, unless you have deliberately disabled some device in Device Manager. Something else sharing an IRQ with the USB controller related devices often does not show anything about conflicts in System Information. For that matter, conflicts often do not show up anywhere in Windows at all. It often only causes problems when certain USB devices are connected, and may cause no problems at all when only simpler devices such mice and keyboards are connected. If some other device is sharing an IRQ with the USB controller related devices, you should fix that situation - see the above. I have more to suggest if moving a card does not help. Also, if you do have that problem, you must re-load the USB stack after you have cured the IRQ sharing problem. If no other device is doing that, try another mouse, PS/2 or USB or serial connected - that's the easiest fix. All ports directly connected to the mboard, including each one on the USB headers (there are usually 2 per header), and the ports in a PCI USB card, are designed to supply and will supply up to 500ma for each port, and no single USB connected device uses more than that. Mice and keyboards usually draw very little, but other devices that are more sophisticated may draw a lot more. It makes absolutely no difference which directly connected port you plug a USB device into, unless you have an older mboard that has some onboard ports that are USB 1.x only and some that are USB 2.0 which is also backward compatible with USB 1.x devices, in theory. (In the real world, there are two USB 1.x standards, OHCI [Open] and UHCI [Universal], the USB chipset supports one type or the other, not both, some USB 1.x devices will not work or will not work properly if that standard is the wrong type, and some USB chipset brands/models support more USB 1.x devices [e.g. NEC, Intel] than others do [e.g. older Via].) "...all the hubs have 500ma I believe." Each directly connected port has 500ma capacity available. What a particular device is actually using is shown in Device Manager - USB Controllers - xxx Root Hub - under the Power tab. ......