Suddenly keyboard/mouse/USB ports keep dying - flicker and stop working shortly on start-up

[littlecupcake]

I have a custom Windows 7 build and I swapped out my old SSD for a larger one a few days ago. Not long after I did that, I seemed to be running into a problem where my keyboard and mouse would stop working and start flickering. At first, it happened after the computer was on for hours. But now suddenly it happens within minutes of me starting up my computer.

I switched my new SSD out and put my old SSD back in, but it's still happening. I booted in safe mode with networking and it happened too. I've started it up 10 times today and it happened everytime within a few minutes. I moved my mouse and keyboard from the back USB ports to the front, and same thing.

What could this possibly be? I posted some Event Viewer things I was seeing here. Bluetooth is one of them, and I assume it's because the USB ports are going haywire. Everything worked fine up until I switched the hard drives? Is it possible I did something to the connections in there when I was switching the drives? I just looked to make sure nothing was loose and everything was plugged in tightly. I'm desperate to get my computer working again. Please help?

 

[DookieDraws]

When you say you swapped out the drives, did you install the new drive then a fresh installation of Windows?

Also, with your PC unplugged, carefully check to make sure everything is connected to the motherboard securely. Also, you may want to uninstall the drivers for the keyboard and mouse and reinstall them.

 

[littlecupcake]

Not a fresh installation of Windows. I cloned my previous SSD onto the larger new SSD.

I did already check and everything seems connected to the motherboard just fine.

And as far as the drivers are concerned, the problem happens in safe mode, so would that tell us anything about the drivers? In any event, now it happens as soon as my computer starts up, so I'm not sure I even have the time to control my computer to do anything.

 

[DookieDraws]

Not a fresh installation of Windows. I cloned my previous SSD onto the larger new SSD.

I did already check and everything seems connected to the motherboard just fine.

And as far as the drivers are concerned, the problem happens in safe mode, so would that tell us anything about the drivers? In any event, now it happens as soon as my computer starts up, so I'm not sure I even have the time to control my computer to do anything.

If I were you, and you have the time do so so, I would just do a complete fresh reinstall of Windows, and then a reinstalltion of the drivers for the keyboard and mouse. A reinstallation of Windows on your new SSD should not take you very long to complete. If you are still having issues after this, then there very well may be something actually wrong with the hardware. I do not know for sure, though. Anything could be causing the problem.

 

[littlecupcake]

Ok, I think I have made some progress. I was googling around for people with similar problems, and one person identified that it was his mouse itself -- it seemed to be overloading the USB ports, which was why the keyboard went crazy too. So I found a random wireless mouse I had on-hand and used that instead of my wired mouse -- and magically the problems with my keyboard and mouse stopped happening. I don't have another desktop to test the wired mouse on, but I tested it on a laptop and it wasn't causing the same lock-ups. So who knows.

I do think something must've gone wrong with my hard drive switch though. I've swapped back and forth, testing each, and the new drive boots up slowly and doesn't seem to shut down properly, and sometimes it freezes. The old drive is working fine once I switched my mouse. I've tried Crystal Disk and Seagate Tools and I don't see any errors with the new SSD itself. (If anyone knows of better software, let me know.) So I am going to try to erase the new drive and re-clone my original. We'll see how it goes. If that still doesn't work, I will put a fresh install of Windows 7 on the new desk. If that still doesn't work, I will just return the new disk and hopefully get a refund.

If anyone has any other troubleshooting ideas though, please let me know.