Windows 7: Keyboard and mouse randomly stop working

My PC won't go into sleep mode either automatically or manually so I just leave it on all day (the screen will go off at the pre-determined time though). However, that's not my issue as I've learned to live with it. I'm just mentioning it because it could be related to the following issue that just started happening yesterday.

When I come down to use the PC after it's been sitting unused for a few hours, the screen is off and I can still hear the fans running and the power light is on, as always. Usually all I have to do is hit a key or move the mouse and the screen comes back on and away I go. The last couple days though, the keyboard and mouse (both USB) appear to have "turned off" (no lights showing on either) during the idle period. Then, no matter what I do I can't get the screen to come back on because they keyboard and mouse have somehow went off.

At that point all I can do is a hard shutdown (holding the power button until the machine turns off) and reboot at which time everything's fine.

Anyone know what's going on? It's one of those "everything was fine for weeks and then all of a sudden" things.



This is a Windows 7 32bit machine, fully updated and no recent changes made.

Since you are doing hard shut downs, I highly recommend a Disk Check with Automatically fix file system errors checked.


As to the mouse/keyboard issue, please provide more information. Are these USB or PS/2 devices?

Also, we have no idea if you have a laptop, desktop, or an HP UFO running Windows 7 (the last one is just a joke; HP has no UFOs to my knowledge ). Please fill in your system specs in your profile and not in a post in this thread: System Info - See Your System Specs

Thanks for replying.

Sorry—It's a desktop PC and I actually did mention that the keyboard and mouse are USB.

The problem hasn't happened in a couple days so far...but I just re-read my original post and realized I could've simplified the explanation by saying that sometimes when the screen goes off (in power-save mode) I can't get it to come back on because the keyboard and the mouse have somehow disabled themselves (indicated by no lights showing on either). But the PC itself looks and sounds like it's still running (fans going, power light on, etc.)

Thanks for any help—specs posted...

Ah, I missed the parenthesis with the (both USB)... My apologies.

For the USB problems...

• Start with USB Driver - General Fix for Problems to resolve the USB issues. Also, USB ports can sometimes enter a safe power state to protect the system from power surges due to USB devices. To reset the USB ports to a nominal power state:
  

  1. Shut down and turn off the computer.
     
  2. Unplug the computer from the wall or surge protector (then remove the battery if it is a laptop).
     
  3. "Remove the computer from any port replicator or docking station, disconnect
     cables to printers or devices such as external monitors, USB memory sticks or SD cards, headset or external speakers, mouse or auxiliary keyboard, turn off WIFI and Bluetooth wireless devices." (Use Hard Reset to Resolve Hardware and Software Issues HP Pavilion dv5000 Notebook PC series - HP Customer Care (United States - English))
     
  4. Hold down the power button for 30 seconds. This closes the circuit and ensures all
     power from components is drained to clear the software connections between the BIOS
     and hardware and clear any corruption in the temporary memory.
     
  5. (If it is a laptop, plug the battery back into the laptop and then) Plug the computer back into the wall. Do not reconnect any unnecessary peripherals; monitor, keyboard,
     and mouse should suffice and be the only peripherals reconnected.
     
  6. Turn it on to reinitialize the software connections between the BIOS and hardware
     

When you read through the USB general fix, it suggests removing the problem devices. Obviously, your case prevents that since they are key components to even being able to do those steps. I still think the steps are worth doing with the keyboard and mouse connected; it's possible another USB device is causing conflicts with those two. Remove all USB devices except the keyboard and mouse while doing those steps.

So far, after going through the reinitializing steps, it hasn't happened again. But I'll give it until the end of the week though, as I know these issues are sometimes erratic. I'll post back on Friday. Thanks!

You're welcome. Look forward to finding out what you know on Friday.

Well everything seems to be okay. I think resetting the USB ports helped. Thanks a lot, I'm confident I can mark this issue solved!

Awesome!! Glad to see it solved!