Microsoft USB keyboard stops responding randomly

Hi,
Since I'm running Windows 7 I thought I'd try to solve this on this forum, although the problem has plagued me all through vista as well but perhaps not nearly as much as it does now in 7.

I have a Microsoft 4000 usb (wired) ergonomic "Natural" keyboard. I'll be on a forum typing up something (or in notepad, or anyplace I could possibly type) and all of a sudden the keyboard will stop responding to any key strokes. The only way to get it back to life is to logout and log back in, then the keyboard is working fine (unplugging it from the usb port works as well, although logging out and in is easier for me).

When this happens, everything else on the computer is working perfectly fine, the mouse, display etc. It's just the keyboard that basically becomes totally inop. It doesn't matter what key I press they don't respond.

It's not a matter of an older keyboard that the wires might have broken or anything like that as this is a brand new keyboard. I've been using these MS 4000 keyboards for a few years now and have to replace them every year or less due to them wearing out from my fast and excessive typing but it doesn't matter, new or old, at some point, sometimes multiple times per day the keyboard stops responding on me.

Any clues as to what might be causing this and more importantly how to prevent it from happening any further?

Thanks,

Yes, I tried to install it now and was told that I already have it installed, so I probably installed it when I was installing all the software and drivers when I installed Win 7.

The strange thing is that I've also had this happen on my old computer too, so it's not like it's only related to Win 7 or this particular computer.

The only commonality would be the keyboard as it's the only one I've used in several years now since I havn't been able to buy any more of their older style white keyboards.

My old computer was a home built computer and the new one is a Gateway so it's not limited to a brand of computer either that might be causing this problem. The keyboard is plugged straight into one of the USB ports on the back of the computer, NOT through any hubs either.

You could try to get a quick look at task manager when it is lagging to see if any particular processes are eating up CPU resources at that particular time.

Some applications have a setting to autosave every X number of minutes. That might be a factor--the autosave might take precedence over the keyboard. But I'd doubt that is the cause if you are seeing this everywhere, rather than in particular applications.

Well, unfortunately it's more than a lag, it's a permakill of the keyboard, I've tried in the past to just let it sit, (once overnight) to see if it would come back to responding but it never did/does until either unplugging the keyboard, logging out and in, or rebooting the computer.

But next time it does this I'll open up task manager and see if there is anything unusual going on with perhaps the itype program or any other program for that matter.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Does this happen regardless of the USB port you are using?

I wonder if this would occur if you were plugged into a PS 2 port? I don't know if they make adapters to convert USB to PS2, but they would be cheap if they make them at all. Do you have a PS 2 port?

Look in device manager. Do you see any yellow exclamation points or question marks in the Universal Serial Bus area?

maybe a short in the keyboard, or your usb ports are going bad.

Yes, it doesn't matter what usb port I plug it into, eventually it will happen again.

Yes I have a PS2 port for the keyboard on the computer, however I don't believe that this keyboard can be used in this fashion.

No yellow exclaimation marks in device manager.

Not likely to be a short, or usb ports going bad since I mentioned this has happened with another computer too, and that this keyboard is new and that I replace them on a yearly or earlier basis due to wearing out the tactile feel of the keys. Not likely to be the usb ports themselves as this has occured on another computer too as mentioned.

I'm having the exact same problem with the same keyboard. It's JUST the keyboard as I've tried other keyboards and my system responds perfectly to every other form of input. It happened in Vista and in 7. I'm running 7 Pro 64 Bit on a Dell Precision 390 with 4GB of RAM.

If anyone has any fixes or workarounds that would be great.

Hey there everyone!. I just joined because I have the same problem with Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000. If your logged on to one user for a while and you log off, you can't log on again because the keyboard stops working. It doesn't matter what OS or what computer. Like the other guy said the only thing in common when this happens is the keyboard. Any other keyboard works fine. Microsoft should give out replacements for this problem. I've had the same symptoms on Windows XP.