Solved Refusal to recognize USB devices after removing mouse & keyboard

[psychonaut25]

For a long time I've used an external USB 2.0 hub to connect my wireless mouse and wireless keyboard (each have their own USB dongle) to my desktop PC running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit. I know it's not the fastest or most optimal solution, but it works well for my needs, and ensures that the dongles have plenty of line of sight across the room. The mouse and keyboard are the only devices plugged into the USB hub, with the exception of a tiny USB-powered plasma ball that I almost always leave turned off.

About a year ago I also began keeping a Raspberry Pi on my desk, which automates the playing of cricket sounds through a speaker in my windowsill during the night time hours (helps with winter blues).

At about the same time, I bought a USB button switcher, which allows me to press a button and rapidly switch the USB hub between my Windows machine and Raspbian. For a long time, it worked really well. Granted, Raspbian detects the mouse and keyboard very rapidly, and upon switching back to my desktop, Windows can take several seconds to detect them.

But recently, I unplugged the Pi from the USB switcher and took it to a friend's house so he could help me modify the script it runs a bit. Ever since I brought it back home and re-connected it to the USB switcher, switching back from the Pi over to Windows doesn't accomplish anything. Windows 7 just refuses to detect the mouse and keyboard.

In fact, it seems as though Windows stops detecting any USB devices. I have also tried plugging in a wired keyboard & mouse set (the keyboard has a few lights on it and the mouse uses red optical light) and neither of these devices are getting power. This is true regardless of whether I plug the wired set into the USB hub, or the tower itself. The only option I've found is to hard reboot the PC using the button on the tower. As soon as I reboot Windows, everything is working fine again, but I'm now terrified to go do anything on the Raspberry Pi for fear that I'll have to hard reboot the desktop again.

Does anybody have any suggestions?

 

[psychonaut25]

The device manager says I have the most recent drivers for all of my USB ports and hubs, but I did find a chipset driver update on the motherboard manufacturer's website. I'm tempted to do a proper reboot before testing the USB button switcher again, in case a hard restart messes with the chipset driver update that I just ran. Won't be able to do a proper reboot for at least two hours, so for now I guess I'll just wait.

 

[psychonaut25]

Okay, it seems as though updating the chipset driver did indeed solve the problem. I'm going to mark the issue as solved now.