Question for the PC techie people

[the_goddess]

So my eMachine (yeah...I know...I needed a cheap PC for playing purposes, so shuddup already)has been possessed by a demon of some kind who likes to disconnect all of my USB ports at random times. I'll be sitting here and all of a sudden everything (and sometimes just one or two random things) disconnects and a few minutes later my computer is

Comments

[_caecus_]

My guess would be one of a few things:

It is possible your motherboard or something is grounding out and making the voltage a little wonky, which can make the devices shut down and come back.

There could be a short in your cable.

You could have a virus.

Your motherboard could be failing.

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If I were you I'd try updating chipset drivers(often include USB drivers), maybe flashing the motherboard BIOS to the latest version, scanning for viruses and spyware, and see if that fixes the problem. Also, is this machine on a surge protector? In my experience, E-Machines aren't made out of very good hardware, but software is easier to eliminate as a problem.

[cutriss]

I believe the power to be the most likely reason. eMachines are noted for having ridiculously unreliable and weak power supplies, but for this sort of behavior to the exclusion of other wonky stuff, it's more likely that the power connection to the motherboard for the USB controller is intermittent.

Do you have ports on the front and back? If so, do they all go out at the same time? If all of your ports are on the motherboard, you could have a loose connection there.

You might consider locating the most reliable port you have and just buying a powered USB hub and sticking everything in that. Not the most elegant solution but probably cheaper and easier if you have some ports that are reliable where others are not. Really, it's all going to hinge on the port configuration question I asked in the previous paragraph.