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A colleague has a Microsoft ergonomic keyboard which is a couple of years old, and every few days when the PC is turned on, it doesn't accept any input from the keyboard. The solution is to switch to another USB port, at which points it's picked up, but this is frustrating. Why would this happen and is there a solution?

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  • I've seen the same thing happen with a USB mouse: not sure what the cause is though. Jul 16, 2009 at 7:56
  • Are the keyboard and usb/mainboard drivers up-to-date? Jul 16, 2009 at 8:25
  • Mine did this too, and I can honestly say it factored into my decision to switch to a MacBook Pro. (The MS Wireless keyboard and mouse works great on my Mac, and I can even right click!)
    – Ryan Olson
    Jul 16, 2009 at 15:08

2 Answers 2

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For starters, I would try it on another machine. This will help determine whether the problem is with the keyboard or the computer. I've seen some motherboards with flakey USB ports.

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  • I have this problem as well. In my case, it seems my motherboard had known "flaky" usb. Not the end of the world, but annoying.
    – pcapademic
    Jul 16, 2009 at 23:15
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Usually its just a wear and tear thing meaning that the ports get overused and deteriorate.

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  • -1. In all my years in IT, I have never seen a USB socket physically fail, not once, across hundreds of machines. The OP didn't say that the USB port itself was faulty, just that his keyboard was no longer accepting input. I bet if he stuck in a USB memory stick, or a mouse, or even that keyboard again, it would start working.
    – tomfanning
    Jul 31, 2009 at 10:32

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