Computer Illiterate Seeks Help

[Morlen]

Lately I have been having some issues with hardware on my computer. Mainly it has been my mouse acting up. Many times it will disconnect/connect as if someone has unplugged it briefly and then plugged it back in. Often I receive the notification noise through my speakers indicating the same. Occasionally it will stop working all together unless I unplug/replug myself. Annoying, but I wasn't sure if it was my mouse or the USB port it was plugged into.

This morning when I got up and went to turn on the computer for my barely awake forum crawling, my computer failed to get a signal sent to the monitor through my graphics card. I know my tower was still on because the fans were blowing away. I held down the power button for a restart and received all of the appropriate sounds through my speakers, but no visual on the monitor. So, I turned the computer off and plugged the monitor into the motherboard supplied port, and now I have visual again.

What I want to figure out is if both the mouse and graphics card issues may be related to one problem with a faulty motherboard causing my USB and PCI Express slots to fizzle out, or if they may be entirely different issues. Any thoughts?

[MrLarone]

most likely seperate issues.

1.try installing the mouse in a different USB port.
2.try another mouse.
3.try resitting the graphics cards (simply remove, count to 5 and replace)
4.if still an issue try another PCI slot (if possible)
5.does the graphics card have mulitple outputs? try those.

after each step boot the system and see if it's working as expected.

how old is the system?

hopefully that helps.

[Morlen]

most likely seperate issues.

1.try installing the mouse in a different USB port.
2.try another mouse.
3.try resitting the graphics cards (simply remove, count to 5 and replace)
4.if still an issue try another PCI slot (if possible)
5.does the graphics card have mulitple outputs? try those.

after each step boot the system and see if it's working as expected.

how old is the system?

hopefully that helps.

I've been switching the mouse between two of the USB ports with the same results. Right now I've unplugged my printer and started using that port and haven't had a problem. (Yet, not to say I won't. >.<)

The system is new, I just replaced basically everything in February. Keyboard, Speakers, and Mouse are all about 5-6 years old. The graphics card is about 4 years old. I suppose it is possible/probable that they are just suffering old age.

Time to go to work right now, I'll have to try resetting my graphics card when I get home. Thanks for the info, I will post followup then.

[Morlen]

Figured I would add that the mouse just DCed in the 3rd USB port as well. Guess I'll get my hands on a different USB mouse and see if that makes a difference. (Don't know why I haven't done that before, seems kinda logical. lol)

[Kelavam]

most likely seperate issues.

1.try installing the mouse in a different USB port.
2.try another mouse.
3.try resitting the graphics cards (simply remove, count to 5 and replace)
4.if still an issue try another PCI slot (if possible)
5.does the graphics card have mulitple outputs? try those.

after each step boot the system and see if it's working as expected.

This is probably the first advice I would give as well. If the motherboard were going, you would get more problems than the mouse connecting reconnecting and a few graphics problems. Trying another plug type on the graphics card would help troubleshoot if the card is going bad. And if you are running graphics fine on the on-board card, then it is more than likely an issue of sorts with the graphics card.

Not sure if you use a wireless or wired mouse; but a cord only handles so much before it starts to lose connections. If wireless, could be a bad reciever or worse, something around your computer is sending an interference signal (I have seen this happen with cell phones/wireless cards and even other nearby wireless mice).

Good luck, I hope you get it working!

[MrLarone]

by the sounds of it it could be age.

i know my graphics card went wonky after about 3-4 years (would go black screen every now and then, but only playing DDO funnily enough).

if the main system was bought in feb it should be fine. probably still in warrenty if you really think it's an issue but i'd try my suggested steps first.

[katz]

wow, you got 5 years out of a mouse? better than i usually get

[Morlen]

Tried reinstalling the card and tried the second port on the card, nadda. I suppose it's probably toast. Just annoying because there wasn't really any build up for it, just all of the sudden this morning I couldn't get signal to the monitor when I turned the PC on.

On the plus side I originally bought the card to help with lag when Shroud first came out. (My computer then was from 2005) Since I completely rebuilt the tower in February we'll just have to play for a while and see if it can handle the game without a graphics card until I can afford a new one. Heh.

Thanks for the info though. ^_^

[Morlen]

Okay, I just logged on and WOW I forgot how bad the game looks without a card. >.< Guess it's off to Newegg to order a new one. Any suggestions on an affordable option?

Motherboard: ASUS M2N68-AM PLUS
OS: Windows XP

Dunno if any other information may be useful? I'm not using any of the regular PCI slots, so a graphics card with a heat sink wouldn't be an issue. (My fried one had a heat sink, blocking a PCI slot.)

[sebastianosmith]

From Newegg

Low: GeForce GT 520 $55.00US
Medium: Radeon HD 6670 $84.00US
High: Radeon HD 6850 $160.00 US or GeForce GTX 550 Ti $170.00US

They will all play DDO if that's what you're looking for. I don't know your port requirements (VGA, DVI, HDMI) so one or more may be invalid.

[Bladedge]

wow, you got 5 years out of a mouse? better than i usually get

I gone thru 5 mouses in 6 years.