USB Ports… Gone

I don’t know if this is another Vista problem or if it is a problem with the iPod Touch. 

Last week my mouse stopped working.  I noticed it right after I plugged in the iPod, but didn’t know if it was related.  I wasn’t using the computer before plugging in the iPod, so I didn’t know if the mouse was already out of commission.  I grabbed another mouse, but it wouldn’t do anything either.  A little checking revealed that nothing connected to a USB port was working.

I did a reboot and that did not help.  I thought I may have blown out my USB ports which are integrated on my motherboard.  I always keep a spare USB and 1394 card in my “just in case” box.  I popped in the USB card and switched everything (mouse, head phones, hard drive) over to the new card.  Everything worked fine.

Out of habit, I plugged the iPod into a front USB port… and it worked.  I know those two front jacks are connected to the same place on the motherboard as the USB ports on the back of the computer.  I had tested the front and back jacks before adding the extra USB card.  None of them had worked.

I plugged everything back into the original USB ports leaving the add-on card empty.  Now all the built-in ports worked.

About a week later, it happened again, and I did note that it was triggered by plugging in the iPod.  A reboot didn’t fix it.  I did a full shutdown and then pulled the power plug (sometimes that will reset the power).  That did it.  Everything came back to life.

Tonight it happened again.  I plugged in the iPod and all the USB ports went dead… no power, no nothing.  I did a shutdown and pulled the power plug.  Everything came back to life on the first reboot.

Has anyone else seen this happen?