Member Avatar for sourcez

This could also be a hardware issue, but seeing as this problem has never presented itself on any other O/S I reckon it's probably 7.

I've done every update possible so you all know :)

So I have a USB keyboard + mouse attached to a laptop via a USB hub. When I'm using it normally (probably low cpu-usage) they will be laggy...and keep freezing. The lights are all on but it just stops on the page, and they keyboard will stop taking input or keep repeating whichever letter I hit last.

This is very annoying, but can be solved by
1) Plugging both directly into laptop ports (it's not a problem with the hub as I've tried others too)
2) Playing music in the background, can be muted...guess it just raises CPU usage just enough to solve the problem

Neither of the above options is a great way out, I'd love to know what is actually going on; especially as no-one seems to know (MS included).

I recently did 2 thing
1) Added more RAM...now have 4GB in 2 slots, which is fine for this laptop.
2) Updated the bios (but don't think this is it as I restored it to the original bios and still had the problem).

I will try taking out the RAM soon but don't have the old modules anymore so kinda would prefer to have a 'yes type this into command prompt' option.

Thanks :)

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Dani AI

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Quick expert note for (and thanks to for the nudge). The symptom set — keyboard/mouse that freeze when the machine is otherwise idle, but behave if music plays or when plugged directly — strongly matches a Windows USB power-management problem (devices or hubs being selectively suspended and failing to wake). Microsoft documents that USB devices can become unresponsive when the selective-suspend feature misbehaves. (support.microsoft.com)

Practical, ordered checks to try (do them one at a time and reboot where noted):

  1. Turn off USB selective suspend in your active power plan: Control Panel → Power Options → Change plan settings → Change advanced power settings → USB settings → USB selective suspend setting → Disabled (both On battery and Plugged in).
  2. In Device Manager expand Universal Serial Bus controllers and, for every “USB Root Hub” / “Generic USB Hub”, Properties → Power Management → uncheck “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power”. Repeat for each hub.
  3. If the freezes persist, uninstall each USB Root Hub (right-click → Uninstall) and reboot so Windows reinstalls them.
  4. Capture a power diagnostic to look for power-related drivers or platform issues by running an elevated command prompt and:
powercfg /energy
powercfg /requests

Open the generated energy report and inspect USB/platform power warnings. (support.microsoft.com)

If those steps don’t pin it down: update the laptop chipset/USB host-controller drivers from the OEM (or Intel/AMD), try a self-powered hub if you were using a bus-powered one, and temporarily remove third‑party HID/filter drivers (Logitech/Razer utilities) to rule them out. Check Event Viewer (Windows Logs → System) for USB/Kernel‑PnP errors while reproducing the freeze. Microsoft advises caution about permanently disabling selective suspend (it’s a power-saving feature), and registry edits or hotfixes should be a last resort after backing up the registry. (learn.microsoft.com)

If the problem remains after these tests, post the Event Viewer error messages and the energy report findings so the next diagnostic steps can be focused.

Member Avatar for maceman

Hi Sourcez,

You have probably updated your drivers already..

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