1. Please give some detail: What type of HDD is in your computer?

2. Have you ever run a  "Chkdsk [your drive letter] /f /r  ?

3. do any other USB devices malfunction on the same ports?

4. What happens when you do Control+Esc?

5. Does Explorer.exe freeze, or not respond to left click?

6. Does the problem exist if you boot in Safe Mode? Does it exist if you do a "Clean boot"?

7. List your System Information, please.

**Very Important** - Please check if there are any availavle updates for your BIOS. If there are, please follow the instructions on your OEM's website about how to do a BIOS update.... and follow those instructions to the letter.

1. HDD is i forget?

2. Yes

3. There is another older Portable HDD which also functions intermitantly on the upper USB but properly on the back USB. As opposed to the new portable HDD as mentioned which will not work at all on the upper USB but fine on the back USB.

4. don't know?

5. good question actually? Is the computer freezing when the mouse freezes? i will have to check.

6. don't know about mouse in safe mode? rebooting does not solve the problem, but the intensity of the freezing does vary each time the computer restarts/turned on.

7. I'm at work, so i do not have access to system information right now. I do know the system is starting to get a bit outdated by now - over 2 years old.

Bios update - i have looked into that previously, and the website instructions were inadequate that i can fully understand everything so it is not possible.

1. HDD is Hard drive.

2. OK

3. That might mean a hub problem on the mother board or a Bios problem.

4. * Try doing Ctrl+Esc  next time this happens.  Ctrl+Esc  is 'Refresh'

5. * Please Check

6. * Please try to see if this happens in Safe Mode also.

7. If the system is over 2 years old, chances are you probably do have a Bios problem. You should look up "How to do a Bios       Update". You can email your computer's manufacturer, give make, model and request exact question how to update the Bios in your computer.

You're welcome. Please find a way to get and do the Bios update. It might very well be the source of your problem.

I have some more interesting developments to add to this situation....

I have an expensive USB digital mouse which i have been using for some time before all this started. It started going dead intermittently, then i have to unplug it and plug it in again for it to work again. It only goes dead at times if i have moved the cord of the mouse, it never goes dead if i am careful not to move the cord too much, it will stay on and work perfectly, no freezing. Also i tested the mouse on 2 other computers and same thing there too, so definitely the cord is the issue here. I tested it again last night on the problem system and it still works perfectly without freezing, but still turns off if i move the cord too much, so it is not a viable permanent solution to my problem.

I have two brand new el cheapo digital USB mouse (identical) that i purchased the same day.

I was using one of these cheap ones after my good mouse started going dead. After some months of proper function, it began this freezing problem. Then i switched to the second el cheapo mouse but that one only worked properly for about a week before it too started the same freezing problem. I even switched back to the first el cheapo mouse and to my surprise, it worked perfectly for a short time (several days) before the freezing nonsense returned again.

I borrowed my Wife's expensive mouse of her laptop when she wasn't home and it worked perfectly without freezing. But then just yesterday, it too began the freezing nonsense as well!!

So these are the facts of the case so far;

1) The original good mouse never freezes.

2) two identical cheap mouses freeze and one expensive laptop mouse freezes.

3) When the pointer freezes on the screen, the mouse wheel still responds!

4) There appears to be a delayed reaction response to the mouse pointer... in other words, if i moved and clicked on something when it was frozen, it sometimes moves and clicks there suddenly after it unfreezes! But also it will often move erratically, (possibly because of my response to the mouse freezing).

Going by all the above facts combined, it indicates the problem is due to the fact that the system has become self aware and is capable over a period of time of figuring out how to f**k up whatever mouse i am using, presumably with the goal of forcing me to use the original mouse that it likes! This is the only logical explanation i can think of??

The purpose of defragging a HDD in another machine is nothing more than the desire to complete a defrag at all!

As for the graphics card driver, i do vaguely remember having a big fight with it previously when i tried to update the driver. I cannot remember exactly what happened, but i do remember the system was crashing and boot freezing and throwing tantrums and crying and screaming!! Oh wait, now i remember, i had multiple screens switched on - one for my computer and the other for the TV. Eventually i discovered the driver update process did not like having multiple screens engaged at all, very nasty! It all went fine after i took multiple screens off.

A shot in the dark. If the original mouse never freezes could it be a driver issue? I kind of doubt it though because I've used multiple mice on a single computer before without any issues.

Well, anyway, I'm going to try and buy a good mouse and see how it goes? I don't like the mouse i have now regardless of the freezing issue because of the random left click issue.

The random left click issue is where my middle finger is resting on the left mouse button and after a while my finger will slowly get heavy enough without me realizing and then 'click'. It can be exceedingly annoying at times! I need a mouse where the buttons are slightly less sensitive than what these new generations of mouses are coming out with these days. ones with firmer mouse buttons tend to be the very expensive ones, i dunno why?

Thanks for the help, got all those options covered tho.