[NBLUG/talk] The curse of intermittent USB failures strikes again!

[Lincoln Peters]

Some of you may remember that I first encountered this problem in late January 
2005: the USB controller on my motherboard would completely shut itself down, 
requiring me to reboot in order to get it working again.  The problem 
resurfaced in late January/early February 2006.  It is now mid-January 2007, 
and the problem has returned.

I think I can now completely eliminate heat as a potential cause, as I moved 
the system into a new case that is much cooler (and quieter!) about a week 
ago, and the problem didn't resurface until about 2 days ago.  The 
temperature coming out of the exhaust fans is enormously lower than it was in 
the old tower (even the room I keep the computer in is cooler!), so I can't 
imagine ANYTHING in that tower overheating.

I've also eliminated USB hubs as a potential cause, as I've eliminated all but 
one hub, and that hub, along with everything related to USB, has been working 
flawlessly since probably March or April 2006.  The long chain of hubs I used 
to have to connect a keyboard on the other side of the room is gone--I got a 
cordless keyboard that has a wide enough operating range that I can use it 
from anywhere in the room, so that second keyboard became unnecessary.


What I have noticed is that these failures are following an interesting 
pattern: they only seem to manifest themselves in January and sometimes early 
February.  And, no, I don't think there's anything unique about how I use 
this computer during that time of year (at least not anything that would make 
a difference to computer hardware).

Any thoughts?  Should I save up to buy a new motherboard before January 2008 
rolls around?


-- 
Lincoln Peters		<sampln at sbcglobal.net>

A horse!  A horse!  My kingdom for a horse!
		-- Wm. Shakespeare, "Henry VI"