USB Mouse Causes Laptop Black Screen

Topic

New Reply

Hello!

In the past week, I have twice had an issue with the USB mouse on my Win 10 v1909 HP Envy laptop. The behavior is this – the mouse works fine all day (and has for many months), and there have never been issues waking the laptop in the morning, but twice now, when opening the laptop after it has been asleep overnight, the screen is black, there are no lights, and it will not respond to mouse or keyboard commands. Immediately upon removing the USB adapter, it comes right on – just where it was the night before. The mouse also works fine after the USB is reinserted.

The first time it happened, I used a different mouse, and that worked fine for a few days, but it happened again this morning with that mouse, making me think there is some issue with the port itself, though it works fine for long periods until this overnight issue.

I did originally use a Bluetooth mouse – but there were issues with the laptop keeping connection to the Bluetooth after some idle time, so I switched to the USB mouse. I would really rather have the Bluetooth, but it was more frustrating, so I switched to the USB connected one.

I also wonder if this could be related in some way to the January MS updates that I did on  February 2. It didn’t happen immediately after the updates, so I can’t say that there is a connection. Those were KB 4598479, KB4598229, and KB4586878. It all seemed fine few a few weeks after getting those, but maybe something in one of those might be causing this issue?

I am not sure if there are mouse/USB settings that I should adjust – or other ideas to try? I’d be happy to post more specific information, if need be.

Thanks for any help – so far it has been a resolvable issue by just removing the adapter and reinserting it, but I don’t want to let it go too long with that “fix” in case there is something that does need attention.

And no – I haven’t tried the other USB port – sorry. Once it started working the first time, I chalked it up to the issue being the mouse itself, and when I did switch it to a different mouse, I still used the same port. I can try moving it, but since it isn’t an obviously ongoing issue, I’d have to wait till it happened again to know for sure. I can try moving that adapter to the other port and running something else through the first USB to see if there is a problem, but thought I’d see if there was something more obvious to check or try first.

Thanks for the help! As always – very much appreciated!

Reply | Quote

Replies

Bad mouse or adapter is of course possible.

I have one wired USB mouse that’d cause various kinds of issues on Windows and Linux both, Linux would eventually crash after enough USB error messages in the kernel log, and I think Windows did get at least black screens. Tested on several different computers, on USB 2 and 3 version ports, with and without a hub between it and the computer…

Specifically, it’s in my electronics disposal bin, waiting for that to become full.

Reply | Quote

Thanks! I got no error messages – just wouldn’t respond till I removed the USB adapter. And since it was two different ones, I’m thinking maybe more the port than the mouse. I’ve gone back to the Bluetooth mouse to see if there is any issue with it, and will test the two USB ports with other devices to see if there is an issue with those.

I tried to look at the event viewer, but couldn’t really understand all of the messages, but nothing that seemed to point to the USB port or mouse.

Will keep looking for a solution – thanks!

Reply | Quote

Which version of W10 ?
The last update of KB4601319 is causing webcam problems and other accessories.

Reply | Quote

Just bumping this back up now that I can see the replies again.

Alex5723 wrote:

Which version of W10 ?
The last update of KB4601319 is causing webcam problems and other accessories.

It is Win 10 V1909, and I did not get KB 4601319, so it isn’t that.

I did change to a bluetooth mouse, and the same thing happened again – so it doesn’t appear to be the USB port, since nothing was plugged into it.

BUT – it would not start at all this morning – full charge, and black screen – UNTIL I plugged the adapter for a different mouse into the USB port, and it came right back on. Very strange…

Any ideas? I’m getting ready to call my local computer guys to see if they have a thought. Still under HP warranty, at least.

Thanks!

Reply | Quote

After reading your posts above from the start, it sounds to me like you have a defective adapter that plugs into your USB ports, since you say the problem exists no matter which specific USB port you plug the adapter into.

I don’t know if it’s even possible to get just the adapter, since I still insist on using wired keyboards and mice for my computers.

Depending on your finances, take a look at buying a new cordless mouse and using that for a while to see if the problem crops up. If it doesn’t, then you know without a doubt that the problem is with your original mouse and will hopefully be able to take advantage of the mouse still, as you say, being under warranty from HP.

Reply | Quote

Thanks Bob! I appreciate your thoughts. Since my first post about this, I have tried two other, different mice, and the same behavior happens intermittently. And then this morning it was the Bluetooth mouse, so there wasn’t any adapter plugged in at all.

I did talk to my computer guy, who suggested making sure all sleep functions were turned off, since he thought it sounded like a glitchy sleep command. His explanation for the USB adapter seeming to have an effect was that the computer interprets any change in adding or removing a USB device as a power thing – thus waking the computer – when just tapping a key or trying to move the mouse won’t. So, I did disable sleep and will see if that has any effect. But he did say that if it does happen again, inserting the adapter – or removing it if it is already inserted – should bring it to life.

Just seemed like strange behavior – and maybe I’ll never know what the real cause was – the computer guy’s thought was something in the last MS updates – a driver or something – that had this effect. As I said, I did not get KB~1319 – so maybe when I do update again while we are at Defcon 4, it may address something as well!

Thanks for the ideas, Bob – much appreciated.

 

Reply | Quote

[Bob99]

You’re welcome!  🙂  I sincerely hope your issue turns out to be just a wonky setting within the sleep parameters of Windows that can be changed.

On a side note, since you’re on 1909, you won’t ever be offered KB4601319, as it’s the February update for 2004 and 20H2. The monthly for 1909 is KB5001028 from what I see on the Master Patch List. The original February patch for 1909, KB4601315, was pulled because it caused too many issues after being installed, most notably (if I recall correctly) with unexpectedly disabling one’s WiFi connection.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Bob99.
• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by Bob99.

1 user thanked author for this post.

LHiggins

Reply | Quote

Just a thought – suspend/sleep anomaly. To test, turn off sleep in power settings for a week or 2.

But, yeah, I’d get a new cordless mouse. using a logitech M510 at the moment.

Reply | Quote

a wrote:

Just a thought – suspend/sleep anomaly. To test, turn off sleep in power settings for a week or 2.

Yep – great minds – LOL! See my post above – that was the suggestion I just got from my computer guy, too! 🙂

Thanks!!

Reply | Quote

oddly that was an idea that I picked up while sleuthing an anomaly on Ubuntu/Mint.

Now it’s one of the first things that drops into my mind…

Hope it works!!!

Reply | Quote

Thanks, me too!

But maybe you can answer this question – will the laptop battery run down overnight, or when it is no longer sleeping for any length of time? I always used sleep to save battery – but maybe that is really magical thinking – LOL. Will just plugging it in to charge overnight, or when we aren’t using it for any length of time be enough to keep the battery from going dead?

Thanks again!!

Reply | Quote

no idea – mine is always plugged in/connected to powerpack. If you leave programs and browsers running, yes, they will consume power, but no idea as to how much.

1 user thanked author for this post.

LHiggins

Reply | Quote

Guess I’ll need to watch it and see if there’s a pattern. We are bad at leaving lots open, so I guess maybe plugging it in when not in use is the best idea!

Reply | Quote

yep – with the age of this thing I doubt if there’s a ton of life left in the battery. Never tried it w/o being plugged in. got it used a couple years ago. That’s how I do laptops. 🙂

1 user thanked author for this post.

LHiggins

Reply | Quote

LHiggins wrote:

I also wonder if this could be related in some way to the January MS updates that I did on February 2

LHiggins wrote:

Guess I’ll need to watch it and see if there’s a pattern. We are bad at leaving lots open,

Has the laptop been restarted since Feb 2nd?  A reboot sometimes solves weird issues.

Win 11 home - 24H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

1 user thanked author for this post.

LHiggins

Reply | Quote

OK – good question – LOL! I know it was restarted in the last day or so – but I am not sure whether it actually had been since this issue started.

I’m getting ready for the Feb updates now, so there will be a restart, and then maybe I need to have a specific port/USB/mouse testing strategy for it.

Thanks for the idea – we never seem to think of the simplest things first – LOL!

Reply | Quote

I shut my laptop off at night and power it on in the morning. That way I immediately know if something is wrong and can correct it. Operating systems are not self cleaning and need to be rebooted often. My advise.

Reply | Quote

[mledman]

Also be aware –

If fast startup is enabled (the default setting), “shutdown” does not reboot the computer.   It reloads the last session from the hibernation file.  “Restart” reboots the computer.

Win 11 home - 24H2
Attitude is a choice...Choose wisely

• This reply was modified 4 years, 1 month ago by mledman.

Reply | Quote

One of the first things I do when I install a windows is to shut off hibernation.

powercfg.exe -h off

Reply | Quote