Windows 7 Sleep and USB Issues


  #1  
Old 04-13-14, 07:49 PM
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Windows 7 Sleep and USB Issues

My Windows 7 PC just started acting up this past week. I have it set to sleep after an hour and use the sleep button on the keyboard to wake it up. I can also wake it up using the mouse. Everything had been working fine since I installed Windows 7 several months ago, but now I cannot wake it up. I hear the hard drive spin up, but the monitor does not turn on and the mouse and keyboard have no affect (ctrl+alt+del doesn't work). I am forced to do a hard shutdown and even then it doesn't always reboot to windows the first time. Another issue that just surfaced as well is that my computer no longer recognizes my SD card readers. Both readers worked fine until recently. The blue light illuminates but no icon shows up in the My Computer window as it did before. My wife installed a couple free programs online for creating graphics and I have since then uninstalled them, but there is still a toolbar that remains in Firefox, that I was able to disable. I don't know if this has anything to do with it. When the computer is on, everything works fine. It's just waking it up and using USB devices that is giving me a problem. Any clues?
 
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Old 04-13-14, 08:33 PM
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My first thought is probably a virus is on your computer and the graphics programs your wife installed might have had a Trojan horse included either not to their knowledge or on purpose from the website your wife went to. I would use Super Anti Spyware that you can get here SUPERAntiSpyware | Remove Malware | Remove Spyware - AntiMalware, AntiSpyware, AntiAdware! .

I only use the free addition and for me it works fine. Scan your computer and enable rescue scan and then after the scan you will see a radio bar that says System Tools and Program Settings click on that and then Quarantine and delete what it finds. After you do the scan then do a system restore to a time before the software was downloaded and hopefully you will no longer have any problems.

Just recently I downloaded a photo editor and scanned my computer and found a Trojan horse. It happens sometimes no matter how careful you are!
 
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Old 04-14-14, 06:42 AM
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I already ran the Super Anti-Spyware utility and it didn't find anything. My virus software didn't find anything either, but I only did a quick scan. I'll try reverting to a restore point, although I don't ever remember creating one.
 
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Old 04-14-14, 10:19 AM
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You wouldn't remember creating one mossman as Windows 7 automatically creates a restore point for you. The easiest way to find System Restore is to go to your start menu and at the bottom where it says search programs and files type in system restore. It is much easier to find things with Windows 7 than it ever was with Windows XP using the search function. Once you find system restore click on System Restore and follow the prompts. That usually will clear any software related problems and then you can use your computer normally from then on.
 
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Old 04-14-14, 01:10 PM
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Awesome. I'll give it a try.
 
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Old 04-15-14, 06:22 PM
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I tried three different restore points and they all failed. Do I have any other options or am I looking at a format/reinstall?
 
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Old 04-15-14, 08:34 PM
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No I wouldn't do a re-install at least not yet I would run CHKDSK and the easiest way with Windows 7 is to go to Computer and when you see the C: drive right click and scroll down to Properties and click on that. Once clicked on you will see some tabs click on Tools then look for Error Checking and click Check Now. Be sure to check both options and you will get a message that the drive can't be checked while windows is operating schedule a scan at start up? and it will say yes/no, click on yes.

This will take some time depending on your hard drive space so patience is necessary as once started the process needs to complete so don't do this during a storm. If your hard drive is large I suggest you let this work over night.

It's been a while since I did this myself but I believe it restarts afterwards and then you can log into Windows. Usually a system restore does the trick but sometimes you need to run CHKDSK. If this doesn't work then you might need to do a re-install. There are more advanced tools but right now I can't think of what they are Jerseymatt would know. Hopefully you don't need that and this works, most of the time it does.
 
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Old 04-16-14, 09:13 AM
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I'll give check disk a try then. Even though system restore said it failed, it appears as though it actually reverted to a previous restore point because all of the sudden I needed 11 Windows updates and some settings changed in Firefox that I recently set. I haven't had a chance to see if the USB and sleep issues have been resolved. I'll check tonight when I get home.
 
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Old 04-16-14, 11:08 AM
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This is a new one by me.. Best I can tell you is you might have some corrupt system files..

Get an elevated command prompt (Start > All Programs > Accessories > Right Click on Command Prompt > Click "Run as Administrator") and type (no quotes) "SFC /scannow". It will take a while. Don't close it until it tells you it's complete (or gives you an error)..

Otherwise you can do a 'repair' install of windows as long as you have a regular install disc (not a 'restore' disc from a computer manufacturer). Simply put the disc in, run Setup.exe, and click Upgrade Installation when it asks what kind of install. This will do what's called an 'in-place upgrade'. It's basically a fresh install of all the Windows operating files without losing all your stuff. It will ask you for your product key, which is on the sticker on the bottom of the computer.
 
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Old 04-22-14, 04:00 PM
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Here's the latest: I ran Super Anti-Spyware (again) and it removed the suspect toolbar that had recently been installed (inadvertently). Then I ran checkdisk, which did nothing and my computer was actually worse after running system file checker (sfc \SCANNOW). It wouldn't even boot and I was getting a message saying there was a hard drive error on my three-month-old hard drive. I was about to call it quits and reformat the drive, but decided to disconnect my slave hard drive (has XP on it) and wah-lah, the computer booted to Windows and no more USB issues. Perhaps my power supply isn't powerful enough to run two hard drives and all my peripherals?
 
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Old 04-22-14, 06:01 PM
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Now I think I understand while it isn't always a problem having another operating system on your computer can cause conflicts. You probably have to go into your bios and change the boot order so your windows 7 drive is always seen first. Better yet to prevent further conflicts you could get an external hard drive case and use that drive as a backup. That should help eliminate any further conflicts while still being able to keep the old hard drive. The external cases are fairly cheap too. As to power issues those cases have their own power supply.

Out of curiosity though exactly how much Wattage is your power supply? Anything under 500 watts I wouldn't use myself as it wouldn't have enough power. Voltage wise it would be the same but couldn't handle as many things. I like seeing a power supply of at least 600 Watts or more.
 
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Old 04-22-14, 06:20 PM
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The boot order is fine. I changed it when I first installed my new drive a few months ago. This USB issue just popped up out of nowhere and I think it began with my wife inadvertently installing some malware.

Power supply output is 400W max. Should I replace it?
 
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Old 04-22-14, 09:47 PM
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Upgrading to a larger supply is just a 'for the future' thing. It gives you some room to install power hungry stuff down the road or re-use it for a future build since the cost difference between a 400W and a 600W (since you're buying one anyway) is marginal. Is it possible the supply has a rail that is failing? Of course. But it's probably due to it being a cheap/old/worn out unit that took one too many power surges, not insufficient wattage.

A run of the mill non-gaming PC - even with a modern generation processor - with two hard drives is not going to tax a 400W supply to any degree that would require upgrading. Had you said 250 or 300W it might be a different story depending on your other hardware. Hell I've been running an old Athlon64 dual-core with a 12-drive RAID array (ten RAID-5 for storage [although two sit in standby as spares] plus two RAID-1 mirrored system drives) off a 400W supply for 3 years - and it's a file server so it's on 24x7.

As far as SFC goes, there is absolutely nothing that it will do that will slow down the computer except for during the startup after the first reboot - that's when it actually replaces any damaged files that it found. But it didn't do anything that would slow the computer down in general.
 
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Old 04-22-14, 10:50 PM
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I agree malware could have caused an issue with the USB ports but only temporarily. The main thing that can damage a USB port is pulling whatever you have plugged in out before Windows shuts the port down. I have done that before and without problems but I really don't recommend it.

As to your power supply I agree with Matt keep the power supply you have now and if you think you have a problem with it then replace the power supply. There are tests you can do with either a power supply tester you can buy or better yet something you have probably already an ohm meter. JerseyMatt though knows more about that and has shown how it is done before. So I leave that to him to explain about psu tests. Power supplies though can last for years without failing it just depends on who made it and where it was made too.

One thing though that can kill any power supply prematurely is dirt, dirt is the number one killer of power supplies right next to power surges and to be fair I would say it ties for number one. It doesn't matter either how clean your house is it can be spotless but the inside of your computer picks up dirt and dust. I recommend a can of compressed air to clean out the inside of your computer at least once every other month and monthly if you have the time. I have to admit though I am not heeding my own advice and need to clean my desktops they are overdo for a cleaning.
 
 

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