I started having weird disconnect/reconnect issues with USB devices a week or two ago. They seemed to get more and more frequent. To the point that sometimes, I couldn't use my mouse at all for seconds to minutes. Extremely laggy mouse to boot.
Basic symptoms: very laggy mouse, disconnecting mouse
BUT it isn't always there. Sometimes it is fine, but most of the time it is laggy to some extent.
WHAT IVE DONE:
1. changing mice. Used wired instead of wireless... different mice. no change. (I dont have a PS2 mouse, though I'd like to see if that would work)
2. taking out all USB devices except mouse/keyboard. No change.
3. changed hard drives: no change.
4. reinstalled windows (7 64). no change.
5. Unhooked hard drives, booted linux (from USB). no change.
6. Changed mobo to a backup mobo. So different RAM, MOBO, CPU. no change (wtf?)
7. Safe mode.. no change. It even happens in my uefi
8. At this point I was thinking, this MUST be a PSU issue (dirty power, my old psu was ~3 years old). So I bought a new one. The issue is still there.
9. I unhooked all non-essential things (hdd lights, power switch, audio cables to mobo, case fans, etc.). No change.
10. Unhooked oprical drives... no change.
11. updated/flashed my BIOS. no change (both mobos, and my GPU BIOSes)
12. (did this early on, but i just remembered it) put everything to stock clocks. CPU, GPU, everything.
System (guts) specs: 1. (my main system, which originally had the problem) i5 4670k, 8gb RAM, r9 280x DirectCU II
2. (backup, from my last gaming PC) core2duo, 4GB RAM, nvidia 660ti
WHAT STOPS THE PROBLEM: If I drape the mic cable across my lap, for instance, while I'm using my computer, or grab it certain ways (much like getting a signal on an old TV antenna) ... there are no symptoms. (took a lot of trial and error to narrow it down, trust me) My mic cable. Yep, of all things, the mic cable. Audio works 100% fine (no matter whether mouse symptoms are there or not), as does the microphone. when I'm using the mic (stretched away from computer), there is no issue, whether or not the mic is actually plugged into the end. If I unplug the microphone cable completely, the issue comes back. If the cable is plugged in, but NOT outstretched.. the problem is there. It seems like a (very, very) small change in resistance in the cable kills the problem entirely. wtf?
So anyway, for the time being, whenever I'm browsing the web, or playing games, or doing anything... I plug in my mic cable, stretch it out over my lap (or just grab it), then I'm good to go. I don't know how or why... but it works.
But, that's just a work-around. Any ideas on how to actually fix the issue, or any ideas on wtf might be causing it? It's driving me nuts. I've had a lot of x-rays/CT/MRI scans recently, maybe I have special computer-healing touch now lol
Perhaps some kind of ground issue? RF issue? I have no idea. I read somewhere in the internets some dudehad a similar issue and used a sort of power strip that (basically) makes the 110v power a more pure sine wave. Is that possible? How would I go about diagnosing that? Seems like killing an ant with a hammer.. there must be another way. If that is even the issue. I can get a multimeter, if that would help. But i have no idea where to begin measuring stuff with symptoms this weird.
Please help me! :o