USB Issue (and cats)

Yesterday, I notice one of our cats wondering around near my mom's computer, but I couldn't figure out why. I thought it was nothing at first until today when I found out that the computer stopped detecting the keyboard (it's using a USB port). Apparently, another one of our cats decided to piss on the keyboard without our knowledge...that is until the keyboard was turned upside-down. We bought a new USB keyboard, but the computer couldn't detect it no matter which USB port we plugged it into. It's now limited to using a PS/2 keyboard.

Since the computer couldn't detect either USB keyboards regardless of which USB port it was plugged into, is it possible that the incident ruined the USB port which was being used by the keyboard(s) only, or did it ruined them all?

Got any other usb devices you can use to test the ports?

Have your HDs been acting a bit strange lately, or have you been getting Failed write delays? If you have, or do, it may be the southbridge (happened to me).

Perhaps a cat has also pissed into the main unit. If one cat pisses on something, chances are other cats will make their contribution too nearby.

your USB hub (whether internal or not) supplies the main connections and power. if that is damaged, no USB may work right.
/inserts pissed-on pissed-off joke.

Planky said:

Got any other usb devices you can use to test the ports?

I just printed out a test page since the printer is also connected to a USB port, and it worked fine. The speakers work, and they're also using a USB port (the port beside the one formerly used by the keyboard). So, I'm relieved that the entire hub isn't screwed up.

I haven't tested the USB port the old keyboard was plugged into yet. However, I still think that the computer should have detected the new keyboard on startup.

We haven't noticed anything else unusual occurring with the computer yet besides a frequent memory parity error on shutdown, but that's unrelated to yesterday's incident.

Well, it could be a very simple case of bad magnatism, do any of your cats seem to be magnetic?

If your cat pisses on your computer, chances are high that it's gonna screw something up.

ravage said:

If your cat pisses on your computer, chances are high that it's gonna screw something up.

Yeah. Cat piss is really concentrated.

Job said:

Yeah. Cat piss is really concentrated.

If one cat pisses on it, then they all piss on it.

ravage said:

If one cat pisses on it, then they all piss on it.

Exactly. And that would be a whole lot of concentrated piss in one area.

Job said:

Exactly. And that would be a whole lot of concentrated piss in one area.

Oh, heh sorry. Thought you were sarcastic. ^_^

I just tested the USB port the keyboard was plugged into, and the port still works. The reason why the new keyboard couldn't be detected is still a bit of a mystery, but other than that, everything seems to be back in order.

I'll close this thread after posting this shortly (if a thread's creator still has that ability). Thanks for the help.