laptop becomes unresponsive

[dissent]

my Dell 1505 laptop has taken to, from time to time, just stopping to respond to mouse clicks. The cursor still moves around, but I when I click on Start or try to open a browser session (almost always Firefox), the computer just sits there. Can't ctrl-alt-del, nothing happens. Have to manually power down the system, the power up again, then it usually works fine. I was thinking this just happened when the screen power shut down after a period of disuse, but that's not the case; sometimes it craps out and sometimes it's fine. Malwarebytes scans clean.

Does this sound like anything y'all have heard of? Software of hardware? Suggestions, please??

[Krom]

I would try it with an external mouse/KB (on both USB and or PS/2 ports if the laptop has one). If it happens to USB keyboards and mice, check and see if other USB devices also quit working (like plugging in a flash drive, testing to make sure it isn't a system wide USB failure). Try to eliminate software as a cause by booting off a live CD of some type for a while and seeing if it still happens. If so; check for BIOS updates that address USB/keyboard/mouse issues.

[dissent]

Interesting. Didn't think of USB as the potential problem. Thanks for the idea Krom. Currently I usually have a Logitech wireless mouse on it. I'll try some variations around that.