It sounds like the built-in USB bus is having problems. i.e. it may be b*ggered.
Try removing ("uninstalling") all the USB devices from device manager, and reboot the PC. It should "re-find" them all, and hopefully fix any driver issues that may have been causing this, but conversely if it's a hardware issue then no amount of software changes/fixes are going to sort it and you may be looking at a new laptop.