USB Port Problem

The mouse on my laptop stopped working (I have trouble using the touch pad).

I think the mouse issue is a problem with the USB ports -- it does not work in either port (I tried a brand new mouse which doesn't work either. At the time this startted I was experiencing random shut downs, which seem to have stopped.

I have not added any software. The only thing that changed was I moved offices and plugged the laptod into a surge protector rather than right into the wall socket, which i had been doing. Also, I plugged the ethernet cable for hte T1 connection into a router rather inte the wall which I had been doing as well.

I'm stumped. Any ideas/thoughts would be appreciated.