It is possible, but I would look at configurations first. First and foremost, make sure the power settings are not set to allow it to go to sleep. Frequently these types of "time outs" are from the hardware powering down into a sleep mode. XP never rewoke those systems very well, so they usually don't help save power much and in many cases force a shutdown just to get full functionality again. Another possibility is the BIOS settings. They could be set to a power saver level as well that would cause similar actions. As for the USB on the monitor, a third potential cause could be from a poorly designed driver. I know my HP monitor never had the USB plugs working right because the driver was so buggy the controls for them either never provided enough power, or never passed the signal back to the computer. Either way, it never worked. It was recognized, but never ran. Newer drivers improved some functions, but never allowed them to be used reliably. If you check these areas and they seem right, then you might suspect faulty hardware, but the configuration issues are much more likely - especially with power saver features enabled.