midi connection loss?

Hi All,

I’ve been searching around in the forums but couldn’t find an answer so it would be great if someone could help.

I have the cheap m-audio 88es hooked up via USB to my pc… very often starting up cubase7 I have no midi connection.
Sometimes randomly it works after 1 startup, sometimes I have to restart cubase7 up to 5 times before the midi controller works.

Bizarly I have another small midi controller, which always works from the first start up.

The second problem I have, after frustratingly having restarted cubase a few times to get the 88es working, sometimes it works for an hour, sometimes it quits after 5 minutes. ( The usb power saving is deactivated in windows)

Thanks in advance!