USB question on an Epox mobo

I posted this on the epox forum, but there doesn't seem to be much activity there, and I'm not sure how specific this is to the manufacturer anyway, so here goes:

Hey, I hope this hasn't been answered before, but a quick browse showed no signs, so my problem may be unique to me. My current system, which I built about a year ago (last summer) consists of:

9npa+ mobo
Athlon 64 3200+ (venice I believe)
1 gig RAM
X800XL GPU
500w fortron PSU
3 hard drives currently, 30 60 and 250GB.
Windows XP home
and some other miscellania, but I don't think the specs are particularly related to the problem.

The crux of the issue is my onboard USB ports. They're really on and off in terms of performance.. currently I have my mouse plugged into one, and it repeatedly gives me the "boo boo doop doop" or whatever sound you when something is synched/unsynched from a USB port, while simultaneously freezing my mouse. After the doops, the mouse comes back and is fine. This is really disrupting, considering how much of a pain in the ass it is to continuously have a mouse stop moving in the middle of your motion. Also, I've had the same problem with hooking cameras up to the USB ports. I'm wondering if this sounds like a problem with the onboard USB ports or if it could be software/driver related.

Another problem, which seems related to my general slew of USB problems is that my comp refuses to acknowledge that it has USB2.0 support when I hook upo my ipod. The mobo says it has USB2.0 support, and I'd expect it from a relatively new mobo (at least one from a year ago), so why won't it recognize it?

I suspect this may be the real problem, but I need some help fixing it: I have yet to flash my bios. I'm probably answering my own dumb question here, but if this seems like it could be the problem, can you guys help me flash my bios (preferably without doing it from a windows prompt off a disk, because I have no floppy currently installed).

I'd like to get my mouse working (and all my USB ports working seemlessly, like they should) as well as get my comp to recognize my USB2.0 support, so if anyone can help, please do! Thanks so much!