My monitor crashes the Linux kernel

If my Benq M108 mouse is plugged into the USB hub of my Eizo S2100 monitor while linux 2.6.31 (and several others) boots on my Zotac ION-ITX-B motherboard, then the kernel freezes after this line:

[ 0.828204] io scheduler cfq registered (default)

Numlock does nothing, I need to press the any key.

If I unplug the mouse from the hub, or the hub from the PC, then the boot succeeds. The next lines from dmesg in that case:

[ 0.876782] pci 0000:03:00.0: Boot video device
[ 0.877165] alloc irq_desc for 24 on node -1
[ 0.877171] alloc kstat_irqs on node -1

I can then plug the USB mouse/hub back in and use it.

Here are some of the kernels I tried:

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-19-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-19-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-19-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-15-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-15-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-15-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-15-generic

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.31-14-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.28-13-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.28-13-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.28-13-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 9.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

Update: I bought a new USB keyboard. If either the keyboard, or the mouse, or both, is plugged into the Eizo monitor's USB hub, and the hub is plugged into the linux box, then the kernel cannot boot.

If I unplug both mouse and keyboard from the hub, or the hub from the linux box, then the boot proceeds.