Linux Mint Forums

You have to tell us more facts.
The minimum is exactly which Mint you have - which version and which edition (main or any of the CEs)
We also need to know a bit about all your hardware.
Run " lspci " in a terminal and post here (To copy from a terminal right click)
Some wifi and possibly built in sound can be connected to USB even if they are internal - if you suspect you have one of these run " lsusb " in a terminal.
Also tell us if this is using mint4win or not, quite important
And in your case what video driver you use is important

Well you don't have strange hardware - ordinary Intel
You were not clear on the USB part - if this is normal hard disk connected by USB I don't think it's part of the problem but if it is a USB "stick" it can be part of the problem
Start in Recovery mode and use the option to fix X problems to begin with - I should have included that in my first answer....