• When All USB Ports Have Failed...
    6 replies, posted
I'm using an EVGA Nvidia 750i SLI motherboard with Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. Great motherboard, though I never thought I'd be on Socket 775 in 2014. So I'm browsing FP, when all of the sudden I can't scroll down the page anymore. I try moving the cursor around the screen, no luck. For a moment I'm thinking "[I]this is the prelude to a BSOD"...[/I] but no. I open the task manager, and I see that everything is quite fine. So, it must be a mouse failure... and hey, the mouse light isn't on! I plugged the mouse into some other USB ports first, and it would have power for a few seconds, but the cursor could never move around the screen. Then it loses power too. After trying all the USB ports, both on the front and back, I resort to trying all my other USB mice. Alas, they all do not work, and further damning, they all don't work in any of the computer's USB ports. So, let's try charging an iPod... nada. Plugging up a headset? Nope. USB keyboard? Well, why the fuck did I try this if the mice don't work? I did anyways, and the answer was a firm "no". Obviously, all the USB ports have failed. Here are the steps that I have taken to try restoring their functionality, all have failed: -Cold Reboot. Multiple guides suggested this, so I did it multiple times. No success. -Clearing the CMOS. Also didn't do anything. -Making sure the ports and USB keyboard/mouse support are enabled in the BIOS, you know, just for fun. Also nope, and also the USB keyboard couldn't navigate me into setup (thank you, PS/2 port). This is very telling. -Disabling/re-Enabling the USB controllers in Device Manager. Nothing. -Uninstalling the USB controllers in Device Manager, then rebooting so they reinstall. At some point during this, the USB ports started providing power, but not data. The mouse lights up, but I still can't move that cursor. -Editing Registry Keys for some power-saving feature that may have turned the ports off. I expected this not to work, but I went through with it, and my expectations were fully met. -Booting into Linux to see if the USB ports work there. Guess what? Nope. -??? -But no profit. So, with the most common fixes for Windows-related USB issues tried, and software issues not having an explanation for why they all stopped working in the middle of web browsing, I think it's pretty clear that this motherboard is terminally ill. Does facepunch agree with my evaluation? Is there anything I haven't tried? I'm without money for an upgrade (Broke? Broke.) and hoping that an extra LGA 775 board I have laying around will make a good replacement until such money exists. Do I need to go through with this, and disassemble the machine? Give me all your expertise.
Yep, sounds like you've ruled out everything but hardware failure. Only other thing I can suggest trying is using a PS/2 mouse, if you have both another PS/2 port and have a PS/2 mouse. Other than that, yeah, swap to the other motherboard, and hope it works.
[QUOTE=gman003-main;43404871]Yep, sounds like you've ruled out everything but hardware failure. Only other thing I can suggest trying is using a PS/2 mouse, if you have both another PS/2 port and have a PS/2 mouse. Other than that, yeah, swap to the other motherboard, and hope it works.[/QUOTE] If I had another PS/2 port I wouldn't be quite as urgent about getting a different motherboard in there. But the computer is mouseless, and being mouseless sucks when a lot of modern websites (like this one) are pretty difficult to navigate with a keyboard alone. Strangely, the Windows mousekeys feature wouldn't move the cursor at all, which made the whole thing pretty irritating. It's worth noting that because of being mouseless, I didn't try installing new chipset drivers as some guides advise doing. I keep backups of the drivers in case some crazy situation happens, but guess where they are? On a USB flash drive. I can't seem to download them from the internet because so few websites keep old hardware drivers, and the one site I found had a download button that could literally only be accessed by a mouse click. You can imagine the frustration.
I would say it's more something to do with Windows. Windows 7 is known to have erratic USB problems with seemingly unknown causes. I've seen bunches of reports of some or all USB ports mysteriously stop working on Windows 7 in my own search for answers. I had a similar problem to you where all USB ports stopped working, except strangely the keyboard and mouse would continue to work. If any flash drives, cameras, joysticks or external hard drives were plugged in, the entire machine locked up until the devices were disconnected. I tried all sorts of fixes myself that didn't work, and the only thing I remember doing shortly before the USB subsystem stopped working was a Windows Update. I ended up reinstalling Windows from scratch, which fixed the problem and I haven't had the issue since. If USB doesn't even work under Linux, I'd say you have a failing PSU or motherboard. I'd check for bulging/leaking caps to begin with.
[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;43407856]I would say it's more something to do with Windows. Windows 7 is known to have erratic USB problems with seemingly unknown causes. I've seen bunches of reports of some or all USB ports mysteriously stop working on Windows 7 in my own search for answers. I had a similar problem to you where all USB ports stopped working, except strangely the keyboard and mouse would continue to work. If any flash drives, cameras, joysticks or external hard drives were plugged in, the entire machine locked up until the devices were disconnected. I tried all sorts of fixes myself that didn't work, and the only thing I remember doing shortly before the USB subsystem stopped working was a Windows Update. I ended up reinstalling Windows from scratch, which fixed the problem and I haven't had the issue since. If USB doesn't even work under Linux, I'd say you have a failing PSU or motherboard. I'd check for bulging/leaking caps to begin with.[/QUOTE] The USB works as well in Linux as it does in Windows (so, not at all) and my USB keyboard couldn't navigate me into the BIOS. This is my main hint that it's hardware failure and not software being a douche. I didn't consider that it might be PSU failure, though. For reference, it's an Antec Neo-Eco 520C, I don't know if these have a history of failure, but around the time this computer was built FP seemed to be recommending this series to a lot of people.
I've never had an Antec PSU that I didn't have to recap at some point within a year of usage due to failing caps. I don't know what year that PSU was made, but prior to 2006, they had terrible failure rates from using Taiwanese shit Fuhjyyu, Teapo and other unknown brands of caps.
[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;43411069]I've never had an Antec PSU that I didn't have to recap at some point within a year of usage due to failing caps. I don't know what year that PSU was made, but prior to 2006, they had terrible failure rates from using Taiwanese shit Fuhjyyu, Teapo and other unknown brands of caps.[/QUOTE] It definitely wasn't made prior to 2006, so I'm feeling pretty confident that it isn't the issue, especially given the reviews on the thing. It also doesn't get stressed very much, running just a case fan and a GTX 460 outside of all the normal stuff.
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