Big USB Problems...Help/Advice Please

[merk66]

Hey guys. I hope someone here can offer some advice to me. I have a Gigabyte MA785GM-US2H motherboard. I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium on it. In the last week, I started having an issue where down in the notifications bar, I get a message saying that a usb device has malfunctioned. I am paraphrasing because I am writing this from a different machine. The message is accompanied by the system sounds of a usb device being plugged and unplugged repeatedly.

I have followed advice on a few websites and have had no luck. Things I have tried are: Leaving the computer unplugged from the wall for 30 minutes. Removing all usb entries from device manager and letting them rebuild on reboot. Adding a registry key involving usb waking from sleep mode. Resetting the cmos so that all bios values are at default. I have also unplugged all usb devices and currently still receive the error, even with nothing plugged into a usb port.

I am starting to think that this is a hardware failure and that I will need to replace the motherboard. If that's the case, I will be better off to build a new machine instead of investing more into yesterday's technology.

If you can offer some help, I thank you.

 

[merk66]

One more update. When writing the above post, I had the computer unplugged with the cmos battery out for at least 2 hours. I put it back together and booted into safe mode. In safe mode, I uninstalled all usb devices and rebooted. The problem still continues. Very frustrating.

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hello,

On your troubled computer running Win-7, go to the Devices and Printers in the control panel, and in the bottom section you probably will see the misbehaving USB device, and a hardware code, like 43. Select it and click on the troubleshooter to see if it can fix the problem or give you "next steps".
Have only your keyboard and mouse connected to the MB, no other USB peripherals.

I have seen disconnecting a removable USB device, then reconnecting it, correcting similar problems.

Go into the BIOS, and under Integrated Peripherals, disable the USB EHCI controller, leaving the USB DOS mouse and keyboard enabled as well as legacy USB devices. Save and reboot back into the BIOS, and re enable the USB EHCI controller, to see if that "might" correct the problem.

Unfortunately, this MB just has the one USB controller, rather than several you could switch your USB devices to.

If no luck, and you have only the needed mouse and keyboard connected, then it's in the USB controller and will need to consider, as you mentioned, a new MB and build.

That's not always a bad thing!

 

[merk66]

Thanks for the reply. I'll try your suggestions. I have a feeling that it's just time to replace the mobo. For now I have muted the system sounds and turned the notifications off, at least.

 

[pjmelect]

Taking the battery out for two hours is not a reliable way to clear the CMOS memory I have known motherboards to retain the data for weeks with no battery. The only reliable way of clearing the CMOS memory is to move the clear CMOS link on the motherboard WITH THE POWER CORD DISCONECTED.

It is not uncommon for motherboard USB ports to go bad, the normal solution apart from changing the motherboard is to buy a cheap PCI USB card which are available for a few Ralods.

 

[merk66]

Taking the battery out for two hours is not a reliable way to clear the CMOS memory I have known motherboards to retain the data for weeks with no battery. The only reliable way of clearing the CMOS memory is to move the clear CMOS link on the motherboard WITH THE POWER CORD DISCONECTED.

It is not uncommon for motherboard USB ports to go bad, the normal solution apart from changing the motherboard is to buy a cheap PCI USB card which are available for a few Ralods.

I'm sure it cleared the cmos because my date was reset to 2006 and all of my bios options were at their default values. Thanks for the great point about the pci usb board. I'll look into that before I decide to do a rebuild. I wish there was some way to simply disable a certain usb port. That would be ideal.

 

[pjmelect]

You can easily disable a USB port, simply go to Device Manager right click on the port you wish to disable and select “disable” this should stop any messages about the port being faulty.

 

[merk66]

Well, I think that technically you can only disable an entire hub. I only have one hub with 10 ports. There's 4 ports on the back of the machine and 6 ports on the internal headers (which are not connected). I can't disable port #0002 on hub #0001. I would have to disable the entire hub and then none of the ports work. Regardless, I found the check box in device manager that allowed me to "disable notifications from USB errors". I also changed the sound scheme to play no sound upon connecting and disconnecting usb devices. So, I still have all other system sounds and notifications, just none regarding usb. I don't need any regarding usb and the problem doesn't appear to affect performance.

Thanks everyone for your answers and advice.

 

[jaquith]

Did you ever try running System Restore to a time BEFORE the problems?

You may have a defective USB device or damaged MOBO: Keyboard, Mouse, Printer, etc. Since it seems that you have another PC try the devices on that PC; as a caution IF the device is shorted it may damage the testing PC.

Alternative: using a PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse:
Download and obtain ALL software required for ALL USB devices
Device Manager: Delete ALL USB devices, start from the top and work down
Shutdown
Unplug anything USB
Restart
Add 1 Device per restart cycle, follow the installation procedures per USB device. Restart after each success.
Determine affected USB Ports and Devices

If certain USB Ports fail and others work then more than likely your MOBO is damaged. If only the USB is the issue you can opt to purchase a PCI USB Card or if the MOBO is under warranty replace it.

 

[merk66]

Thanks for your time, Jaquith. The only two USB devices I have on the PC are a Logitech G15 keyboard and a Logitech Trackman Mouse. For testing purposes I plugged in a different keyboard via PS/2 and I moved the trackball to the PS/2. I uninstalled all USB controllers and even disabled USB from the BIOS. I follow your logic in adding the devices and all, but the problem occurs even with nothing attached. The offending port is also always labelled as Port #0002 Hub #0001. All of the ports on the back work correctly, leaving me to believe that it is one of the internal heads that has malfunctioned. I normally have no problem maintaining my computers and that leads me to think that this is a hardware issue even more.

 

[jaquith]

The offending port is also always labelled as Port #0002 Hub #0001. All of the ports on the back work correctly, leaving me to believe that it is one of the internal heads that has malfunctioned. I normally have no problem maintaining my computers and that leads me to think that this is a hardware issue even more.

Try pulling the USB headers off the MOBO.

If you have a case USB or Media Reader it could be shorted.

 

[John_VanKirk]

Sounds like a bad board component.

One last thing to try, is on all the MB USB headers, with the computer off, unplug and plug back in the board connectors, lilke the ones going to the front of the computer, and give them and all the USB connectors a puff of compressed air. That's so if by chance any conductive material got lodged, you might dislodge it out of the way.

Jaquith is a real expert on computer building, and he might give you some good ideas, if you are still considering a new rig.

 

[merk66]

Try pulling the USB headers off the MOBO.

If you have a case USB or Media Reader it could be shorted.

No headers on them, sorry if my post made it sound like there was anything attached. There are three sets of 9 pins, just sticking out off the board. I've never had anything attached to them. I thought it might be dust shorting them out so I shot a little compressed air on them. I shot a light puff into each connector on the back of the pc also. The rig is not incredibly dusty, not totally clean either, but I usually break my machines down during every winter and really blow them out. Even the heatsinks. Oh and I didn't run System Restore, I don't even have it enabled. I am more of a "clean install" kind of guy. I have read in multiple places that formatting usually doesn't help this problem though. It really looks like it's hardware related and, again, it does not seem to affect performance. I will probably just let it quietly fester until the motherboard totally craps out.

 

[jaquith]

Yep, it would seem it's the MOBO. You 'can' try a fresh install of your OS to see if there's a registry issue.

You can turn-off {Disable} the HUB in Windows XP or 7 as follows:

 

[merk66]

Yep, it would seem it's the MOBO. You 'can' try a fresh install of your OS to see if there's a registry issue.

You can turn-off {Disable} the HUB in Windows XP or 7 as follows:
http://i1013.photobucket.com/albums/af254/Jaquith/USB-HUB-Disable.jpg

Yeah, I will reinstall eventually. For now it's okay. Thanks again for all of your replies. This is the first time I have received so much response to a problem on any computer related forum. You guys are great!

 

[jaquith]

Once you reinstall the OS please update your post. I hope it fixes the problem.

BTW - I assume that you tried the Update Driver option. I had some issues with our Media Readers after a Windows 7 update late last year and both uninstalling the drivers and update -- thankfully corrected the problems.

Good Luck!

 

[merk66]

Best answer selected by merk66.