Subj : USB locking up To : Ky Moffet From : Barry Martin Date : Sun Sep 13 2020 09:54:00 Hi Ky! > > > > A while back we were talking about my system locking up when a USB > > > device was inserted and a couple of things to check. Battled with > > > the Round TuIts, But Firsts, etc. You had given a link which > > > suggested going in to the BIOS to disable the Marvell SATA ports and > > KM> I did? :) > > Sure; remember when you had amnesia?! > KM> Is that what I forgot?? > We don't recall now... KM> Wait, now we both have amnesia? Maybe - what do we compare it to? > KM> Not so sure putting MORE juice into a possibly-failing circuit is > KM> such a good idea... BTW did you ever mention the make and model > KM> of this board? > Agree on your consideration of adding current is potentially a bad idea. > OTOH could be a good idea if the cause of the lockup was a voltage drop > when something inserted. Didn't work, or at least there was stil a lock > up so turned the option back off. KM> You can look in the BIOS under ... I think it's under System KM> Health -- and check the voltage in realtime. This (at least in my KM> experience) will report what the board is using, not what the PSU KM> is providing. Yes, I've looked at that and appears normal: 5v a fraction under (4.97v IIRC), 12v a fraction over -- definitely within 1% as opposed to 10%. > The motherboard is an ASUS M5A97 R2.0. Wandering the web have found > others with the same problem. Stuff about "LLC" -- Load Line > Calibration -- and "FSB" -- Front Side Bus ==> carry data between the > central processing unit (CPU) and a memory controller hub, known as the > northbridge. KM> Huh. That's the AMD version of Silver's (Intel) board. Apparently KM> we both have good taste. Of course! :) Guess the good news is even though different CPUs and the assosicated design differences what is applicable to one is probably applicable to the other. (And yes I did check to see if switching the A to I was the 'trick' - nope!). KM> Yours: KM> https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/M5A97_R20/overview/ KM> Mine: KM> https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/P9X79_LE/overview/ Should have read ahead (on the Intel guess). Sort of got excited when scanned through the overview and came across "check your PC in real time". I'm in "monitor the voltages" mode so interpreting that as seeing the voltages, temperatures, etc.; probably is more like VNC or Remote Desktop. KM> Bought Silver's used off eBay, CPU included... was the best KM> sub-$200 option at the time, and haven't seen anything more KM> exciting since in that price range. Now if only I'd finish moving KM> computer so I could actually USE the thing...!! Being able to use does tend to make a better investment. OTOH having spare parts on hand isn't always a bad thing (no wait!) > The LLC stuff sounds like a possibility only because deals with voltage. > which _may_ be the USB lockup. From what I can figure out appears the > BIOS is set correctly so didn't fiddle. FSB doesn't sound right: USB > stuff is Southbridge. Maaaybeee the system gets confused sometimes when > something new is plugged in. KM> Any voltage drop in the 5V lines might affect USB. Agree, which is why I was sort of looking around and fiddling with things like charging capabilities. OTOH would seem there should be more of a correlation between which USB device cause the lockup. Seems like a thumbdrive doesn't need all that much compared to a card reader or external DVD or hard drive. And DC is constant, not like AC and I might hit a low point. ...WAG Last few days was fiddling with a card reader (adapter) and a microSD card. Same reader, same card, almost always the same port. Once, out of maybe a dozen times (seemed like more!) the system locked up. Would seem if the adapter was the trigger (too much current, USB connector pins misaligned and shorting out, etc.) I would have more lockups. (BTW, the problem wasn't with the hardware but the software. Issue was the software is supposed to format the SD card. Yup: I was using a 64 GB card and so over that limit. Switched to a 32 GB card -- no problems.) > BTW, doesn't seem to matter where I plug in something, could have a lock > up. Normally plug in thumbdrives into the front panel because easier. > Have also plugged into two different powered USB Hubs and had lockups. > The Hubs were swapped out: I thought maybe the first one as faulty. > Plugged in to the same rear panel port via extension cable. The cable > has probably been moved to a different port over time. KM> The very first shoulda-been-a-clue with mine was that the USB3 KM> hub plugged into the USB3 add-on card quit working. Thought it KM> was the hub, replaced it, new one worked... for a while. Pretty KM> soon it didn't work either. And then I got around to testing the KM> "dead" hub with another PC, and found it works perfectly. By then KM> all Tarnish's USB ports had quit and I'd had to resort to corded KM> keyboard and mouse. And that's when it got swapped for its twin, KM> which doesn't seem to have the problem. And I have had, though not in the past couple months, where the (USB) mouse 'dies'. Generally was a PEBKAC (PEBMAC?!) where I stretched out my legs and caught the wire. Rerouted/suspended the cable fixed that. OTOH way before that had to run a third USB extension: one USB line was dead and was in the middle of something so didn't want to reboot. Keyboard and mouse on the USB 2.0 ports; my plug-ins are almost-always on USB 3.0, usually front port. An this is probably nothing: during boot my powered USB 3.0 hub will be on (port indicators), off for a second or so, and then back on. Don't know if blinks or anything when a system lockup occurs as the hub is behind me when I plug something into the front panel. Also not recalling if the LEDs are on during a lockup. KM> Discovered another problem, tho -- Tarnish (old Silver) had 4GB KM> RAM because WinXP 32bit can't use more than that anyway (and it KM> was what was handy at the time). Tried to give it 8GB since it's KM> now hosting PCLOS, which benefits from more RAM. WOULD NOT BOOT! KM> Guessing it's the same issue -- added power draw was too much for KM> the defective circuit. Might be a motherboard issue. I have a Lenovo desktop and it is supposed to take 8 GB (4x 2GB) but ugh-ugh: 2+2+1+1 is its max. And not the single-sided vs. double-sided issue as played with that. KM> Ah, well... when I get completely moved into New Silver, Cash can KM> have its old job back (secondary PCLOS streaming box) and Tarnish KM> can run ReactOS (which runs well on Tarnish, and doesn't like it KM> when there's more than 4GB RAM anyway). Sounds like winter projects! > KM> Nope, it doesn't bypass -- USB is still USB, apparently. In fact > KM> my add-on card (added since the board doesn't natively do USB3) > KM> was the first set of ports to fail. > Darn. By what I was reading sort of thought so: PCI to Southbridge, so > if Southbridge is the problem not bypassing. KM> Yeah, I'da had the same thought, if I hadn't already experienced KM> the above fail!! After all, you can bypass a dead onboard NIC KM> with an add-on card (done that twice), why not same for USB? KM> Whoops, logic fail..!! But it shouuuuuld work! Yup: I've upgraded slow NICs with daughtercards. Also had an odd issue where the NIC failed to load apparently because the motherboard battery expired. Swapped in a USB- to-Ethernet adapter temporarily -- worked fine. Replaced the battery, NIC came back to life! > > Better hurry: football season is starting! > KM> Not at my house... Football is the poor relation, and it's become > KM> so structured and predictable that it's no longer interesting. > KM> And that was before all the secondary stupidity... > Right: should keep the games and political ideologies separate. KM> Yeah. It's been slow to penetrate baseball, and each spasm of KM> Stupid has tended to quickly peter out, but when there's so much KM> top-down Thou Shalting... hopefully this crap will die down KM> everywhere without devolving into civil war. :( Dad had his "Pendulum Theory": society's mindset swings back and forth, compbined with what is good for one group is bad for another. > > KM> ... so I can have two games going at once, since I haven't > > KM> figured out how to get the Dell with the updated PCLOS to speak > > KM> to a 2nd monitor. It has a vidcard and onboard video, tho not > > KM> sure both can be convinced to work at the same time. > > Seems to 'depends'. I've usually used a video card with capabilities of > > running two monitors. ...Seem to remember most motherboards I've worked > > with here allow either the onboard video -or- run the daughtercard. > KM> So I decided must be the case, tho it's not universal -- common > KM> enough for laptops to be able to display own screen and out via a > KM> port. Tho not sure how it's set up -- but I've seen laptops that > KM> insist they have both onboard and dedicated video, and both work > KM> simultaneously. > I can sort of see that as a 'speciality' of laptops: at a presentation > need to see what's on the laptop screen and possibly mirror to another > display for the group. KM> Yeah, that's it exactly. I remember when most were still KM> either-or, tho. Things change! ...I'm also remembering to use two monitors my video card had to reduce resolution. Don't recall the numbers and seemed my monitor(s) ran a maxium of 1920x1080 anyway. KM> Did I gripe about CenturyLink yet? they changed my loop -- it got KM> shorter, but my connection went from stable 5Mbps to unstable KM> 4Mpbs, and am told by their now worthless tech support that it KM> sucks to be me. One of the fixed wireless companies is now almost KM> competitive price for faster connection... might have to switch. It almost seems like CenturyLink is setting themselves up to fail. When I had the noisy DSL issue originally (2007?) had several technicians come ot the house and they didn't know what they were doing. (OTOH I've had telephone issues and they've been dealt with properly and promptly.) Think I told you, or at least posted, a few months ago had a line noise (telephone) issue -- when that fixed I 'casually' asked to verify the DSL speed before leaving - was my subscribed 7 Mbps. The tech did comment surprised this area had 10 available as he had just come from an area where 1 was the fastest. I didn't say anything but definitely thinking this is city, not rural, and 10 is slow. So yes, might be good for you to consider switching to the wireless company. I'd be checking the connectivity: decent during bad weather (rain, snow). There are also satellite options -- I googled "Internet providers near me" and one hit was www.HighSpeedInternet.com/ia/davenport -- so switch the locations. Oddly didn't mention Metronet at all. www.BroadbandSearch.com/service/iowa/davenport was the second hit and they do list Metronet as well as a couple more providers. BroadbandNow,com ... Etc. ¯ BarryMartin3@ ® ¯ @MyMetronet.NET ® .... What do cannibals make out of politicians? Bologna sandwiches. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .