"Rick" said:
Please, If anyone can help me.
I have the P4P800 Deluxe. It ran great for 10 months.
Yesterday USB just dissapeared. The bios hasn't changed.
8 ports, High-Speed, Legacy enabled (since I now have to use ps2
devices to get around).
On that bios screen it says no USB detected?!
WindowsXP sp2 seems to destect it all ok.
I plug in a usb devise which lights up even before windows boots up,
and it doesn't now. It appears all my USB ports - even the headers on
the motherboard are dead.
I re-installed the Motherboard CD with the drivers & chipset stuff.
No-Luck.
I bought this MoBo from NewEgg about 10months ago, but I don't have the
box, I doubt they or even Asus would help me. (although someone told me
to look for the receipt as there is 1yr warranty on this board and the
original box probably isn't needed)
I would hate to go thru all that as I need it everyday for my work.
Has anyone else had this problem?
Thanks,
Rick
Things I would try:
1) Reset the CMOS. First, enter the BIOS, and record any
custom settings that you made. Then, shut down and unplug the
computer. Follow the procedure in the manual - section 2.7
"Jumpers".
It could be that a bit got corrupted in the CMOS memory,
and the checksum didn't detect the corruption. Clearing the
CMOS will reset that data. You could also try something
like "Load Setup Defaults", as that might work, and it could
be a bit simpler to execute than clearing the CMOS.
2) If that doesn't improve matters, the next step would be to
flash the BIOS. (You can use the same version as the
motherboard shipped with from the factory. That is why it is
handy, soon after you get a motherboard, to make a backup
copy of the BIOS, so you can get the BIOS back in mint
condition.) Once in a great while, an Asus BIOS chip gets
"bit rot", and some code gets corrupted in the BIOS. The BIOS
also has data sections in it, called DMI and ESCD. The ESCD
configuration data is supposed to be checked on each POST, to
see if anything in the hardware has changed, so I fail to see
how it could cause a problem. Flashing the BIOS will not
only refresh the code modules, it can also blank out the
DMI and ESCD for you as well. Depending on the flash tool
used, this could be the default kind of flash operation, or
you may need to specify options to have it done.
3) The hardware failure could be caused by an extra brass standoff
being present underneath the motherboard, and it has decided
to touch something important right now. Inspect underneath the
motherboard, and make sure each standoff used, lines up with
a proper plated mounting hole on the motherboard.
While the motherboard is out of the computer case, you can also
connect the PSU and peripherals, and boot up the machine outside
the case. This is called the "cardboard test", for the fact that
a piece of cardboard and perhaps a large book, should be placed
underneath the motherboard, to insulate and support the
motherboard, while you are plugging stuff in.
Always unplug the computer, before touching anything. This
helps to ensure that the green motherboard LED is never lit,
while you are adding or removing cards, drives, ram, or processor.
While you can also eyeball the green LED, and just make sure it
is extinguished, unplugging is just an easy habit to get into.
If the USB ports come alive, while doing the cardboard test,
inspect carefully, for any possibilities of a short forming
under the board. Reinstall the motherboard, taking care to
make sure the brass standoffs are centered under the holes,
as if they are off center too far, they could touch something
they are not supposed to.
4) Once all the volative and non-volatile data stores of one sort
and another have been refreshed, then you can perhaps assume that
a hardware failure has occurred.
USB power has a soft off option, and I've had one port pair on
a motherboard disable themselves. If there is a "root hub" missing
in the Device Manager, that can be enough to prevent the USB
ports from getting power.
USB power also flows through a fuse or two. These fuses are of
the "polyfuse" type, which is a fuse that opens when it overheats,
and closes again when it cools. Such a fuse never needs to be
replaced, as it is like an automatic breaker. If a polyfuse is
going open circuit right now, chances are, there is a short
of the USB +5V signal to ground. Check any USB 2x5 headers on the
motherboard, and make sure a ground wire has not been connected
to the USB power (+5V) pin by mistake.
5) A USB card makes for a quick fix for the problem. If the USB
card also dies on you, it could be one of your USB devices is
killing ports. Again, the easiest way for that to happen, would
be for some kind of wiring error or short involving +5V or a
GND wire in the USB device.
6) In Windows, cleaning out the Device Manager, of any USB related
entries, while booted in Safe Mode, will allow Windows to
re-enumerate the hardware later. I don't expect this will be
necessary in your case, as it is more likely the hardware
really isn't visible to software right now, for whatever reason.
In any case, if the BIOS eventually stops complaining, but
Windows is still confused about your USB, see this page:
http://www.usbman.com/Guides/Cleanup Device Manager Safe Mode.htm
Good luck,
Paul
