Help diagnosing a problem

[Greboth]

Hi all,

I’m looking for some advice diagnosing a problem that’s occured over the last few days. I was playing a game on Saturday and my mouse stopped working - a bit of investigating at the time and my mouse was working and it was some of my usb ports had stopped. However the game and PC continued to work fine.

Restarted my PC to see if it fixed the issue and got stuck on the Asus splash screen with the motherboard displaying q-code b4 which is a usb hot plug error. I unplugged all usb, including internal usb headers, rebooted and still got the b4 error. Cleared CMOS, still B4.

Fully power cycled inc. plug socket off and I can get the PC to boot - I get the error no kb or mouse plugged in and I need to do the bios set up which make sense as I reset CMOS. I plug in a keyboard and mouse and get in to BIOS, checking BIOS settings and it starts lagging before eventually locking up entirely.

Repeat the above until I can get in to BIOS again - this time quickly checking boot drive and saving. PC restarts and boots in to windows fine. BIOS crashing is unusual so first though was temperatures - CPU in high 30's, GPU low 40's - perfect idle temps so certainly not overheating at idle. 20 minutes of running prime95 and Furmark see CPU in to low 70's and GPU in to low 80's - again perfectly fine. I've run both for an hour and while I melted having the PC kick out that much heat - the PC was fine.

So I've ruled out temps - restarted PC several times over and all fine. PC continued to work fine for Sunday (watching tv, gaming and 3d rendering) and was on and off several times throughout the day. PC booted up fine at lunch time while I watched some TV but turning it on after work today and back to q code B4 again. Rinse and repeat above and I can again get back in to windows again.

PC Specs:
Ryzen 2700X
Asus ROG X470 Hero
32Gb RAM Team Group Dark Pro 8 Pack (4 x 8Gb)
Samsung nvme boot
1 ssd, 3 mech drives for storage.
Corsair RM850x 850w psu.
Windows 10

The PC has been running fine since I built it ~2 years ago. The only change to the PC recently was a GPU change on 29th May (1070 for 2080). It seems too coincidental that the problems should start after a hardware change though I can't see why a GPU would cause the above problems a week after being installed especially as there's been no other issues with gaming, rendering or stress testing it.

My current thinking is a fresh windows install as, from what I can find googling, the usb hot plug error comes after bios has handed off to windows. Though I can't see why a boot drive / windows problem would cause a BIOS crash.

So all in all, I'm a little confused as I can't think of anything that fits all the symptoms except for MB but I know it's hard to confirm MB problems so I'm turning to lot for advice.

 

[Tetras]

Do you use sleep or hibernate modes?
Any software that interacts with the USB devices?
Updated chipset drivers?

Did you move the PC when you put the new card in and put the USB devices in a different order, which could cause some kind of conflict or other issue?
USB hub or rear I/O being overloaded by too many high draw devices plugged into the same set of ports?
High draw devices in older USB ports, or vice versa?
A device that function fine from a header not working from rear I/O, or vice versa?
A difference in which ports are powered when the system is switched off?

 

[Greboth]

Thanks for the reply Tetras, you've given me some additional things to think about. To answer your questions though;

Do you use sleep or hibernate modes? It was set to fully shutdown, though I have a vague recollection there are some options in the BIOS for keeping things powered on but since resetting cmos I'm not sure what the default is so I'll have to check.
Any software that interacts with the USB devices? Logitech gaming software controls the RGB for my mouse - though this has been installed since day 1.
Updated chipset drivers? I have not recently but will do.

Did you move the PC when you put the new card in and put the USB devices in a different order, which could cause some kind of conflict or other issue? Yes, I moved the PC and I've no idea where the usb's were so going to go with yes, they're in a different order.
USB hub or rear I/O being overloaded by too many high draw devices plugged into the same set of ports? No USB hub but maybe rear I/O. Though the only things permanently plugged in are mouse, keyboard, usb headset and a wireless receiver for a keyboard.
High draw devices in older USB ports, or vice versa? Not sure any of the above count as high draw but they're not old usb ports.
A device that function fine from a header not working from rear I/O, or vice versa? I tried multiple ports front and rear ports when the initial problem happened. It didn't seem device specific but port specific - some worked and some didn't irrespective of what was plugged in them. Though, when I can get into windows, all ports do work now.
A difference in which ports are powered when the system is switched off? I'll have to dig out the manual to check but I think all rear usb ports remain powered with this board.

 

[jsmoke]

Do you have onboard graphics if so try it to rule out GPU.

 

[varkanoid]

USB ports going is a sign of a faulty motherboard. My brothers did the same thing. Replaced the motherboard and was fine afterwards.

 

[jsmoke]

USB ports going is a sign of a faulty motherboard. My brothers did the same thing. Replaced the motherboard and was fine afterwards.

Yeh that's usually my findings it's to do with a power surge or some power problem you can damage the controller.

Can you use a PS/2 port?

 

[varkanoid]

In my brothers case he spilt liquid on it ! Motherboard worked fine all USB ports were faulty bar one which was odd.

 

[Greboth]

Thanks for the replies guys

Do you have onboard graphics if so try it to rule out GPU.

No, 2700x doesn't come with onboard graphics unfortunately though I do have an old old gpu I could test with.

Yeh that's usually my findings it's to do with a power surge or some power problem you can damage the controller.

Can you use a PS/2 port?

That is sort of what I was thinking especially as it initially happened while using the PC rather than being broken directly after changing things or first boot up. Also by the fact I get a USB error when there's nothing plugged in leads me to think it's a Mb issue. Though could be fun trying to RMA a MB with what so far appears to be intermittent problem.

The board does have 1 PS2 port though I have no PS2 kb/mouse but it would be easy enough to get an adapter. Though I'm not sure the purpose? It might get round the problem but can't see how it helps identify or fix the problem.

USB ports going is a sign of a faulty motherboard. My brothers did the same thing. Replaced the motherboard and was fine afterwards.

In my brothers case he spilt liquid on it ! Motherboard worked fine all USB ports were faulty bar one which was odd.

If something like that had happened, at least I'd know what caused it. The seemingly random timing of it is what's confused me.

 

[varkanoid]

Might have been a short on the board either from the standoffs or something falling inside it.

 

[merlin6r]

Hi all,

I’m looking for some advice diagnosing a problem that’s occured over the last few days. I was playing a game on Saturday and my mouse stopped working - a bit of investigating at the time and my mouse was working and it was some of my usb ports had stopped. However the game and PC continued to work fine.

Restarted my PC to see if it fixed the issue and got stuck on the Asus splash screen with the motherboard displaying q-code b4 which is a usb hot plug error. I unplugged all usb, including internal usb headers, rebooted and still got the b4 error. Cleared CMOS, still B4.

Fully power cycled inc. plug socket off and I can get the PC to boot - I get the error no kb or mouse plugged in and I need to do the bios set up which make sense as I reset CMOS. I plug in a keyboard and mouse and get in to BIOS, checking BIOS settings and it starts lagging before eventually locking up entirely.

Repeat the above until I can get in to BIOS again - this time quickly checking boot drive and saving. PC restarts and boots in to windows fine. BIOS crashing is unusual so first though was temperatures - CPU in high 30's, GPU low 40's - perfect idle temps so certainly not overheating at idle. 20 minutes of running prime95 and Furmark see CPU in to low 70's and GPU in to low 80's - again perfectly fine. I've run both for an hour and while I melted having the PC kick out that much heat - the PC was fine.

So I've ruled out temps - restarted PC several times over and all fine. PC continued to work fine for Sunday (watching tv, gaming and 3d rendering) and was on and off several times throughout the day. PC booted up fine at lunch time while I watched some TV but turning it on after work today and back to q code B4 again. Rinse and repeat above and I can again get back in to windows again.

PC Specs:
Ryzen 2700X
Asus ROG X470 Hero
32Gb RAM Team Group Dark Pro 8 Pack (4 x 8Gb)
Samsung nvme boot
1 ssd, 3 mech drives for storage.
Corsair RM850x 850w psu.
Windows 10

The PC has been running fine since I built it ~2 years ago. The only change to the PC recently was a GPU change on 29th May (1070 for 2080). It seems too coincidental that the problems should start after a hardware change though I can't see why a GPU would cause the above problems a week after being installed especially as there's been no other issues with gaming, rendering or stress testing it.

My current thinking is a fresh windows install as, from what I can find googling, the usb hot plug error comes after bios has handed off to windows. Though I can't see why a boot drive / windows problem would cause a BIOS crash.

So all in all, I'm a little confused as I can't think of anything that fits all the symptoms except for MB but I know it's hard to confirm MB problems so I'm turning to lot for advice.

Do you have another keyboard and mouse to try? Even USB ones. You need to rule out a fault in either of those devices causing the USB to drop out.