USB Power

Axel40

Axel40

Axel40

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Joined
26 Jun 2004
Posts
182
Hi,

Just a quick question. I just got a WD Passport drive. Which stays on when the PC is off! Any idea why that is? And is there a way to disable USB power when the pc is off? My mobo is ASUS A8N Premium, I had a quick look around the BIOS and couldnt see anything....

Any ideas?
Cheers.
 
USB is powered as long as the pc has power, unless you turn it 'hard off' via the switch on the psu. Check for a firmware update for the drive, as most drives should spin down when not in use otherwise they won't last very long. I'm supprised USB standby power is enough to power it.
If that doesn't work you will just have to unplug it when you shut down.
 
Hmmmm thanks for the reply, i cant find any firmware updates on the WD site. And contacting WD about this has concluded with them telling me to stop the drive in windows, which i allways do. And it still stays on!

Very annoying, anyone actually got one of these drives?
 
Had this same problem with a matrix orbital lcd i put in my machine, the screen was lit even though the pc had powered down.

Some motherboards only power certain usb ports when swtiched off, have you tried plugging it into different usb ports?.

Also on my neo2 plat motherboard there were switches on the motherboard which i could open or close to stop usb drawing power when switched off.

Think its very motherboard specific, sorry i cant help you with your motherboard but try giving these a go to see if youve got them on yours.
 
Thanks for the reply.

I tried all 6 USB ports, same problem :(

Unfortuantly i cant find anyting in the manual that even slightly resembles anyting relating to USB power while off!

Anyone know anything about this with ASUS mobos?

Thanks for your help so far!
 
You could check to see if USB support in the BIOS is switched on.
This normally keeps power to the usb ports to allow you to switch your computer on using a usb keyboard/mouse
 
Well yeah thats what im doing....

But it should turn off, would you find this acceptable with other USB devices? Would you unplug your mouse/keyboards everytime you turn off your pc?
 
i find it quite handy actually - i could charge my h10 mp3 player via usb when the pc was off for instance.



anyway, it should be a jumper on your motherboard. check your manual
 
Axel40 said:
Well yeah thats what im doing....

But it should turn off, would you find this acceptable with other USB devices? Would you unplug your mouse/keyboards everytime you turn off your pc?
Click to expand...
I have an led mousmat that stays lit after the pc is off, and i always switch the pc and monitors off at the wall, partly so that the mousmat isn't lit (although it does have a switch) and partly in case there is a power problem or someone switches it on accidentally or something.
But isn't this drive just like a large usb memory stick?
Why do you have it plugged in all the time? Normally with a usb memory stick i only plug it in when i want to use it anyway so its no trouble unplugging it when i'm finished.

I don't think there is a jumper on the board, i've never come across one on any board anyway.
 
Joe42 said:
I don't think there is a jumper on the board, i've never come across one on any board anyway.
Click to expand...

thats incorrect:)

it will be called either 'usb power on' or 'keyboard power on'. something along those lines. Primary use is to enable you to power the system up with a usb device or a usb keyboard.

The jumpers will switch the feature on or off and to do that, they control the usb power state when the pc is off. think about it - to power the pc up with a usb keyboard, the keyboard has to be constantly powered.

ive got both on my motherboard. keyboard on control power to the mainboard ports, usb on controls all the extra ports plugged in to the board. You have seen it before, you just didnt know what it does;)
 
On both my asus boards the only jumpers i have are the cmos reset and front panel audio jumpers.

There are some power options in the bios that say something like 'allow power on with keyboard'.
 
Thanks for the replies :)

Joe42 said:
But isn't this drive just like a large usb memory stick?
.
Click to expand...

I'd like to keep it connected when i'm using the PC for the additional storage and back up etc. Its just a 2.5" HDD drive in a case!

I'll have a look (again) in the bios, but afaik all the options in the "power" tab are disabled. Like that keyboard power on thing you are talking about
 
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