Static shock -- dead USB? [FIXED]

cytoSiN

Platinum Member
Jul 11, 2002
2,262
7
81
It seems that a static shock has killed my motherboard's USB ports.

Details: I walked into my home office on a dry morning. Logged onto my machine after overnight sleep. Everything woke fine. Then I touched the mouse, which is mostly metal, and received a nice zap of static electricity (I blame my sweater/slippers and the carpet in the living room). The mouse immediately stopped working. I rebooted, and none of the USB ports on my motherboard work (including all USB2.0 and 3.0, front and back). My keyboard is PS/2, so that's working, and I plugged my mouse into my Rosewill media hub, which also works. I reinstalled drivers for the motherboard's USB, but still getting nothing out of those ports. All other hardware is working fine. Getting a weird "Unknown Device" in the USB section of Device Manager though that wasn't there before, but I'm assuming that's referring to the devices that I still have plugged into the USB3/0 ports on the back of the machine that no longer seem to be functioning. FWIW, the error message is: "Windows has stopped this device because it has reported problems. (Code 43)" Device manager shows the "Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Hub," "Host Controller," and "Root Hub" all working fine with up-to-date drivers.

Is the USB fried? Anything I can do? I've gotten shocked by my mouse LOTS of times before and never had this happen. Thanks in advance!

Edit: I can confirm that power and data are still properly passing through the "dead" ports, as I am still able to light my backlit keyboard, which doesn't work through PS/2 alone, and requires a separate USB plug. Also, information is being sent via USB from my APC to windows through one of the "dead" ports, as I'm able to use the monitoring tool in realtime as always. But the ports won't recognize any mouse, game controller, headset, or any other USB device. I'm stumped!

Another edit: It seems the 2xUSB2.0 ports on the front work fine. But the USB3.0 on the front and back will pass power and data, but won't control any devices (see previous edit). Is it possible that the USB3.0 controller on the motherboard is somehow fried, but will still allow the ports to pass power and receive data? If so, would the only fix be a new motherboard?

Last edit/Solution: I'm an idiot. I've kind of figured all along it was just a build up static electricity, and that I should shut down, unplug, and hold the power button for 10 seconds to discharge. But I was also assuming that if that was the problem, the ports wouldn't work at all,m and as stated above, they were "sort of" working. Anyway, I shut down, unplugged, held the power button for 10 seconds, and voila. Everything back to normal. Moral of the story: Your first answer is usually the correct one. Oh, and ground yourself before you touch your metal mouse when you've been shuffling around on carpet...
 
Last edited:
Reactions: seidali

Meaker10

Senior member
Apr 2, 2002
370
0
0
You might have forced a pin to float with a weird voltage and only by discharging would it reset.
 

Rvenger

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator <br> Video Cards
Apr 6, 2004
6,283
5
81
There is a bad ground somewhere for sure. Sounds like the case or the mouse is the culprit.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,551
10,171
126
Hmm, sounds like perhaps the USB ports were protected via a self-resetting fuse, and shutting everything down made it reset? I know that sometimes, PS/2 ports are protected that way, so that you don't fry them if you hot-plug PS/2 keyboards. (Not a recommended practice, though it can often work.)
 

cytoSiN

Platinum Member
Jul 11, 2002
2,262
7
81
There is a bad ground somewhere for sure. Sounds like the case or the mouse is the culprit.

I can't imagine the HAF X has a grounding issue on its own...its plugged into an APC that is grounded, and the wheels are plastic on a wood floor. pretty sure the mouse is the culprit, but not sure how to fix it. It just plugs into the USB. But it's metal, and it gets dry in here and I have carpet in other rooms. I think I just need to be smart enough to check before I grab the mouse after coming in from a carpeted room on a dry day.
 

Rvenger

Elite Member <br> Super Moderator <br> Video Cards
Apr 6, 2004
6,283
5
81
I can't imagine the HAF X has a grounding issue on its own...its plugged into an APC that is grounded, and the wheels are plastic on a wood floor. pretty sure the mouse is the culprit, but not sure how to fix it. It just plugs into the USB. But it's metal, and it gets dry in here and I have carpet in other rooms. I think I just need to be smart enough to check before I grab the mouse after coming in from a carpeted room on a dry day.


It could be the mouse but you definitely have a short somewhere if your own static electricity disables the USB ports. It could be a lack of ground coming from the motherboard as well. Check your standoffs and tabs on your IO shield. Something is not right and if you short out your computer multiple times, I bet you will start to damage hardware. A similar situation has happened to me in the past where my board wasn't getting a proper ground and then the usb ports would start getting "unknown device" errors intermittently.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,551
10,171
126
I once worked on someone's computer, and I was putting the side back on the case after test-booting it. I grabbed the case side, which was across the room, walked to the computer, and placed the side touching the case. ZAP! Computer shut off completely.

I didn't even touch any components, only the case. Which should be grounded to the PSU, which should be grounded through a three-prong outlet.

Which means, in theory, it shouldn't have done what it did.

Thankfully, the computer booted right up again, after switching off the PSU and back on again in the back. It certainly scared me a bit though.
 

cytoSiN

Platinum Member
Jul 11, 2002
2,262
7
81
It could be the mouse but you definitely have a short somewhere if your own static electricity disables the USB ports. It could be a lack of ground coming from the motherboard as well. Check your standoffs and tabs on your IO shield. Something is not right and if you short out your computer multiple times, I bet you will start to damage hardware. A similar situation has happened to me in the past where my board wasn't getting a proper ground and then the usb ports would start getting "unknown device" errors intermittently.

Thanks for the heads up, I'll definitely check it out more thoroughly this weekend.
 

seidali

Junior Member
Dec 22, 2018
1
1
6
It seems that a static shock has killed my motherboard's USB ports.


Last edit/Solution: I'm an idiot. I've kind of figured all along it was just a build up static electricity, and that I should shut down, unplug, and hold the power button for 10 seconds to discharge. But I was also assuming that if that was the problem, the ports wouldn't work at all,m and as stated above, they were "sort of" working. Anyway, I shut down, unplugged, held the power button for 10 seconds, and voila. Everything back to normal. Moral of the story: Your first answer is usually the correct one. Oh, and ground yourself before you touch your metal mouse when you've been shuffling around on carpet...


Thank you, your solution saved me, my problem occured when my external storage was plugged to laptop usb and i touched it. my laptop had unknown device problem and couldn't recognize my optic mouse and external hard as well. your solution fixed two first problems, but the third problem still exists. it has 2 operation mode for usb 3 and usb 2. when a red light is on it means it is operating in usb 2 mode but when a blue light is on it means it is connected to a usb 3 port. although my shocked laptop has only usb 2 ports, its blue light just turns on. i think my hard has still static charges or its usb 2 mode is fried. as it is working with a laptop with a usb 3 port
 
Reactions: prtskg

cytoSiN

Platinum Member
Jul 11, 2002
2,262
7
81
Thank you, your solution saved me, my problem occured when my external storage was plugged to laptop usb and i touched it. my laptop had unknown device problem and couldn't recognize my optic mouse and external hard as well. your solution fixed two first problems, but the third problem still exists. it has 2 operation mode for usb 3 and usb 2. when a red light is on it means it is operating in usb 2 mode but when a blue light is on it means it is connected to a usb 3 port. although my shocked laptop has only usb 2 ports, its blue light just turns on. i think my hard has still static charges or its usb 2 mode is fried. as it is working with a laptop with a usb 3 port

Glad to see my problem from 6 years ago(!!) was useful. Man I'm getting old....
 
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