USB Short Causing System Failure?

[coolzero16]

Is it possible for a USB port, USB cable, or USB device to short out and cause my system to auto restart?

For months now my computer will randomly restart. I have windows 7 set to NOT automatically restart, yet there was no blue screen for months. All temps are fine. Just recently, I finally got TWO blue screens within the same week. Both of these blue screens pointed to a USB error. Also, just a few minutes ago I went to hop on the PC and as I hit a random key I heard a loud *cackle* through my PC speaker. I stopped instantly and then purposefully went and hit the space bar key. As I hit the space bar another loud *cackle* came through and the PC shut down. Since then I've tried isolating the problem by

1) using a different keyboard
2) not using the USB port the keyboard was originally on

but the shut downs are very random and I have not been able to reproduce the error on demand.

Has anyone heard of issues like this before? I've been building my own PCs for about 10 years now so I've had a lot of random crap happen, but I had not heard of this before.

 

[jamesmcuk]

Well I have not heard of it doing it randomly but I know that shorts do indeed shut the pc off instantly as I have discovered a few times when playing around with my PC whilst live lol

 

[mlc]

if you suspect a usb related error with a short.. it's more likely to be one of the usb hubs on the board that connect to the case usb ports.. So try disconnecting the front usb ports on your case from the board to see if the problem goes away... ?

the other thing you can try is a ps2 based keyboard, rather than the USB based one...

or.. try uninstalling all of the usb hubs/drivers, etc.. and let windows refind/reinstall .. to rule out a driver issue....

...though i doubt that's related to the pc restart issues..

crackling usually is due to sound card drivers, poor connections (on your board) or psu issue ,

 

[jamesmcuk]

crackling usually is due to sound card drivers, poor connections (on your board) or psu issue ,

I agree and your only 5 post off Senior so GZ