Author Topic: Skuzzy or any techies (Read 446 times)

stockli · « **on:** December 07, 2006, 03:26:06 PM »

What could be a reason for my PC eating controls (burning them out)

My PC is killing sticks, an x52 and now a st290

It shows up as installed and ready, the pc does its magic and then it wont recognize the controller, then the controller is dead on all machines.

the darndest thing.

Why would this happen?

A grounding issue? A miswired MB?

Krusty · « **Reply #1 on:** December 07, 2006, 03:48:38 PM »

well if it's USB and it's killing all things USB then I'd suspect it's your motherboard.

or

I'd check the BIOS for voltage levels. If they're way high, they could just be shorting things out.

Mind you I'm no expert when it comes to this, I've never had it happen to me before. These are just guesses.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #2 on:** December 07, 2006, 04:50:49 PM »

Sounds like the USB bus is being over driven. Poor regulation of the power (motherboard regulator or power supply) could be the culprit.

Krusty · « **Reply #3 on:** December 07, 2006, 09:34:08 PM »

I had a bad PSU before I got this one. It had very low 3.3 rates, but VERY high 12v rates (it was doing 15.8v average, I'm shocked I didn't fry everything I had!!) so I'd suggest double checking your current volts on your motherboard, just to be sure.

Greebo · « **Reply #4 on:** December 08, 2006, 02:08:53 AM »

You could try a self powered USB hub, at the least it would help eliminate voltage as the cause of the problem.

OOZ662 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 08, 2006, 02:21:25 AM »

I had this happen over a period of 6 months, eating 7 X45s (Best Buy paid for 6...eh heh) at even periods. After I built this computer, it all went away. My suspect was the PSU I had transfered from computer to computer for a couple years; check that. If you have a known good PSU lying around, throw it in and see.

I noticed that powered USB hubs wouldn't work with an X45. Or rather, the other way around.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #6 on:** December 08, 2006, 07:37:27 AM »

If the USB bus is being overdriven, and I really think it is, then connecting a powered USB bus, would just move the damage to the powered hub.

MOIL · « **Reply #7 on:** December 09, 2006, 03:57:00 AM »

Sounds like you got a MB and OR PS issue. I'd look there first.

~~p.s. using the hub will just transfer the prob to the hub~~

llama · « **Reply #8 on:** December 09, 2006, 04:05:19 PM »

Agreed with all the others that it is a motherboard that's sending too much voltage down the USB lines.

Short of getting a new motherboard (which is probably the best thing to do, but boy can it be a lot of work to a non-techie), the best solution is probably...

...dramatic pause...

a USB2 PCI card. I prefer the model Belkin sells, since it uses an NEC chip that has proven very stable, compatible, and reliable in my experience. It even works well with an overclocked PCI bus. Belkin's home page has it at:

http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=107412

but you can find it for about $20 at:

http://www.provantage.com/belkin-f5u220v1~7BELW01W.htm

The cart should have its own power regulation, which it draws from the PCI bus anyway.

And finally, WIndows XP SP2 automatically recognizes it, so there's no driver headaches.

-Llama

wrag · « **Reply #9 on:** December 10, 2006, 04:13:58 PM »

Would a OCZ power supplies be of use in a case like this?

I have one I purchased sometime back.

It's tuneable.

The voltage coming out of the power supply can be rasied or lowered using some dials on the back of the power supply.

Don't know if that would help a bad MB. Probably not.

Hmmm does any other power supply have that? The ability to tune the power output amounts?

Got this system on a fairly high powered UPS. Had a power supply die due to power LOWs/brownouts. Took the MB and sound card, with it. Litteraly blew some capacitor caps right off the MB and soundcard. Sounded terrible! and smoked allot for a few seconds afterward. Got unplugged real fast!