Question Can USB overcurrent kill the motherboard ?

[huckmen]

Can USB overcurrent kill monitor and motherboard ?

My H110M motherboard died so I replaced it with an Asus B450M-K II. Then when I booted the PC I got the warning that says "USB overcurrent detected, PC will shutdown".

I unplugged the suspicious usb and the pc booted.

 

[hedwar2011]

Can USB overcurrent kill monitor and motherboard ?

My H110M motherboard died so I replaced it with an Asus B450M-K II. Then when I booted the PC I got the warning that says "USB overcurrent detected, PC will shutdown".

I unplugged the suspicious usb and the pc booted.

I doubt it would carry enough of a current to fry both components but anything is possible I guess depending on what kind of device it is.

My recommendation: Don't plug that device back in again.

 

[huckmen]

I doubt it would carry enough of a current to fry both components but anything is possible I guess depending on what kind of device it is.

My recommendation: Don't plug that device back in again.

Could my old motherboard died from this overcurrent? Does changing USB cable fix the overcurrent problem?

 

[hedwar2011]

Could my old motherboard died from this overcurrent? Does changing USB cable fix the overcurrent problem?

It's possible.
What kind of USB device is it?
The overcurrent would likely come from the device itself and not the cable but if it's a standard USB cable it can't hurt to try a different cable but I recommend doing so at your own risk.

Here's a previous topic here on Tom's dealing with similar overcurrent messages:

Question - USB overcurrent status detected - System will shut down after 15 seconds.

So about 8 times out of 10, when I boot my PC I am greeted with this error. "USB overcurrent status detected - System will shut down after 15 seconds." Unplugging all of my USB devices and performing a power drain didn't fix it . Unplugging the case USB headers did not fix it either, which...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[huckmen]

It's possible.
What kind of USB device is it?
The overcurrent would likely come from the device itself and not the cable but if it's a standard USB cable it can't hurt to try a different cable but I recommend doing so at your own risk.

Here's a previous topic here on Tom's dealing with similar overcurrent messages:

Question - USB overcurrent status detected - System will shut down after 15 seconds.

So about 8 times out of 10, when I boot my PC I am greeted with this error. "USB overcurrent status detected - System will shut down after 15 seconds." Unplugging all of my USB devices and performing a power drain didn't fix it . Unplugging the case USB headers did not fix it either, which...

forums.tomshardware.com

Device is touch screen monitor. My monitor died with my motherboard. I send the monitor to ASUS they fixed and send back to me. Before its not even powering now its working. The cable is male USB-B female USB-A to USB to PC. Changing all the cables can work?

 

[hedwar2011]

Device is touch screen monitor. My monitor died with my motherboard. I send the monitor to ASUS they fixed and send back to me. Before its not even powering now its working. The cable is male USB-B female USB-A to USB to PC. Changing all the cables can work?

Possibly, but after doing some more research, make sure that there are no metal-on-metal contact points inside your case. That seems to be a trending cause.

 

[huckmen]

Possibly, but after doing some more research, make sure that there are no metal-on-metal contact points inside your case. That seems to be a trending cause.

Thank you.

 

[LinuxDevice]

USB standards change power delivery depending on the socket type, and USB-C has the most changes, but the theme is the same on all of them: Provide a given amount of current, and if too much is drawn, it will have either an active fuse (which shuts down, but doesn't require replacement when power and sink are restored), or else a polymer fuse (they are fuses which have a polymer that melts when it gets hot enough, and breaks the power delivery; then, when it cools, the fuse self-restores, though it might take a long time, e.g., you might wait a full day to use it again).

When you get a message about over-current, then it can be from too many devices on the cable. Most HUBs pass the power delivery requirement from all devices to the host PC. An active/powered HUB has its own power supply, and increases the amount of power available, and so if you have an active HUB, then the only possibility of the host PC itself seeing an over-current is if the wiring itself is bad (or perhaps if the HUB reports over-current, but the power available goes up on an active HUB).

It would not be unusual for what @hedwar2011 mentions to be a problem: The motherboard or some part inside the chassis can short, and this would never recover until the short is removed.

Keyboards and mice and most joysticks don't use much power (the force feedback versions do, but they are externally powered). Headphones would not normally use much power either. Cameras and external drives use significantly more power. The higher the resolution and scan rate of a camera the more power it will use, but I think hard drives use a lot more power. If you don't have devices which consume a lot of power, then wiring seems to be at fault. One tool to debug is a powered HUB, which removes power delivery from the PC and hands off that requirement to the external power supply. You can place devices on an externally powered HUB and see if it solves the problem.

It is unlikely for a USB over-current to destroy the motherboard due to the fuse arrangement. On the other hand, if there are shorts, then perhaps USB was just one symptom of a wider problem.