Computer freezes at splash screen if any USB peripheral is plugged in - cant enter BIOS

[madsbrodt3]

Hey there,

For a while, my PC has been unable to boot if any USB peripherals (mouse, keyboard) etc are plugged in during boot. The PC does the single *beep* indicating a successful boot, but freezes immediately at the splash screen. I've been dealing with it by taking out everything when booting, and plugging it in again at the Windows screen where everything works normally. However, I wanted to format the PC but can not enter the BIOS as having a keyboard plugged in at the splash screen hangs the system.

Specs:
Mobo: ASUS B85M-e
RAM: 2x 4GB DDR3
CPU: i5-3770k
HDD: standard 1tb drive
SSD: Samsung 840 (plugged in, but has nothing on it)
PSU: 635w Bronze certified (cant find exact model)

Things I have tried:
- Only having a keyboard plugged in
- All available USB 2.0 AND 3.0 ports
- Updating drivers in Windows
- Booting with one RAM stick only (in different slots)
- Resetting the CMOS by removing and re-inserting the CMOS battery

This last one led to a different problem: After the splash screen (can still only be reached without anything plugged in), I need to press a button to reset the BIOS. But I cant do that, as inserting any keyboard (tested with 3 different ones) freezes the system. So now I am also unable to do the old workaround with unplugging everything and waiting for the Windows boot. So right now the system is completely unusable, which sucks.

I've been Googling nonstop for 2 days now but can't seem to find the cause of the problem. Any help is much appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Peter Martin]

New mobo time

 

[Jwpanz]

Try removing your boot drive. This will force your system to head straight to the bios. Try it with your keyboard plugged in.

If you can get in there then look for your USB settings and see if anything is wrong. My guess, however, is that you may have a corrupted bios and/or bad motherboard chipset. The only fix I see to your problem is to replace the motherboard.

 

[madsbrodt3]

New mobo time

Might be. It's just sad because it was "working" fine if I let it boot into Windows without anything plugged in

Try removing your boot drive. This will force your system to head straight to the bios. Try it with your keyboard plugged in.

If you can get in there then look for your USB settings and see if anything is wrong. My guess, however, is that you may have a corrupted bios and/or bad motherboard chipset. The only fix I see to your problem is to replace the motherboard.

I will try that, thanks. However, I did manage to get into the BIOS at some point (I forgot how tbh, but it was before removing the CMOS battery - maybe it was by not having the boot drive plugged in), but as soon as I plugged in the keyboard to navigate in the BIOS, it froze - I could tell by the time in there which stopped moving

 

[Jwpanz]

Ya, it’s time for a new motherboard if that’s the case

 

[madsbrodt3]

Ya, it’s time for a new motherboard if that’s the case

You're probably right. Is there any way to be 100% sure that its the motherboard failing and not the PSU or some other component? Would be a shame to buy a new mobo if it turns out that's not the source of the problem.

I was thinking of giving it one last shot with a PS/2 keyboard to see if I can at least boot back into Windows so the system is usable before I buy a new board.

 

[dshort01]

I have seen this in various scenarios. I believe this to be a manufactures BIOS issue.