[SOLVED] USB no power during startup, random shutdown after windows login

[xblaauw]

Hey,


It's been a while since i found myself tinkering with computers, but a friend dropped his pc with a mysterious problem and i'm stumped. Let me describe it as briefly yet completely as possible.

He told me it wouldn't start, it would start the fans but there would be no image on the screen, we video-called and it turned on like normal. A week later he had the same problem again, this time no magical fix. So he dropped it off at my house.

I tested each stick of RAM individually and found one stick with which the system wouldn't post, so i replaced it with a known good one and now the system start up reliably. I thought i was done but far from it.

The system boots into windows like normal, once i log in the user account, after about 1 minute the system shuts down with no warning (no shutdown prompt, just black screen and loss of power). I thought that the PSU was to blame so i started it up again and didn't log into the user account, for some reason, it does not shut down. I've had it running for well over an hour without any error, mind you, not logged into the windows user account, just sitting at the login screen.

My conclusion was that it has to be a software issue that triggers once you log into the user account. So i thought, i will reset the SSD and reinstall windows, problem solved right? Actually, to do that i would need to have power to the USB during post, however, the USB power only starts up once windows has started. Therefore i can't control the bios or use a usb stick to reinstall windows.

Two interesting observations i made, the USB power flashes briefly during startup (i know because my keyboard lights up for a second). And the problem persists on the front side USB bus, as well as the USB buss directly connected to a LAN port, which is receiving power during startup.

I'm considering putting the SSD into my desktop and reinstalling windows from there, however i can't do that for almost a week since i need the desktop to be powered on 24/7 for work (it hosts a number of services). Therefore i thought i could ask here to see if anybody is familiar with a set of problems like this, or has any suggestions that i could implement without shutting down my own pc.

Sadly i don't have a spare PSU on hand to test out, i would have tested that before posting if i could.


Kind regards,
XBlaauw

 

[NalyAhmad]

Hello XBlaaw,

I am sorry you are having issues, the solution to this might be hard considering I don't know what caused these problems. I am going with your thought about the PSU, the PSU might be failing at different points. For the USB problem, it might be the PSU or it might be the Motherboard.

Hope this helps,
Naly A

 

[xblaauw]

I bought and installed a new PSU, after turning it on it all seemed fine, but after about 15 min the pc lost power no warning. I'm beginning to think the old psu killed the motherboard too. Do you happen to know if there are any logs in windows that i could look for to get some more information?

 

[NalyAhmad]

Hi,

Thanks for your reply, can you try and reinstall Windows? Has the PC have USB Power now with the new PSU, maybe there is something wrong with the Motherboard. Another way is to get into the BIOS in Turbo Mode / Gaming Mode. Also try giving the BIOS an update, it might be risky though as maybe during the BIOS Update it might lose power.

Hope this helps,
Naly A

 

[xblaauw]

I have no way of getting into the bios sadly, i don't have a ps2 keyboard and i can't find any in my area for a reasonable price. Additionally, the owner of the pc is done with waiting and uncertainty so we have decided that its time to strip the pc for parts and reuse / sell those and move on to a new pc. Thank you for your help along the way

 

[NalyAhmad]

Hi xblaauw,

Thanks for your reply, I am sure you are right, getting a new PC must be easier as some other faults might occur. I was happy to try and help. Remember, if there is any more issues with your new PC, do not hesitate to ask.