bummer.....

  • Thread starter Thread starter joeym
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joeym

joeym

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Yesterday in the room adjacent to my studio, a simple light-bulb blew out. This made the circuirt breaker for that part of the house switch off. After fixing the light and switching the circuit breaker on, all the USB inputs in my computer are dead. Nothing works, no printer, no mouse, no USB sticks. Everything alse is ok. I'm thinking since it happened when the light blew, it must be a hardware problem rather than a software one, but I'm no expert.
Guess I'll have to take it to the repair shop this evening, huh?:(
 
check your bios

there's a good chance that the force reboot has caused the bios to revert to default settings...



worth a shot?


i've heard a lot of people sayin that their keyboard wont work until they are in windows,,

always turns out that they didn't turn the pc off right, and usb legacy supports has defaulted to off
 
joeym said:
Yesterday in the room adjacent to my studio, a simple light-bulb blew out. This made the circuirt breaker for that part of the house switch off. After fixing the light and switching the circuit breaker on, all the USB inputs in my computer are dead. Nothing works, no printer, no mouse, no USB sticks. Everything alse is ok. I'm thinking since it happened when the light blew, it must be a hardware problem rather than a software one, but I'm no expert.
Guess I'll have to take it to the repair shop this evening, huh?:(
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What happened that blew a bulb AND tripped a breaker? That's kind of weird. A power surge? Probably damaged the PS in your computer. Do you have your equipment on a UPS? You should. A good one will have two outlets; one for battery back-up, the other not on the battery. Both will have good signal conditioners to filter out any spikes or noise.

I run everything off one UPS. Just the computer and one monitor will run off the battery during a power outage, but the rest is well protected from my utility company, mother nature, neighbors, etc.
 
Chili said:
What happened that blew a bulb AND tripped a breaker? That's kind of weird. A power surge? Probably damaged the PS in your computer. Do you have your equipment on a UPS? You should. A good one will have two outlets; one for battery back-up, the other not on the battery. Both will have good signal conditioners to filter out any spikes or noise.

I run everything off one UPS. Just the computer and one monitor will run off the battery during a power outage, but the rest is well protected from my utility company, mother nature, neighbors, etc.
Click to expand...

Don't know Dave, I just flipped the light switch and everything went poof....! The light bulb holder is naked, bulb's not in a cover and it gets pretty cold where it is, it's just a store-room with no heating. Might have been the big change in temperature when I flipped the switch or dampness or something.

What exactly do you mean with all the equipment on a UPS? A power generator? We've actually never had a power cut where we are. I suspect that somehow, this part of the house is not wired adequately. The computer works and everything, it's just that all USB ports are dead.
 
In my many years of building pc's Ive had this happen a few times. Power goes out and the surge takes my mainboard with it. I use surge protectors but they dont always work. Especially if your outboard gear attached via the firewire or usb ports uses an outlet for power. So my money is one the motherboard. What kind of cpu is it ? May be time to upgrade it.
 
BushmasterM4 said:
In my many years of building pc's Ive had this happen a few times. Power goes out and the surge takes my mainboard with it. I use surge protectors but they dont always work. Especially if your outboard gear attached via the firewire or usb ports uses an outlet for power. So my money is one the motherboard. What kind of cpu is it ? May be time to upgrade it.
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He said the computer is working fine except USB. Certainly can't be motherboard unless it is just the USB part of it. I second Steenamaroo that it could just be the BIOS. I had a PC a few years ago that every once in a while, the USB ports would quit. Check the BIOS and sure enough it had reset to factory defaults. Cost nothing to start there.
 
good call washburn...

like i said though, it's more likely to have a disabled usb legacy rather than completely disabling usb,,but still, worth a try...



i have heard of usb chipsets being blown for whatever reason though,,,,,in which case the first reply is tip top.......get a pci usb card for like,,,a pound :)



good luck.
 
If the PS was toast the pc wouldn't boot. Did you have any usb devices plugged into wall outlets, like a usb ext. hard drive or something? oh well, what's done is done, doesn't really matter how at this point.. Sux regardless....
 
Hey Joey, where is your power conditioner? You do have one right? If not it would be good insurance to buy one. Sweetwater sells the Furman for about $100.00 Good luck. Keep us updated.
 
suprstar said:
If the PS was toast the pc wouldn't boot. Did you have any usb devices plugged into wall outlets, like a usb ext. hard drive or something? oh well, what's done is done, doesn't really matter how at this point.. Sux regardless....
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Yeah, i wasn't sure if there was a separate 5v rail solely for periphs like USB, FW, etc. Just weird only the USB would quit. Hopefully, it's a bios thing and easily fixed.

Hey Joey, I've got an APC ups. It has two busses, one is battery backed and the other is not, but both have great power conditioning. I only plug the computer and one monitor into the battery backed outlet and everything else into the other outlets. So, my whole studio is protected from surges, RF noise, interference or whatevers. Plus, everything shares the same ground, so no loops or hums.

Good luck.
 
+1 for APC UPS/condtioners

although at this point it's locking the door after the horse has bolted, met a nice mare, settled down and had some foals

should protect you in the future though and they are reasonably priced
 
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You could get one of those new computers that run on air. You don't even need to plug them in. Apple makes one called the Macbook Air (or something like that)?

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wait a minute...I think I got that wrong.:D
 
Yeah I guess nowadays not a whole lot uses that 5v, there was a lot more years ago... I guess cdroms and floppies still use it. I was googling, found an article saying how PS manufacturers inflate the power specs by saying the 5v can deliver 50+ amps or something ridiculous, knowing nobody could ever possibly use that much.. Turns a 400w PS into a 700w one real fast,
 
Holy shit this is all new territory for me....I never thought about a power conditioner before. Gotta google.........:rolleyes:
 
dastrick said:
You could get one of those new computers that run on air. You don't even need to plug them in. Apple makes one called the Macbook Air (or something like that)?

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wait a minute...I think I got that wrong.:D
Click to expand...

I've tried inserting a coin in a slot....but it didn't work either!:D
 
Washburn100 said:
He said the computer is working fine except USB. Certainly can't be motherboard unless it is just the USB part of it. I second Steenamaroo that it could just be the BIOS. I had a PC a few years ago that every once in a while, the USB ports would quit. Check the BIOS and sure enough it had reset to factory defaults. Cost nothing to start there.
Click to expand...



Actually the onboard USB controller (and other controller/peripherals) can go bad with out it effecting the whole system. Ive had many go bad in the past. But yes, do check the bios first to make sure it has not been disabled. Make sure nothing is messed up in "device manager" too. Move your ass to Ohio Joey !!! I have tons of motherboards laying around and would fix you up for free !!!
 
BushmasterM4 said:
Actually the onboard USB controller (and other controller/peripherals) can go bad with out it effecting the whole system. Ive had many go bad in the past. But yes, do check the bios first to make sure it has not been disabled. Make sure nothing is messed up in "device manager" too. Move your ass to Ohio Joey !!! I have tons of motherboards laying around and would fix you up for free !!!
Click to expand...

Ha, Ha.. I would if I could....!:D

Yeah, I've checked the bios, USB controller is enabled, so it's probably a hardware thing. I'll be taking it to the shop today. Thanx for the help, guys.
 
called the shop today....
they've checked the ports, technically they're still OK. The computer just won't recognise anything connected to them, so I guess it's not a hardware issue. They're gonna install a PCI USB card now and see if that works....
the plot thickens.....:cool:
 
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