Question intermittent USB

[FraidyMan]

I am using an IBM M20 Xeon workstation with Win 10 Pro, recently upgraded from Win 7 pro and I have a continuing problem with all USB ports dropping then coming back in 2-5 seconds. I've changed mice and keyboards to no avail. Is the USB controller on my motherboard faulty? I have tried a USB 3 card, but its won't install. Any ideas about whats happening or how to work around it?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I am using an IBM M20 Xeon workstation with Win 10 Pro, recently upgraded from Win 7 pro and I have a continuing problem with all USB ports dropping then coming back in 2-5 seconds. I've changed mice and keyboards to no avail. Is the USB controller on my motherboard faulty? I have tried a USB 3 card, but its won't install. Any ideas about whats happening or how to work around it?

Maybe you could get some insight on my just-posted thread about charging a vaping pen on a front-panel USB port -- I can't say. I suppose, in your case, I might look into things like the IRQ lines being used by your system. Maybe there's a conflict. The fact that the ports are dropping out and then coming back just intuitively suggests that it could be something like that.

Your situation is milder than mine. I've got a deadline to do my taxes, TurboTax only installs on Win 10 and my disabled system is the only Win10 in the house. You could -- like me -- spend extra cash on likely-unnecessary hardware purchases, but in my case I'm planning ot rebuild some old Sandy Bridge systems. ABOUT TIME -- they're running Win 7, and the tax-software situation only leads me to a conclusion that it is past time.

If it IS the motherboard, you will no doubt be pulling your hair and wringing your hands over the "pre-owned" options available at EBay. Personally, I'm beginning to think that i should always purchase two motherboards when I build a totally new system. Then, when disaster strikes, I won't be worrying about somebody selling their board after abusing it for four years . . . .

We always face this decision point with disasters such as mine, and yours could quite possibly entail the same decision: whether to refurbish an old system, or build a new one. It always seems a matter of the convenience and comfort of an existing system with a history of software installations, or how all of that "system evolution" is lost by starting from scratch. There IS a way to do it with "SYSPREP". I'm actually trying to avoid that, without buying all new hardware.

I'd really look into the IRQ conflict or something similar as a possible cause. It could be something that simple. Stay calm. Unplug as many USB devices as you can. Review your mobo manual to see how IRQ's are used, and follow through with that determination before anything else. It could even be one misbehaving device -- other than mouse and keyboard.

Others here have more expertise than I do. I'm hoping they'll give second opinions about my own problem, and maybe they can offer insight into yours.

 

[FraidyMan]

My techhie neighbour thinks it is a driver issue - I'll be checking with LEnovo on that shortly. If you are upgrading from 7, I just moved all our machines from Win 7 home to win 10 pro, using activation keys bought from Whokeys.com for about 10 -12 US$ . Keep winning.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

My techhie neighbour thinks it is a driver issue - I'll be checking with LEnovo on that shortly. If you are upgrading from 7, I just moved all our machines from Win 7 home to win 10 pro, using activation keys bought from Whokeys.com for about 10 -12 US$ . Keep winning.

Thanks for the tip. This topic had just come up on my "Static-Charge-Disaster" thread. It's nice to know that license keys can be had for the chump-change you cite.