[Biomech]

Anyone have any concrete information with the USB issues this board has?

I know that some people have had their boards short out due to using the internal headers with USB ports on the front of their case. I looked in the ASUS forums and searched google a few times and only came up with a USB wiring diagram and some vague answers. I checked the supplied USB harness/pci bracket that came with the board to compare the wiring with the front ports on my Coolermaster Centurion case. They seem to be exact.

I like to use the front ports for my camera, game controller, and flash drive. Anyone think it's work hooking them up? I was hoping to find some better info on this at ASUS.com.

 

[HardwaterH4ck3r]

My A8n-sli rig has some issues with the USB ports....sometimes it wont recognize my Keyboard @ startup and tells me i don;t have akeyboard attatched......

There shouldn;t be a problem as long as you match them up right...i mean, there's only what....4 or 5 wires....(forgot, but i think 4, like a molex). You can do lots of stuff with USB if you know wiring diagrams....i even made a battery charger with USB hookups to run with my laptop.....

 

[pjlietz]

The problem with front ubs ports shorting out mobo's has nothing to do with the mobo itself but rather the way the ports are grounded. To be safe connect a wire from the ports to the bare metal on your case. To be even safe touch what ever device your pluging in to the back, or un-painted part of your case to discharge any static.

P.S. I have that board in my PVR and have never had a problem with the ports.

 

[Thumper]

My old board was a P4P800-VM......never had the USB short, but the front panel ones never ran at 2.0 like they were supposed to (I loaded the drivers like 3 times) and my keyboard would randomly disconnect and reconnect.

 

[CyberDruid]

No Problems with my P4SDX or P4P800 SE--I don't think there is an outstanding mobo issue--carefully checking and connecting the header lead and pins should suffice.

 

[Biomech]

http://www.overclock.net/706196-post8.html

Quote:

Reply12006/01/01 23:33:48 Rick What were you doing the last time you successfully used your USB ports? I ask this because six months ago there was a rash of posts about dead USB ports with this Mobo, many postee's blamed the Mobo for having easy to kill USB ports. Have you tried forcing some of the BIOS settings for the USB ports to odd settings just to get them working? Eg USB 1.1 only. This is only a long shot to get the ports back up and operative, if they do start working again then you can fiddle with more BIOS settings to find out what does and doesn't work. [email protected], HSF_AC_Freezer4, P4P800-E_Deluxe, [email protected], 6600GT_256M, SB_Audigy2ZS_Plat, AntecATX2_550W, LianLiPC60, Sony48cmLCD. [email protected], HSF_Tt_Cu, P4PE, [email protected], V8420Deluxe, O/B, Antec_380W, Midi_Tower, Hyundai43cmLCD.

Well, as I mentioned earlier I double checked the pin assignment on the supplied pci USB bracket that came with the board, along with the wiring harness on my case front USB ports. They match, but, I was concerned after the comment Taeric made in the above posted link, and then I found some info at the ASUS forums as quoted above. There were a few complaints, but I was hoping this was due to installation error of the users and not a board fault.

 

[CyberDruid]

Gotta hope...

 

[Taeric]

The ICH5R southbridge on that mobo is particularly susceptible to static, and the way that mobo grounds the front USB ports is not sufficient to handle a decent static hit (as I found out the hard way). There are a few work arounds, though, and the good points of the mobo are well worth the minor inconvenience.

The easiest thing you can do is simply ground yourself before inserting a USB device in just the same way you ground yourself before touching internal components. I run my system with the side panel off, so a quick two handed touch to the exposed metal of the case does the trick. You can also run your ground wires from the front USB headers right to the case instead of to the mobo. Another option is to buy an inexpensive PCI USB card to power your front ports. Personally, after frying one mobo, I just use a USB extension cable to one of the rear ports. That takes care of most of the issue as apparently the rear ports have better grounding.

Just for the record, this USB issue isn't something that happens every day. I used my mobo for around seven months without a hitch, and I used the front USB ports will a fair frequency in that time. However, the conditions were just right one day, and poof, the Southbridge had a big burn on it. Asus, in my mind, acknowledged the issue by RMAing the board, despite their explicit policy against allowing RMAs for any physical damage which includes burns.