USB Over current status

Monskiller · January 10, 2020

Bit of backstory:

This was the first motherboard I used for my own custom PC. MSI Krait Z97S.

After I bought an Oculus Rift kit with 3 sensors two years later, I started to have USB problems between overcurrent and bandwidth. Ports we're still working just frequent errors, so I upgraded and boxed the old system away.

Another year and a half later I've decided to bring the old system back and sell it to my friend, dirt cheap.

Problem:

I assembled the old system on a cardboard box to see if everything works. Load and behold overcurrent draw detected. Nothing is plugged in and system shuts down after 15 seconds despite having only one or two RAM sticks in.

What I tried:

Checking all the Mobo ports for physical damage (since the headers aren't used), they all look fine.

Plugging a mouse into every individual port. So far they all work (mouse sensor and RGB lights turns on) beside two USB3 ports, stacked. If you know how the motherboard is made, it's the two lonely ports, the other USB3s are paired with LAN and USB2 with the P/S2 connector.

Cleaning the two ports with alcohol and air compressor, nothing.

Bought a multimeter to test pins, see if they're actually shorted, and nothing. Electronically the ports check out, went though all the pins.

Clear CMOS. Shorted the jumper, took out the battery, left it with no power for more than half an hour. Tried shorting the power button jumper several times to drain what might be left.

What else can I do? I can't access the bios due to shutdown in 15 seconds. If I boot with one RAM stick, then two I get the system hardware change notice, but on hitting F1 or F2 the errore comes again.

Can I save the board in any way or it's just gone at this point?

Thank you.

Levent · January 10, 2020

Sounds like USB controller on the board itself shat itself. You done your troubleshooting very well and I cant think of any other reason besides hardware damage.