Question A front USB port is broken, now entire PC won't start up

[hoover15]

Specs: 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i3-8100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$115.53 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B360M DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$127.03 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$75.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$78.95 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4 GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card
Case	NZXT H500 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	EVGA 500 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply	$76.33 @ Amazon
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit	$108.78 @ Other World Computing
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$626.59
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-25 02:54 EDT-0400

 

 

 

Hello,

 

Last night, I plugged in a USB device in one of the front ports on the NZXT H500. I did not hear an audio notification that plays on Windows 10 devices when a USB device is connected. I unplugged the device only to find that on the USB cable itself was the purple receptacle in the port (shown in the picture.)

After realizing this, I noticed my computer was frozen. I shut my computer off, and since that night my PC hasn't been able to turn on when I hit the power button.
All that happens when I press the power button is that the fans in the PC start to spin and the orange light on my motherboard turns on for just a second, but then everything turns off. This will keep repeating until I hold down the power button again. Sometimes, the orange light comes back on and the fans start to spin again for a bit longer, but then they stop shortly after.

 

I've had no problems with power or startup until the USB port broke. I have tried to disconnect the cable that connects to the USB 3.0 slot on my motherboard, but nothing changes. There isn't a USB 2.0 connector connected to my motherboard either. I've also tried disconnecting my PC from power, holding down the power button for 10 seconds, and letting my PC sit for 10 minutes before trying to boot again. I've also tried to clear the CMOS by using a screwdriver to touch the two "clear CMOS" pins on the motherboard for 5-10 seconds; my motherboard doesn't have a jumper pin. The front USB cables were disconnected from the motherboard for all of these attempts. NZXT support is supposed to ship me a replacement module for the front panel, but since the above methods haven't worked, I'm worried that there may be problems with my motherboard.

Is there anything I can do to solve this issue? Thanks for the help.

[191x7]

Is it possible that you plugged the cable the other way around? I've seen people do that unintentionally.

If that was the case, and if the board doesn't have voltage protection on the USB ports, you might have bricked the board.

 

What you can try - the board with only the most necessarry parts outside of the PC, turning it on to see if it boots.

[Master Disaster]

Simply unplug the Front Panel USB Headers from the board.

[Kilrah]

27 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Simply unplug the Front Panel USB Headers from the board.

He said he did that and it didn't help.

 

Yeah build a minimal system, and if it still doesn't work the mobo probably didn't have short circuit protection on the ports and is fried...

[Master Disaster]

3 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

He said he did that and it didn't help.

 

Yeah build a minimal system, and if it still doesn't work the mobo probably didn't have short circuit protection on the ports and is fried...

My bad, I'm super tired today. It was 24c (77f) overnight and I think I got about 2 hours sleep Here in England that's a hot day LOL

[paddy-stone]

20 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

My bad, I'm super tired today. It was 24c (77f) overnight and I think I got about 2 hours sleep Here in England that's a hot day LOL

Me too, I'm about to go take a nap for a few hours I think.

[Kilrah]

Same here, 26 when going to bed so too hot, then goes to too cold during the night since all windows are open to get rid of the damn heat

 

Gonna have another 30+ day today... good thing is that the initially rush job I was supposed to be done with by midday can now wait a whole week so no stress

[Snowarch]

try running with only cpu, cooler, and a single ram stick in. and when you clesr coms, remove the battery for awhile, 30 minutes maybe. and make sure the pc is unplugged.

[hoover15]

Thanks for the help guys. Unfortunately after:
1. removing the motherboard battery for around 30 minutes and then clearing the CMOS while the PC was unplugged (also held power down for 10 seconds and unplugged my PC before doing that)

2. running the PC with the SSD, hard drive, GPU, and a stick of ram disconnected from the motherboard as well as the PSU. Later I tried running with nothing but the CPU connected to the motherboard/PSU

 

it's the same result of the orange light coming on for a second and fans start to spin before stopping and repeating until I hold down power again. Still the light and fans come back on for another second sometimes but shut off afterwards.

 

Feels like I've exhausted my options and it definitely seems like a motherboard issue if disconnecting the front USB cables and doing all the other steps hasn't worked. Guess I just have to get a new motherboard?

[Johnny100000000]

Can you not boot into bios at all?

[hoover15]

33 minutes ago, Johnny100000000 said:

Can you not boot into bios at all?

As far as I know I cannot. My PC does not power on at all except for the one second the fans/orange light on mobo turn on, then they turn off and continue to turn on/off until I hold the power button.

[Snowarch]

is it possible one of the power cables got loose? theyll look in but still seam loose sometimes or your psu/motherboard is shot

[vaiwalker]

I've seen something like this on a lenovo laptop before...in one of the USB ports, 2 pins were bent and and touching each other. it turned on but  hangs at the lenovo logo forever. used a toothpick to move the pins away from each other and it solved the issue.

 

also, did u try disconnecting ALL the other front panel peripherals and using a screwdriver to jump start the the pc by touching the 2 "PWR_SW" pins on the board?? 

[191x7]

4 hours ago, hoover15 said:

As far as I know I cannot. My PC does not power on at all except for the one second the fans/orange light on mobo turn on, then they turn off and continue to turn on/off until I hold the power button.

Have you tried with a different PSU first?

[hoover15]

2 hours ago, vaiwalker said:

I've seen something like this on a lenovo laptop before...in one of the USB ports, 2 pins were bent and and touching each other. it turned on but  hangs at the lenovo logo forever. used a toothpick to move the pins away from each other and it solved the issue.

 

also, did u try disconnecting ALL the other front panel peripherals and using a screwdriver to jump start the the pc by touching the 2 "PWR_SW" pins on the board?? 

I just tried to disconnect my front audio ports and the power switch (the only other front panel things) from the motherboard, then touching the two "PWR_SW" pins on the mobo, pc still did not start. Same result as always (orange light + fans spin for a second, they turn off, repeat.)

 

1 hour ago, 191x7 said:

Have you tried with a different PSU first?

I do not have another PSU to use.

[Disastyr]

On 6/25/2020 at 2:55 AM, hoover15 said:

Specs: 

PCPartPicker Part List

Type	Item	Price
CPU	Intel Core i3-8100 3.6 GHz Quad-Core Processor	$115.53 @ Amazon
Motherboard	Gigabyte B360M DS3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard	$127.03 @ Amazon
Memory	Corsair Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 CL16 Memory	$75.98 @ Amazon
Storage	Samsung 860 Evo 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive	$78.95 @ Amazon
Storage	Western Digital Caviar Blue 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive	$43.99 @ Amazon
Video Card	EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4 GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card
Case	NZXT H500 ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply	EVGA 500 W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply	$76.33 @ Amazon
Operating System	Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit	$108.78 @ Other World Computing
	Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts
	Total	$626.59
	Generated by PCPartPicker 2020-06-25 02:54 EDT-0400

 

 

 

Hello,

 

Last night, I plugged in a USB device in one of the front ports on the NZXT H500. I did not hear an audio notification that plays on Windows 10 devices when a USB device is connected. I unplugged the device only to find that on the USB cable itself was the purple receptacle in the port (shown in the picture.)

After realizing this, I noticed my computer was frozen. I shut my computer off, and since that night my PC hasn't been able to turn on when I hit the power button.
All that happens when I press the power button is that the fans in the PC start to spin and the orange light on my motherboard turns on for just a second, but then everything turns off. This will keep repeating until I hold down the power button again. Sometimes, the orange light comes back on and the fans start to spin again for a bit longer, but then they stop shortly after.

 

I've had no problems with power or startup until the USB port broke. I have tried to disconnect the cable that connects to the USB 3.0 slot on my motherboard, but nothing changes. There isn't a USB 2.0 connector connected to my motherboard either. I've also tried disconnecting my PC from power, holding down the power button for 10 seconds, and letting my PC sit for 10 minutes before trying to boot again. I've also tried to clear the CMOS by using a screwdriver to touch the two "clear CMOS" pins on the motherboard for 5-10 seconds; my motherboard doesn't have a jumper pin. The front USB cables were disconnected from the motherboard for all of these attempts. NZXT support is supposed to ship me a replacement module for the front panel, but since the above methods haven't worked, I'm worried that there may be problems with my motherboard.

Is there anything I can do to solve this issue? Thanks for the help.

Any updates on this? Having the same issue

[Mr_Sprinkles]

On 12/16/2020 at 5:37 PM, Disastyr said:

Any updates on this? Having the same issue

Also wondering about an update on this. I've had my NZXT h500 for about two years now I think and one of the USB ports has never worked. I see a lot of other people with the same issue but can't seem to find a solution anywhere. Seems it might be just a cable issue. I came across a thread where someone had used a different cable for the front ports and it worked but for whatever reason they weren't able to use that cable as a permanent solution.