Building a computer...weird USB problems, need help

[Berthold]

I have been putting together a new computer the last couple of weeks and apart from the usual streaks of bad luck (first mainboard wouldn't even POST) I now have a really weird problem where I have run out of ideas what else to do.

 

To put it simply, there is something wrong with the USB ports. I have tried several WiFi dongles (all of which work perfectly fine on other computers) and none of them are able to connect to the WiFi network (signal reception is excellent). There is also other weird problems such as USB devices suddenly disconnecting. All USB ports both front and back are affected (3.1, 3.0, 2.0) and I don't use any fancy USB devices. Just a keyboard and mouse, WiFi dongle and occassionally USB stick/hdd.

 

My first thought was that it's a bad mainboard or a buggy chipset (AMD A320) so I replaced it with another one with a different chipset (AMD B350). Didn't help. Then I thought it was a problem with the processor (Ryzen 5) because apparently Ryzen chips have USB controllers integrated into the actual CPU chip or something? So I got an Intel i5 7500 (and yet another mainboard, of course) and put that in, but the problem is still the same.

 

Needless to say that I always updated the BIOS to the newest version and I installed the latest chipset and AMD/Intel USB drivers. Of course I also made sure to have the latest drivers for the respective USB devices. I have also re-installed the operating system several times (Windows 7 and Windows 10, with all the latest updates installed). I tried turning options like "Legacy USB" or "XHCI Turn Off" on and off in the BIOSes.

 

Apart from these problems, the computer works absolutely fine and it will, for instance, run high-end demanding games just fine for hours without any problems. At this point, the only thing left as far as I can tell is the PSU. Can stuff like this be caused by a malfunctioning PSU? With everything else in the system working absolutely normal (CPU and system fans, system stability, powerful graphics-card)? Or do you have any other ideas what I could try?

 

I'm really grateful for any help.

 

[johnukguy]

Power supply might be an issue perhaps if the ports aren't getting steady power for some reason. Is there any way you can hook up a known, good PSU to test the system?

[Droidbot]

What's your power supply?

[Berthold]

My power supply is a 400 Watts be quiet!. I was told they are a good choice. I have ordered a Thermaltake 530W PSU from Amazon that I will be getting later today hopefully but if that doesn't fix it, I'm really out of ideas....

[♠FlamieMeister♠]

Definitely PSU. I had the literal exact same problem a month back due to my psu not supplying enough.

[Gikero]

Be sure to check your case's grounding posts and your I/O Sheild's grounding tabs. Make sure they aren't making contact with the inside of your USB ports. It is an issue I've seen with many first time builders.

[Berthold]

Thank you guys. I'm now gonna check fro grounding issues and I'll report back later once I've got the new PSU.

[Berthold]

Okay I checked the tabs on the I/O shield and they look fine to me (no concact with the inside of the USB ports or anything). I also just installed the new 530W PSU and....nothing. Same problem as before. I'm not a tech illiterate and I have put together PCs before but with this one, I'm now officially out of ideas. How is this possible?

 

I even tried a different power socket even though it would have really surprised me if that had made any difference. I mean I guess I can try to switch out the graphics card and/or RAM DIMMs (the last remaining parts that I haven't swapped out yet) and see if that makes any difference but it seems extremely unlikely to me either could have anything to do with it, right?

 

I have gone through 3 mainboards, 2 CPUs, 2 PSUs and 2 Operating systems  feeling really frustrated...do you have any other ideas what I might try?

 

[Berthold]

OMFG, I think I found the problem guys and it's unbelievable. I came accross an article that stated USB 3 causes radio interference on 2.4 Ghz devices and well WiFi and wireless mouse and keyboards usually operate on 2.4 Ghz. So I plugged in a USB extension cable to the PC and connected the WiFi dongle to that and moved it a couple of feet away from the computer....and now it's working!!!

 

The Intel paper is here https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/io/universal-serial-bus/usb3-frequency-interference-paper.html

 

So all of my hardware components were fine all along and I needlessly replaced my Ryzen with an i5 and went through weeks of trouble shooting just because of this. How could they f*** up basic stuff like USB this badly.