USB Devices not seen in Windows 7

Could very well be the CMOS battery

dTonic said:

Did some troubleshooting...

1) Had my father check the connections for the HDD. Also had him place his hand on the drive when starting the computer up. His observations were not conclusive...."seems to be spinning."

The On Board Debug Port later displayed a code, "26" which references Clock Gen / Init onboard clock generator and sensor (no idea what this means). Don't know if other codes flashed prior to this.

I like the way you think!

dTonic said:

I'm kinda hoping the mobo is gone... this way solving this issue may, in turn, solve the USB/Printer issues!!

I've asked for some help - some members with more HW experience can better answer those questions.

I think you have a good grasp on the issue - I think I've exhausted everything I can think of.

I'll stay subscribed and see how it goes.

Bill

You are welcome and all the best resolving this (these) issues

Bill

What is the machine make and model again? I skimmed the posts, but if it's there I missed it.

Is the 2nd button a SLEEP button? A friend of mine has an older machine with 2 buttons (power and sleep - moon on button). From time to time, he has similar problems. He just keeps trying until the thing works (power on... sleep button..power off...sleep button...) not the best practices.

He isn't a computer enthusiast - so if the box sits for a few weeks and will not boot, he doesn't really care. When he eventually gets the box to fire up, it works for weeks or months at a time.

Anyway, both on the outside and the inside the box check around those buttons for dust - give them a good blast of compressed air. Since it is an old machine and it sat for a while, the sleep button might be shorting telling the box "Don't bother me now, I'm sleeping"

Sometimes, exercising the button (in/out...in/out..in/out... 10-20 times) cleans the contacts. This is good news, really - no major components, just a stuck button.

Then use the power button - anything?
No? try the sleep button again after the power comes on

There is no Make/Model. It is a generic case, and to today's standards, a heavy-duty one at that. The case I have myself feels like it was made out of aluminum foil!

The "Power" button is the main button which hasn't failed on any press. With newer versions of Windows, it can be configured (from a running system) as a hibernation, standby, or power off button. Holding it for more than 3 seconds will cut power. The "reset" button, as I have called it, is just that. It was standard in older systems and prevalent in generic cases.

Exercising the reset button with the poser off may indeed do some good if dust is causing it to malfunction, but I don't think it is malfunctioning. When the reset button is pressed it will make an audible change in the system as it shuts down. My father may not be pressing this button correctly.

If I remember, you must generally hold the reset button a bit longer than a standard power button for the reset, restart sequence to take effect. He may not be doing this.

One other Observation:
The HDD is a SATA HDD, which has the two SATA connectors, one for power and the other one for Data. This HDD also has the old "Molex 8981" power connector (Yellow/Blach - 12V & Red/Black - 5V) as well, and I believe they are both connected. Don't know if this is an issue or not! Not sure why they both exist! Newer HDD's seem only to have SATA power connectors.


FOR REFERENCE...

The following is a summary of the boot process in a PC:

1. The power button activates the power supply in the PC, sending power to the motherboard and other components.
2. The PC performs a power-on self-test (POST). The POST is a small computer program within the BIOS that checks for hardware failures. A single beep after the POST signals that everything's okay. Other beep sequences signal a hardware failure, and PC repair specialists compare these sequences with a chart to determine which component has failed.
3. The PC displays information on the attached monitor showing details about the boot process. These include the BIOS manufacturer and revision, processor specs, the amount of RAM installed, and the drives detected. Many PCs have replaced displaying this information with a splash screen showing the manufacturer's logo. You can turn off the splash screen in the BIOS settings if you'd rather see the text.
4. The BIOS attempts to access the first sector of the drive designated as the boot disk. The first sector is the first kilobytes of the disk in sequence, if the drive is read sequentially starting with the first available storage address. The boot disk is typically the same hard disk or solid-state drive that contains your operating system. You can change the boot disk by configuring the BIOS or interrupting the boot process with a key sequence (often indicated on the boot screens).
5. The BIOS confirms there's a bootstrap loader, or boot loader, in that first sector of the boot disk, and it loads that boot loader into memory (RAM). The boot loader is a small program designed to find and launch the PC's operating system.
6. Once the boot loader is in memory, the BIOS hands over its work to the boot loader, which in turn begins loading the operating system into memory.
7. When the boot loader finishes its task, it turns control of the PC over to the operating system. Then, the OS is ready for user interaction.

Also Beep Codes for mobo:
One short beep when displaying logo ----------> No error during POST
Long beeps in an endless loop ----------------> No DRAM install or detected
One long beep followed by three short beeps --> Video card not found or video card memory bad
High frequency beeps when system is working -> CPU overheated / System running at a lower frequency

Q: What about NO BEEPS?
No beeps ------------------------------------> Failed POST, Bad CPU??
or still bad mobo?

Thanks, I thought it might be custom build.

I'm off for this evening. Will prowl the forum later tonight.

A little light-hearted humor:
How do you press a button incorrectly?

I understand what you mean, words tickle me sometimes.

Same for my friend's box... must hold button longer to engage

The following video may have my answer, Espeially since ther is no POST beep.

It also explains and additional way to reset CMOS using a jumper on the mobo.

22 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e73dtkGxiY

Gonna try an alternate CMOS clearing (as per the mobo manual....using jumper pins) if this fails I am
planning a trip to my parents place next weekend, equipped with a second graphics card, an alternate power supply, spare IDE/SATA cables, smaller computer case, my two dogs, and hopefully at least half my brain! I may order a mobo and have it sent there so I could replace it, should this be the problem.