PC won't boot with USB devices plugged in.

[Poppa_Meth]

I recently did a complete system reinstall for a friend. Windows XP Home on a cheap ZT Systems PC with an VIA chipset. Everything seemed to working fine. I took it back to him Saturday and set up his printer and scanner for him. Evidently he just turned it off for the first time and now when he reboots it hangs at the initial POST screen. I haven't looked at it yet but I'm assuming it must have something to do with the two USB devices that were added after I took the PC back to him. I'm trying to figure out the best way to resolve this if the USB devices are the issue and what else could be causing it if they are not the problem. I'll be going to look at it Monday. I've been told to look at boot device order to make sure the PC isn't picking up the memory card slots on the printer by accident. I've also been told to turn off USB legacy support. Any other input would be appreciated.

[INFRATOM]

Does it hang or comes up with error? If it hangs either BIOS setup is not right or there is a hardware conflict like something is not plugged in right. if it doesn't see the boot drive and comes up with error, the boot order is not right. If USB is plugged in it may see that as a boot drive. If keyboard is faulty or not connected it will hang too, try a wire keyboard if you have a wireless connected it may need a driver.

[johns0]

I found that with certain via chipsets that when usb devices such as the keyboard where set to legacy the system would hang on power off.Turning off usb legacy is about the only thing you can do as you mentioned.

[Bjs]

Disconnect all non-essential peripheral devices and take another keyboard and mouse with you ... the halt could just be caused by a connected device playing up (faulty).

I'd leave the bios defaults alone for usb legacy devices.

Out of the "strange" field ... try it with another psu.

You reloaded the os ? ... did you confirm the drives health status > http://www.diydatarecovery.nl/HD_Workbench.htm

Funny how dell gx280's kept a serial port ... but there aren't many serial mice around (except in my kit)

[johns0]

I'd leave the bios defaults alone for usb legacy devices.

Legacy enabled devives can cause problems in bios,best to disable them to make sure.

[redwudz]

I've had that happen several times with a couple of motherboards when leaving a USB thumb drive plugged in. About drove me crazy till I noticed the drive in one of the back USB ports.

What I noticed is that the BIOS was enabled to boot from other devices, USB being one of them. BIOS was trying to use the USB drive, looking for the boot.ini and that hung up the system. Check your boot order in BIOS and make sure USB isn't selected as one of the alternates.

[Poppa_Meth]

I'm not sure yet exactly what it's doing and whether there are any errors. He was clueless when he called. All I know for certain is that no changes were made in the BIOS when I reinstalled Windows, and no updates to the BIOS were available at the time so I pretty much left the BIOS alone.

When I took it to him we hooked up all his hardware except the USB devices and everything booted up just fine. I installed the printer after booting and it seemed fine. I never rebooted the PC before leaving though, which is making me think it's related to the USB devices.

I did do a scan of the drive to make certain it wasn't damaged in any way. This whole job was due to a virus infection so I tried to check everything.

Thanks for the input so far.

[Nelson37]

Before changing anything, first verify whether the USB are the problem. Clueless though your friend may be, he/she should be able to power off, unplug the printer and scanner, and attempt to boot again. If it works, it is related to the USB devices, probably boot order issue as suggested. However, if it still fails .....

Always, Always,Always reboot one more time after making any changes. Often saves a second trip.

[Poppa_Meth]

He should be able to do that, but evidently he can't. this guy is about 65 and I guess he feels he just can't get down in the floor to unplug a cable. Oh well!

[Poppa_Meth]

Sure enough, it was his cheap little negative scanner causing the problem. The thing was causing lock ups while plugged in during boot up. It's the only USB device causing the problem. Thankfully he doesn't use it much and has no problem plugging it in after boot up if he wants to use it (which results in no problems.) Thanks for all the input.

[Nelson37]

It seems that older folks don't think of it but they could unplug the USB cables at the printer end, usually set up higher and easier to get to. You do have to re-assure them that it won't harm the device at all, I descibe the printer end of the cable as looking like a little house, just check which side the roof is on, usually pointing up but not always. The cable only goes on one way, you can't hurt it, and no electricity going through it.

Old folks are fun, I've often had to carefully describe the basic operation of the Master Reset Switch. Some companies I used to work for, I had to charge them for showing them how to turn it on. Now when I see their eyes light up when I hit the power switch, I check a few things, make something up about recalibrating thier Johnson Framistats, and make sure thay understand how to shut down the PC when finished with it, and, of course, this switch Right Here turns it back on. Then I give them the Senior Discount Freebie and tell them to call me next time something pops up. I keep track, eleven times. Not all seniors, either. One was an elected county official, another was a doctor, a real pompous ass. I truly enjoyed billing him $110.00 for turning on his PC.

Probably best not to have the scanner powered up all the time, anyway.