PSU

Hi All. The front USB ports on my pc would only work when they wanted too, i would plug my camera in and the pc would say it could not fetch pictures because of a camera error. So i would plug it into a USB port on the rear of the PC and it would do as instructed 80% of the time, when it did not work i got the same error message. Similar things would happen when i plugged my phone in. As i have had the Motherboard for over 2 years i thought it could be wearing out so i installed a new Motherboard, woops, same problems happened. After wasting the money on a new MB i was a bit annoyed. It appears to me the problem maybe be the PSU could be wearing out. I checked the memory and it is fine and the CPU is as new as. What does anyone think of this, has anyone had a similar problem. Sorry this is a bit drawn out but it kept you busy reading it did it not. Thanks people.

As this issue is only happening with the Front ports, I would doubt that the issue is caused by the PSU, which supplies voltage to both front and back ports.

It is possible that you have wear on the actual front ports.

Rear ports tend to have devices plugged in and left plugged in whereas front ports are used ad-hoc for short periods and therefore suffer a lot more wear.

As it is not likely that the front ports are easily replaceable, You may want to use a multi port extension to take the rear ports to the front of the system, which would also be considerably cheaper than replacing the PSU

It happens on the rear ports at times, as you would know the front ports are wired to the MB and the rears sit directly on the MB. Thanks for your response BTW.

Before I would consider changing the PSU I would also check the cables between the device and the ports, I've had cables fail through use on my DSLR's - luckily the ones for my devices are standard Mini and Micro USB so are easily replaceable, but I know that some devices use bespoke cables that can be expensive to replace

There are no cables on the back ports, they are direct on the MB, new board doing same as old board. Thanks for responding.

Yes, I understand the ports at the back are direct mounted, I was referring to the actual cable used to connect the Device, (Camera?), to the port on the computer

Swapped them over as well, no difference

Is there a specific driver for your camera that you need to use to read the data on it, or does it register as a standard USB Mass Storage Device?

Can you remove the memory card from the camera and use a card reader to access the data on it? Does that give you the same issue (assuming you have a card reader to use.)

Hi ArazelEternal. Yes to the card reader and it does exactly the same thing. As i said i have replaced the MB and it acts the same. And it does register as a USB Mass Storage Device. I took the camera and phone to a mates and it does as it should on his PC.

Since you replaced the motherboard and have tried different devices too with the same results, it could point to "power" but typically a failing "power supply" results in system shutdowns, sudden reboots, or freezing. Only USB ports intermittently not working does not suggest a "power supply" problem to me but rather something going on with your USB drivers.

It sounds like you kept the same boot drive. If so, did you install Windows fresh with the new motherboard? If you kept the same boot drive and Windows installation, you may have kept corrupt drivers too. Was it the same make and model motherboard? What PSU do you have?

If me, before buying a new PSU, I would swap in a spare (perhaps borrow one from your mate if you don't have one) and see if it does the same thing. At the very least check your voltages - what does Speccy say?

Hi Itaregid. Well i installed a new power supply and things are a little better. My portable HDD now works as it should from the front USB posts, did not prior. I can get mt wifes new phone and it works as it should as well. But my camera and phone, not always. As i said i can take both to a mates PC and no problems. I am doin my head in. All looks good with Speccy, great little prog,Mate has win 10 as i do. I installed on a clean HDD. So thats a new MB and PSU. Was facebookin this am and it froze on me again, something that happened from time to time. Have run Memtest and no problems. The PSU i have now is 550 w. I have noticed in bios it says CPU is running at 40 celcius. This thing has got me beat.

Operating System
Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
CPU
AMD Athlon II X2 260 20 °C
Regor 45nm Technology
RAM
4.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 668MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC. M5A97 EVO (AM3r2) 31 °C
Graphics
Philips 226VL (1920x1080@60Hz)
1024MB NVIDIA GeForce 210 (CardExpert Technology) 35 °C
Storage
931GB Seagate ST1000DM003-1CH162 (SATA) 32 °C
Optical Drives
HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NS90
Audio
High Definition Audio Device

20°C (68°F) for your CPU is almost cold and does not sound right. 40°C sounds right.

As far as your USB issues, I am at a loss. The front panel ports are now the only things (besides the camera and phone) that have not been changed.

550W is plenty big for your stated components.

I too am at a loss. If same problems were showing on mates PC fair enough, but they are not. I will continue to plod along. Thanks for your help BTW. I will change the front ports and see what happens although they work as i said with portable HDD and wifes phone.