P4B533 weird problem & a question (long-ish)

[Nigel Morgan]

I have a weird problem & a question.

First off, how about this for a weird one?

I have a P4B533 with 1004 BIOS with a P4 2gig (Northwood) which has worked
flawlessly for 3 years. I recently upgraded to Windows XP (clean install) and
decided to start using USB2 devices (Maxtor OneTouch II, USB2 memory stick etc.)
and so I enabled the USB2 controller in CMOS and connected everything up i.e. a
D-Link 7-port USB2 hub for the USB2 devices and the Belkin 15-in-1 card reader &
3-port USB2 hub for the USB1.1 devices.

Every time I power on the PC from cold, a hardware failure message comes up in
the BIOS boot screen. If I power off then back on again about 5 secs later, the
message doesn't appear.

The hardware failure message is occurring because the CPU VCORE voltage setting
and actual VCORE voltage do not agree. FORTUNATELY, I decided to leave the
OVER_VOLT jumper on the motherboard set on disable so the ACTUAL voltage
(according to the hardware monitor) was just 1.53 volts as opposed to the CPU
VCORE setting in the ADVANCED menu saying 1.85V (eep!).

To cut a long saga of detective work short, the problem is being caused by (if
you can believe this 'cos I can't) the Belkin 15-in-1 card reader & 3-port USB2
hub!! EVERY time I power on from cold - even with no USB devices connected to
the hub the fault occurs and then clears if I power off & immediately back on
again. If I unplug the Belkin unit the fault doesn't happen at all - even on
cold power-up. I've tried the Belkin unit in three different motherboard USB
ports & the same thing happens in every port! The D-Link 7-port USB2 hub OTOH
seems fine. Anyone any ideas - apart from ditching the Belkin card reader or
connecting it only when needed?

The question: all my USB 1.1 devices are using the USB ports on the Belkin card
reader. I have decided to buy another D-Link 7-port USB2 hub ('cos I know they
work OK) & transfer the USB 1.1 devices I have from the Belkin unit to the new
D-Link hub when it arrives (to ensure the USB2 devices I have don't get slowed
down by mixing USB2 & USB1.1 devices on the same hub). Will I have to reinstall
the broadband modem & printer drivers that are currently using the Belkin ports
or do I just plug them into the new hub when it arrives & Plug-N-Pray will auto-
reallocate the existing drivers in Device Manager?

Thanks a lot... sorry it's rather long!

Nigel

 

[John]

I have a weird problem & a question.

First off, how about this for a weird one?

I have a P4B533 with 1004 BIOS with a P4 2gig (Northwood) which has worked
flawlessly for 3 years. I recently upgraded to Windows XP (clean install) and
decided to start using USB2 devices (Maxtor OneTouch II, USB2 memory stick etc.)
and so I enabled the USB2 controller in CMOS and connected everything up i.e. a
D-Link 7-port USB2 hub for the USB2 devices and the Belkin 15-in-1 card reader &
3-port USB2 hub for the USB1.1 devices.

Every time I power on the PC from cold, a hardware failure message comes up in
the BIOS boot screen. If I power off then back on again about 5 secs later, the
message doesn't appear.

The hardware failure message is occurring because the CPU VCORE voltage setting
and actual VCORE voltage do not agree. FORTUNATELY, I decided to leave the
OVER_VOLT jumper on the motherboard set on disable so the ACTUAL voltage
(according to the hardware monitor) was just 1.53 volts as opposed to the CPU
VCORE setting in the ADVANCED menu saying 1.85V (eep!).

To cut a long saga of detective work short, the problem is being caused by (if
you can believe this 'cos I can't) the Belkin 15-in-1 card reader & 3-port USB2
hub!! EVERY time I power on from cold - even with no USB devices connected to
the hub the fault occurs and then clears if I power off & immediately back on
again. If I unplug the Belkin unit the fault doesn't happen at all - even on
cold power-up. I've tried the Belkin unit in three different motherboard USB
ports & the same thing happens in every port! The D-Link 7-port USB2 hub OTOH
seems fine. Anyone any ideas - apart from ditching the Belkin card reader or
connecting it only when needed?

The question: all my USB 1.1 devices are using the USB ports on the Belkin card
reader. I have decided to buy another D-Link 7-port USB2 hub ('cos I know they
work OK) & transfer the USB 1.1 devices I have from the Belkin unit to the new
D-Link hub when it arrives (to ensure the USB2 devices I have don't get slowed
down by mixing USB2 & USB1.1 devices on the same hub). Will I have to reinstall
the broadband modem & printer drivers that are currently using the Belkin ports
or do I just plug them into the new hub when it arrives & Plug-N-Pray will auto-
reallocate the existing drivers in Device Manager?

Thanks a lot... sorry it's rather long!

Nigel

There seem to be a lot of USB 2.0 problems with this motherboard. I wonder
if adding a PCI USB 2.0 card would help?

 

[timmy]

I would be emailing belkin about that one...My son's p4b533 runs usb2
just fine, but he is not using any hubs...

The ports where you plug in those 2 devices, are they the mobo ports
that are hardwired or did you set the pins for say, the front or extra
rear panel ? It could also be that the specific device needs more
juice, in that case, it can be adjusted in device manager...

Of course, maybe your power supply is being taxed? But the tests on
other boards would indicate no...

Regards,

 

[Nigel Morgan]

Thanks both for the replies.

Timmy, 2 points: 1) I'll be surprised if it's the power supply as it's a brand
new ANTEC TruePower 550 (i.e. 550 watts), but then again, one never knows!

2) I'm using the four USB ports on the rear of the motherboard.

I've just had another idea: I'll try powering up the PC from cold with the
Belkin card reader unpowered (i.e. leaving the small power supply module
unplugged) & then when the CMOS has finished initialising (I have a boot
password set) I'll plug it in. I'll let you know what happens.

John: I've just looked in the manual for the P4B533 & I'm wondering if some of
the problems are being caused by the (AFAICT hard-wired) PCI INT mappings.
According to page 2.14 of the manual, INTA is shared between the AGP slot (which
I'm using) and Onboard USB controller HC0 which I assume corresponds to USB
ports 1 & 2 next to the audio connectors. Could this be the reason? Thankfully
I'm only using 2 PCI cards & I used slots 2 & 4 which do not have shared INT's!

Thanks,
Nigel

 

[John]

Thanks both for the replies.

Timmy, 2 points: 1) I'll be surprised if it's the power supply as it's a brand
new ANTEC TruePower 550 (i.e. 550 watts), but then again, one never knows!

2) I'm using the four USB ports on the rear of the motherboard.

I've just had another idea: I'll try powering up the PC from cold with the
Belkin card reader unpowered (i.e. leaving the small power supply module
unplugged) & then when the CMOS has finished initialising (I have a boot
password set) I'll plug it in. I'll let you know what happens.

John: I've just looked in the manual for the P4B533 & I'm wondering if some of
the problems are being caused by the (AFAICT hard-wired) PCI INT mappings.
According to page 2.14 of the manual, INTA is shared between the AGP slot (which
I'm using) and Onboard USB controller HC0 which I assume corresponds to USB
ports 1 & 2 next to the audio connectors. Could this be the reason? Thankfully
I'm only using 2 PCI cards & I used slots 2 & 4 which do not have shared INT's!

Thanks,
Nigel

Do a search in Google groups on P4B533 and USB 2.0 and you'll find a
bucketload of people with USB 2.0 problems. I suspect the motherboard is
hardware defective. Some have suggested that turned off onboard LAN can fix
the problem. Others just bought a cheap USB 2.0 PCI card. It's annoying, but
apart from this issue it was a very good motherboard.



I've read a LOT

 

[Nigel Morgan]

On Wed, 17 Aug 2005 00:04:34 +1000, "John" <[email protected]> inspired
by Deep Thought wrote:

Thanks again John, it does look like there are issues with this board & USB2. I
was blissfully unuaware of these because up to now I only used USB1.1. Why the
Belkin hub/card reader doesn't want to play ball & the D-Link hub works OK beats
me!

I'm leaning towards your thinking as my trusty old D-Link USB1.1 hub has
suddenly stopped working with this board now I've switched USB2 on.

Oh, BTW, what USB2 Reference voltage should be set in the CMOS? I've left it
with the default of Medium.

Cheers,
Nigel

 

[John]

By the way, there are at least two versions of the motherboard. I wonder if
the later version has the USB 2.0 problem fixed. It was the later version
that Asus tested when investigating this problem, and claimed not to be able
to reproduce it.

Sorry. I don't know the answer to the voltage question.

 

[timmy]

medium on the one here, I'll check the pcb version...

 

[Nigel Morgan]

Thanks Timmy, in that case I'll leave mine set to Medium as well.

Well I've found a way round the problem purely by accident! I discovered that
by forgetting on one occasion to switch on the external power supply unit for
the Belkin hub/card reader before I powered up the PC, that the problem didn't
occur! So what I do now is power up the PC with the Belkin hub PSU switched off,
wait until the CMOS has finished initialising, switch the Belkin PSU on and then
enter my boot password to start the OS loading.

Still weird though!

Nigel

Thanks again John, it does look like there are issues with this board & USB2. I
was blissfully unuaware of these because up to now I only used USB1.1. Why the
Belkin hub/card reader doesn't want to play ball & the D-Link hub works OK beats
me!

I'm leaning towards your thinking as my trusty old D-Link USB1.1 hub has
suddenly stopped working with this board now I've switched USB2 on.

Oh, BTW, what USB2 Reference voltage should be set in the CMOS? I've left it
with the default of Medium.

Cheers,
Nigel

Aagh! Every time I learn something new... it pushes something old out of my brain!