Front USB Problem MSI KT2 Centurion5

[Jan Biel]

Hi!

I tried hooking up my MSI KT2 Combo mainboard with my new Coolermaster
Centurion 5 case so that I can use the front USB ports.

The MSI manual stated that I should use the JUSB2 pin header, which is
supposed to be blue but is yellow as is its neighbor, the JUSB3.

Anyway I connected the plug to the pin header and switched the USB emulation
on in the BIOS (2 USB Ports, Legacy Disabled, 64/60 Emu Disabled)

Windows doesn't seem to care about the USB ports and doesn't react to any
USB device I plug in (neither USB 1 printer nor USB 2 memstick).

One thing that might be amiss is the following:

The MSI manual states the following layout for the USB pin header:

24680
*****
****
13579

1,2: USBPWR
3,4: USBP2-,USBP3-
5,6: USBP2+,USBP3+
7,8: GND
9: NC
10: USBOC <=====

The Centurion manual states the following:

1,2: USB+5V
3,4: LP-
5,6: LP+
7,8: GND
9: No Pin
10: NC <=====

So apart from pin 10 everything seems the same. I checked and it's true, the
Centurion has no cables connected to pins 9 and 10. On the other hand, the
mainboard seems to use pin 10 for overcurrent (whatever that is).

Could that be the faulty part? Or did I miss something. If the mistake is
caused by the OC pin, how can I solve the problem?

Anyone else tried this combination of hardware?

Thanks for any input.
Janbiel

 

[kony]

Hi!

I tried hooking up my MSI KT2 Combo mainboard with my new Coolermaster
Centurion 5 case so that I can use the front USB ports.

The MSI manual stated that I should use the JUSB2 pin header, which is
supposed to be blue but is yellow as is its neighbor, the JUSB3.

Anyway I connected the plug to the pin header and switched the USB emulation
on in the BIOS (2 USB Ports, Legacy Disabled, 64/60 Emu Disabled)

USB emulation is not needed to use either of those two USB
port (pin-headers). All you need to do is confirm that all
USB ports are enabled (which they usually are by default).
"Most" people do not need to make any bios changes to use
theirs.

Windows doesn't seem to care about the USB ports and doesn't react to any
USB device I plug in (neither USB 1 printer nor USB 2 memstick).

Does the LED on the memstick light up?
If you have another USB device, like a keyboard or mouse,
can it be attached and work?

What does Device Manager show for your USB devices?

One thing that might be amiss is the following:

The MSI manual states the following layout for the USB pin header:

24680
*****
****
13579

1,2: USBPWR
3,4: USBP2-,USBP3-
5,6: USBP2+,USBP3+
7,8: GND
9: NC
10: USBOC <=====

The Centurion manual states the following:

1,2: USB+5V
3,4: LP-
5,6: LP+
7,8: GND
9: No Pin
10: NC <=====

So apart from pin 10 everything seems the same. I checked and it's true, the
Centurion has no cables connected to pins 9 and 10. On the other hand, the
mainboard seems to use pin 10 for overcurrent (whatever that is).

Does it state that "OC" means overcurrent or are you
assuming it?
Your board should not need any pins connected except for
1,2/3,4/5,6/7,8.

It is using a standard pinout and should be compatible with
any case standard connector... and no standard connector
needs more than +5V (usually red), Data - (usually white),
Data + (usually green), Ground (usually black).

Is it possible your board has a jumper for USB 5V/5VSB power
missing? Most boards have this jumper (though it might be
named slightly different) which sets either 5V or 5VSB rail
power from the power supply (through the motherboard of
course). The jumper MUST be on two out of the three pins
for the ports to receive power. If your power supply has
insufficient 5VSB reserve power you might try putting the
jumper on "5V" rather than "5VSB" jumper positions.

 

[Jan Biel]

USB emulation is not needed to use either of those two USB
port (pin-headers). All you need to do is confirm that all
USB ports are enabled (which they usually are by default).
"Most" people do not need to make any bios changes to use
theirs.

Maybe I used the wrong term. It's actually not "emulation". The setting is
labelled "OnChip USB Controller" and has the settings "Disabled", "2 USB
ports", "4 USB ports" and "6 USB ports". During my Google searches everybody
who had my problem got the recommendation to switch on the USB setting, so I
did. Do you recon it's better to turn it off?

Does the LED on the memstick light up?
If you have another USB device, like a keyboard or mouse,
can it be attached and work?

No, the LED doesn't flash like it does with the USB port on the rear. I
connected a printer and also a digital camera, without success. All three
devices work flawlessly on the rear USB port.

What does Device Manager show for your USB devices?

USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
VIA Rev 5 or higher USB universal host controller (*)
VIA USB extended host controller (*)

(*) I translated these from German so it might be a little different from
what it originally says in English

Does it state that "OC" means overcurrent or are you
assuming it?

That was my assumption since a Google search for "usb nc pin" lead to
http://www.xpforum.co.uk/forum/archive.php/o_t__t_253__platinix-m-board-usb..html
where USBOC is explained as overcurrent.

Your board should not need any pins connected except for
1,2/3,4/5,6/7,8.

That's a relief. But it doesn't get me closer to a solution, does it?

Is it possible your board has a jumper for USB 5V/5VSB power
missing? Most boards have this jumper (though it might be
named slightly different) which sets either 5V or 5VSB rail
power from the power supply (through the motherboard of
course).

It's not in the manual. And from what I can see there are no
suspiciously-looking jumpers on the mainboard either.

Any further advice?

Thanks very much so far,
Janbiel

 

[kony]

Maybe I used the wrong term. It's actually not "emulation". The setting is
labelled "OnChip USB Controller" and has the settings "Disabled", "2 USB
ports", "4 USB ports" and "6 USB ports". During my Google searches everybody
who had my problem got the recommendation to switch on the USB setting, so I
did. Do you recon it's better to turn it off?

It should indeed be set to "6 USB ports". Later if you find
you dont' need the other USB pin-header you could disable it
by choosing "4 USB ports" but for the time being it will be
easier to leave all 6 enabled than guess which is disabled
with the "4 USB ports" setting (unless the manual details
this).

No, the LED doesn't flash like it does with the USB port on the rear. I
connected a printer and also a digital camera, without success. All three
devices work flawlessly on the rear USB port.

If you have a multimeter you could take a voltage reading
between the 5V and Gnd pin header... just be careful not to
short the pins to the adjacent data pins while taking
readings. Multimeter could also be used to check continuity
between both ends of the case's USB cable.

If you have one of the original USB cable/socket dongles
that came with the motherboard (if it were retail packaged?)
then try one of those dongles on the USB pin-header in
question. The D-LED-whatever (MSI's diagnostic LED bracket)
doesn't need to be connected for USB ports on same dongle to
work, with those USB ports connected normally to the USB
header on the board.

USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
VIA Rev 5 or higher USB universal host controller (*)
VIA USB extended host controller (*)

(*) I translated these from German so it might be a little different from
what it originally says in English

I would've expected more entries in Device Manager, do you
have all motherboard (USB) drivers installed?
I'd also recheck the bios for any other USB settings.
Perhaps one of them defaults wrong or you'd changed it,
though offhand I dont' know what other setting would apply
beyond the one you already mentioned.

That was my assumption since a Google search for "usb nc pin" lead to
http://www.xpforum.co.uk/forum/archive.php/o_t__t_253__platinix-m-board-usb..html
where USBOC is explained as overcurrent.

OK, it does appear to be overcurrent, but that would apply
to reducing the connected peripherals when the system goes
into a sleep state, as a method of reducing 5VSB power
usage. It is a feature for limited power supply and lots of
USB devices and is not needed for a powered-up, normally
running system to use USB devices. Additionally using the
5V/5VSB jumper to cause the port to use 5V instead of 5VSB
would also make it a non-issue. In other words it is an
additional feature that doesn't have industry-wide support
yet and should not be needed for normal funcitonality you
seek.

 

[Jan Biel]

It should indeed be set to "6 USB ports". Later if you find
you dont' need the other USB pin-header you could disable it
by choosing "4 USB ports" but for the time being it will be
easier to leave all 6 enabled than guess which is disabled
with the "4 USB ports" setting (unless the manual details
this).

Woohoo! It works now. I did two things at the same time so I don't know
which of them did it in the end.

1) I switched to 6 ports in the BIOS
2) I downloaded a VIA USB patch for the mainboard.

Since I believe that I had the patch already installed (it only contains an
..inf and a .cat file and doesn't really display an 'Installation complete'
message) I think the 6 port solution did it in the end.

Thank you so much for your help!
I don't need to crawl under the desk anymore to plug in my USB stick.

Thanks!
Janbiel