GA-880GM-USB3 won't boot - unusual problem

[nreese]

Hi all,

I have a GA-880GM-USB3 which has had no problems. I turned the machine on the other day and it booted fine, then left it running for a few hours. When I came back to it, it was 'frozen' (unusual, as it is running Ubuntu Studio with 8 Gigs of RAM, and it wasn't doing any work). When I rebooted it, and every time I have rebooted it since, it goes through the POST process and gives an OK beep, then goes to the text based display screen where it displays motherboard and processor type, with the boot/BIOS options at the bottom of the screen. No matter what I do, it won't except any keyboard input, either to go into BIOS management or select boot or recovery options. I've tried 5 different keyboards, and all the USB jacks available on the MB. I've stripped the motherboard down to just processor and RAM, and it does the same thing. To test further I pulled the RAM out and it POSTed and complained about no RAM, so it appears that the motherboard is healthy and passes POST tests. It just appears to not accept any kind of external input (i.e. keyboard). I've been building computers from scratch for twenty years and I've never seen anything like this. Any ideas??

[j5]

when you say "5 keyboards", did that include PS/2 or just USB?
I had an Epox once (remember them?) that lost all onboard USB.

[c0mput3rman]

I have had problems since I got the motherboard. I bought two at the same time and only onehas this issue where about on third of the time it does not boot because of keyboard errors / no keyboard. It also happens on wake from hibernate or sleep but never happens when the computer is on and has booted normally. On the affected mobo the number lock light does not light on bootup when the problem occurs. It is as if there is no power going to the keyboard. I only use quality components. I have tried many solutions:
1)   I have stripped the computer down to it’s corsair memory, thermaltake power supply, western digital hard drive, and Microsoft keyboard and mouse.
2)   Changed keyboards to other known good keyboards
3)   Used different USB sockets including front panel to plug in the keyboard
4)   Using test equipment have determined there is 5v output on the usb ports
5)   The only known way to get it working is unplug the computer from the AC, wait for the power supply to dissipate its DC charge and plug it back in.
I have a degree in Electronic Engineering Tech and fix and build computers as a side business. I have to say this is unique. I should note though I have only ever plugged in Microsoft brand keyboard into the USB ports. Also I should point out the mouse continues to work fine when this happens when the computer has woken from hibernate or sleep, just the keyboard is affected. I should also point out that this motherboard has gone through two keyboards. What I mean is certain keys on the keyboard would not work, just be dead, after proper boot to windows. The affected keyboard would show the same symptoms when plugged into other computers and had to be taken to the e-waste. Maybe this is just coincidence but I find it hard to believe that a motherboard that has issues detecting keyboards would get two bad Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 keyboards in a six or seven month time and the whole rest of the entire lot of those keyboards I bought have never given me or any of my customer’s trouble.

[najiro]

have you tried clearing CMOS?
that's a difficult problem if you can't get a keyboard working...
how old is that motherboard? you could have busted the controller chip or one of it's components..

[c0mput3rman]

I didn't "bust" anything. The mobo came out of the box this way. I have more detailed experience working inside computers than most so I am 100% sure I didn’t do anything to harm this mobo. I am they guy companies call when their “computer science” morons tried rebooting, problem still exists and they are all out of ideas. Ha ha.
I didn’t want to reveal anything in my earlier post because I loathe these forums. You say anything negative and “fanboys” start reporting your posts as spam, then company moderators remove the post  and the consumer never learns more about their problems. I have been down that path too many times.
I really have narrowed it down to the motherboard. It is either a bios or controller issue. That is not to say it isn’t related to using only Microsoft keyboards though. I just have not tried any other brand of keyboards on this unit. Memory is good, tested with a tester, power supply is good, tested with a tester. Processor is Retail and had been used in a build that I didn’t like (Asus board).  The problem is the mobo suddenly “lacks” the ability to use USB for keyboard on bootup. I have seen 1 other user reporting the same problem on newegg or tigerdirect and they said it started after they flashed the bios and used the boot screen logo customizer. I never flashed the bios or installed a custom logo. My mobo came with the most up to date bios flashed already from Amazon.com. Maybe it was a return after a bios update did this to the previous owner. I don’t know. It is all just speculation.

[absic]

I didn’t want to reveal anything in my earlier post because I loathe these forums. You say anything negative and “fanboys” start reporting your posts as spam, then company moderators remove the post  and the consumer never learns more about their problems. I have been down that path too many times.

Welcome to the Gigabyte UK Forum where, I am happy to say, censorship is kept to a minimum. 

Did you try reflashing the BIOS using QFlash? This can sometimes help and if you haven't done so, this is the first thing I would try. Remember to disable the "Keep DMI Data" option prior to flashing, as this can also help.

You don't mention which revision your motherboard is or your other hardware and this might help pinpoint any possible hardware issues. Don't overlook the obvious as I have found it is easy to go down a certain path, convinced that the issue lies there, only to discover that it was something completely different later on.

If you are still having the issue after doing this then I would suggest contacting Tech Support on your side of the pond: http://ggts.gigabyte.com/tech.asp?ClassID=2&Country=U.S.A.&SourceWeb=B2C as they will be in a better position to offer advice and an RMA if needed.

[Vezina]

Also I should point out the mouse continues to work fine when this happens when the computer has woken from hibernate or sleep, just the keyboard is affected. I should also point out that this motherboard has gone through two keyboards. What I mean is certain keys on the keyboard would not work, just be dead, after proper boot to windows. The affected keyboard would show the same symptoms when plugged into other computers and had to be taken to the e-waste. Maybe this is just coincidence but I find it hard to believe that a motherboard that has issues detecting keyboards would get two bad Microsoft Comfort Curve 2000 keyboards in a six or seven month time and the whole rest of the entire lot of those keyboards I bought have never given me or any of my customer’s trouble.

[Joke]A guy goes to the doctor and tells about his pain.
-Mr doctor i have a problem ,whatever body part i touch with my finger it hurts
Answer:
-Your finger is broken.[/Joke]

No offense ,but it looks like some keyboard issue.
My suggestions would be :
1.If you are annoyed by errors at boot use the option "No errors" in BIOS setting
2.Never use USB3.0 ports to connect the keyboard ,the behavior depends in this case on the driver you ve installed.USB 3.0 ports don t work without drivers on your board.