Power surge on the USB port

Scramjet · 21 Jan 2019

Hi All,
I just upgraded my computer case to a full tower. The Phanteks Enthoo Pro Series PH-ES614P_BK.
Since I did that when I cold boot my computer I get the error pop on the screen: " Power surge on the USB port Unknown USB Device needs more power than the port can supply". There is no indication in the Device Manager that there is a problem and the 2x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0 drive slots on front panel are working perfect.

I have tried several Google fixes but still happening

I am still searching.
The only thing that is different from my older tower is the USB 3.0 cable which I plugged into a USB connector on the motherboard Asus Z270 TUF Mark 1.
Attaching a pic of error on screen.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

PolarNettles · 22 Jan 2019

I would start disconnecting USB devices (including the front panel connector on the motherboard) one by one and see which one(s) cause the error message.

Scramjet · 22 Jan 2019

Thanks for the reply. I have tried switching keyboard and mouse to other ports and it still pops up on some reboots or morning startups. Today so far I did not get the error. I hate intermittent errors lol.
I will keep testing and searching :)

nIGHTmAYOR · 24 Jan 2019

ok here is a brief for you on what is happening you might not find elsewhere , there are two types of usb controllers , ones that can adapt amperage and others that have fixed amperage , the ones with fixed amperage can provide 5 volts and 500 mA and that is enough to power only 1 device , if you manage to plug in a couple of devices via a usb hub they may fail to operate (some times silently and in other times professionally like in that error message that poped up to you) unless you provided external power via adapter or so , so with towers do note that all front and back ports are in nature some sort of a hub , so when the ports number increase you should make sure that either your usb controller is adaptive (check in device manager under usb section for usb root hubs and see if they have a power tab , usually fixed amperage do not show that tab) if not then you should plug in only one device per hub (front / back) no matter how many ports there are . on a side notice if your root hub turned out to be adaptive be ware that those usually provide up to 2 A (some manufacturers set it on 1 A even) tops which are enough to power 4 devices however even then some frisky pc case makers add led lights etc which might lower the number of devices operable as these leds do consume power as well . professional towers may come with power sockets to provide external power for all those hubs / leds / fans they throw here and there so if you have these power sockets make sure you plug them .

PolarNettles · 24 Jan 2019

Scramjet said:

Thanks for the reply. I have tried switching keyboard and mouse to other ports and it still pops up on some reboots or morning startups. Today so far I did not get the error. I hate intermittent errors lol.

Did you try unplugging your front panel USB connector from the motherboard?

Scramjet · 24 Jan 2019

Thank you all for the replies. @nIGHTmAYOR that is a lot of info to absorb hehehe. I am going to read it several times and then go look to see if I can see anything pertaining to it. Note: the error usually comes up when I first boot the system and nothing is plugged into the front USB slots.
This morning I used all 4 of the front slots and all are working fine togather transferring large files. So I find it strange that I don't get an error yet today. @PolarNettles I did change the USB3 cable to the header on bottom of the MB. I haven't had the error since yesterday. So holding my breath. Maybe that header next to the main power connector is flaky. I will continue to test and if it displays again I will unplug the USB3 case connector.

thanks

nIGHTmAYOR · 24 Jan 2019

Scramjet said:

@nIGHTmAYOR that is a lot of info to absorb hehehe. I am going to read it several times and then go look to see if I can see anything pertaining to it. Note: the error usually comes up when I first boot the system and nothing is plugged into the front USB slots.

unplug front hub socket from mobo then reboot see if the error is gone , if not do the same experiment with back hub , if unplugging one of them solves it , if yes then try switching the ports that connects them to motherboard . if problem continues then might lay the possibility this hub has a shortage . if problem continues even after unplugging all usb hubs , open device manager and show hidden devices and start deleting all hidden devices before you uninstall the controller and all generic hubs and root hubs and hard reseting as probably you will lose access to usb mouse then .

Scramjet · 24 Jan 2019

Thanks nIGHTmAYOR
I just remembered I had a USB3 PCIE card(Model: U6T-PC302) in the motherboard. Maybe when I was installing that in the MB it never seated properly. It has been working fine the past year...just guessing now because I removed it and rebooted 3 times and then done several cold boots and didn't get the error. I am going to leave it out for a while and if after a few days the error don't come back, I will clean with an eraser and put it back in same slot and test again.
Crossing my fingers on this one and hoping :)
The only other USB cables are the USB2 and the USB3 from the new Phanteks case. So I will remove each in turn and test if that USB3 card is not the culprit.
Greatly appreciate the suggestions here.
PS. I removed the root hubs and lost the keyboard and mouse several times hoping a reboot would fix the problem. Had to do a reset to restart lol

Scramjet · 27 Jan 2019

update: well it seems I cannot use the USB3 PCIE card and the front case USB3 at the same time

Must be some kind of a conflict there. I have the card removed for a couple of days and all is good. No errors on bootup. I will continue to run this way for several more days. Then I will plug in the USB3 Card and unplug the front USB3 to see how that works. I will have to see if I can find out if both are using the same address if the card runs without the front panel connected.
I will update after testing.

NavyLCDR · 28 Jan 2019

What is your power supply make/model and watt rating?