Professional help troubleshooting a very powerful custom build (some would say "gaming") PC.
Talk to me about "will not work". USB are indicating trouble or can't boot at all?
Are the USB on the board or is there an internal hub? I have a hard time getting past that not being a bad board. Who mounted it in the case?
I'm not at all tech-savvy, so I'll do the best I can from memory.
I think we were looking at the Device Manager and he showed me all the USB's that had something like a yield or caution sort of symbol to the left of them. They were all indicating that a "device" was attached, which matched the number of VIve devices we had plugged into them (I think it was 6 or so), but I think he said they were not recognizing them properly. He said they were indicating "trouble." He said if something was broken there would be a red X instead of the yellow caution symbol that was displayed, so he was rather confident this was a software issue rather than a damaged hardware issue. (Does that help at all? Sorry!)
The UBS's are part of the board. The board is GIZ170XG7MB 1 GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 Motherboard and I purchased it from B&H.
Months ago, my son (ultimate user) was advised to buy some sort of USB bus to try to work around the issue of nonworking USB ports and that also did not help. There are USB drives on the front and back of the tower and today I heard my son say that a couple of the USBs have never worked (the techs at Microsoft had plugged the keyboard into a slot and it wouldn't work after till they changed the plug)
My son was on the phone with Gigabyte today to try to update the BIOS for the motherboard (Microsoft guys were sure that would solve all issues and the Vive would be plug and play tonight!) and they upgraded to I think number 8. There also was the option to upgrade to number 20, but my son was told that if he did that then he could not go back to 8, so they tried 8 first and it didn't work. I told my son it might make sense to now try to upgrade to 20 before we have to remove and replace the stupid motherboard, but I'm pretty sure Gigabyte was closed by the time we disucssed that after dinner.
(I clearly have incomplete comprehension of this and hope to find someone to hire who knows what the issues likley are and just make it work, or at least for sure say what needs to be replaced and help us make it happen without a huge additional expense. Microsoft employees are not able to be privately hired due to their employment contract or I would have happily paid one of the (super nice) guys to just work with us independently! No one at B&H can help and no one at Geek Squad can help. I regret the stupid decision to try to build the perfect VR pc to work with the Vive, rather than just buying some stupid pre-build, but the investment has been made. Someone out there must know how to figure this out, right? What was meant to be a special gift months ago has turned into a money-sucking nightmare of frustration for my poor kid.)
The only good thing that happened today is we experienced the most superb, pleasant customer service at Microsoft at the Bridgewater Mall that I can recall experiencing anywhere in my 50+ years. These young men and women clearly love their jobs and seem to be genuinely eager to help the people in their store! While we were there, there was a group of girl scouts there for some sort of technology badge seminar - the girls were thrilled and engaged and the employees making the presentation to them were as interested in sharing their knowlege with the kids. This is something they do a lot, from what I understood. What a great place, especially when I think of the Apple Store at the SHM.
These guys brought out a brand new Vive (we had ours with us, but for efficiency they were happy to check our build with a brand new Vive!) and 2 key guys spent over an hour trying to get our PC to operate the Vive.
The reason we drove all the way to Bridgewater was because they have an in-store demo for the Vive and I wanted my kid to at least have the expereience of this stupid system after all he's been through trying to get his own to work. After the failure of the primary task, my son at least had the absolute pleasure of playing with the store's Vive system. He absolutely loved it and it helped to revive his enthusiam just enough to have the initiative to try to get his build working by calling Gigabyte. Sadly, that did not fix his issues, but he is still eager to get his own system working! His birthday is tomorrow and it would be specatular if it could possibly work for him this weekend!!!
Did I mention that we didn't spend a dime at Microsoft? Polar opposite of any Apple experience I've had, even though our family currently has multiple currently used computers/phones/devices.
have you contacted CNET at all? Whatever tech built theirs may be able to help a little. They could probably at least tell you what build of BIOS they are using.
I would take an easier way out and get a USB 3.0 expansion card and see if the Vive works off of that. $20 bucks from amazon. Maybe you could pick one up from Best Buy if you didn't want to wait.
I think the OP said that they tried that and it didn't work. I suspect a bad motherboard, which sometimes happens, but still sucks.
Is that the "usb bus" referred to in the 2nd post? yeah maybe, but it's not clear what was actually used.
and not for nothing, but the guy hired to build this thing shouldn't have turned it over without working USB ports.
wonder if you could boot from a Linux CD and test the ports that way? If they fail, then it's either the ports or the board that's fried so at least you know it's not software.
And if the USB expansion card didn't/doesn't work, then yeah, mobo.
FilmCarp said:
I think the OP said that they tried that and it didn't work. I suspect a bad motherboard, which sometimes happens, but still sucks.
My experience with bad motherboards are that there are usually boot up issues. If the pc is running fine but the USB are showing incorrect, it sounds to me like a driver or build issue.
Are all the USB's of the correct type on the case - the mobo supports USB 2.x and lower connectors or USB 3.0. I would try the following:
- Disconnect all of the internal USB ports from the mobo - should just be removing one connector for the front and possibly on for the rear
- Plug in a USB add in card that you are sure is a USB 3.0. 3.0 and the olders ports look the same so make sure. These cards are pretty cheap (~$20) so it is worth being sure its 3.0. If you already have one, try with disconnecting the internal USB connectors for this test.
that's good troubleshooting advice no matter what. Unhook everything that you can and see if the machine works, then add one device at a time until you find the problem. If it really is just USB problems it ought to be easy enough to trace and bypass. I agree that the builder should not be off of the hook entirely.
Thanks for the suggestions. Not sure we will try them purselves. While I agree that the guy we hired to build the computer from the parts We bought should have gotten the machine workong properly, the fact that he didnt after two tries says to me we cut losses with him and find someone better.
I would love to hire someone who is willing to work on this until it is working as it should. I just don't know where to find that experienced, smart, thorough professional eho os willing to tackle this puzzle. Ideally, someone who also has some experience getting a Vive to work, but I'd be happy finding someone just tonget the pc and all its parts working nicel and wirhput work-arounds
Good advice here. I feel your frustration. I used to build my own machines but frankly companies like Cyberpower and iBuyPower (who I think may be owned by the same entity) build so cheaply with your chosen components that it's not worth the effort to do it yourself. Maybe give that a shot on the next upgrade cycle.
@Jackson_Fusion , you make me sad. Had I only known about those companies, I most definitely would have gone that route! The point of building the kid this "future proof" computer is that we hoped to avoid him needing any more upgrades (at least not while he's still under our roof!).
Anyway, thanks again to everyone for your advice! Hopefully we'll find someone who knows exactly what they're doing who's also willing to work on this!
whatever happened to Monster - is he still around?
Anyone else advertising on MOL?
Try removing and replacing the USB drivers in safe mode. I know, that shouldn't be necessary but weird things happen.
http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/download-center.aspx
drummerboy said:
whatever happened to Monster - is he still around?
Anyone else advertising on MOL?
He is. I'll ping him.
I emailed the CNET author after a suggestion above and he responded quickly and helpfully! Twice! After telling him the long, sad story, he agrees that the motherboard must be bad and said he'd recommend another equivalent motherboard if we didn't want to try a replacement first. (He still thinks the Gigabyte he recommended in his article, and that he used in the future-proof build he built and used successfully to run Vive, would stil be the best.
Thanks once again to everyone above. I never would have written the author and not at all optimistic that he'd respond or take much interest. Unfortunately, even though B&H has a record of me calling in September (after original order date of 8/11/16) to alert them about the USB issues and possiblity that the motheboard was "bad", they no longer will take a return directly and I have to go through Gigabyte directly. Total PIA.
Will post again once we get this stinker functioning properly! (I'm opimistic again - silly me!)
I would advise not investing much more in this machine unless you're really close to getting it working. Don't fall for the fallacy of "sunk cost," i.e. trying to preserve the investment you've sunk into it by investing further. The one thing I might spend money on is a replacement power supply. Bad power creates all kinds of weird effects that are rarely measurable, and the good thing is that power supplies are pretty inexpensive compared with things like motherboards and processors.
Also, remember that price/performance ratios are constantly improving, which is what makes stuff become obsolete so quickly. This is why it's rarely a good investment to buy (much) more than you need right now. You can buy two computers four years apart more cheaply than building a computer to last eight years. Eight years from now, we may be using our computers as mere terminals connected to computers in the cloud.
for the record - I don't see how anyone could possibly build a PC that would be performance competitive 8 years from now.;
drummerboy said:
for the record - I don't see how anyone could possibly build a PC that would be performance competitive 8 years from now.;
I agree. The "speced out" system I built for my buddy in 2009 for around $4000, is something you can practically buy off the shelf , as a mid level rig, at best buy or frys today.
That's my point, and it's why future-proofing, so to speak, is hard for some people and impossible for others, if your goals are too ambitious or unclear.
Hi pdg! Haven't seen you in a long time. I bet your son is huge now.
Re: Recently built "future proof" VR Gaming PC (built with components recommended by Cnet.com - https://www.cnet.com/how-to/build-a-vr-pc/)
Built to work with Vive VR and will not work. Endless hours spent troubleshooting with HTC. Spent an hour at Microsoft in Bridgewater today. Their best recommendation was to call Gigabyte and get help updating the BIOS. That did not work. Many of the USB's are recognized, but indicating trouble and are NOT working properly. Microsoft can't help with a custom build PC. They are "sure" the hardware is more than capable (they said for at least 8 more years!) and they can not ID any hardware that is not functioning - but they were sure all we needed to do was update the motherboard BIOS which did not change anything.
The person we hired to build the PC from components purchased per Cnet's article is at a loss. Need someone who knows what the heck to do next.
Can anyone out out there help or recommend the right person to hire to help? Although I'd rather not, I suppose the answer might be to remove the Gigabyte motherboard, which I'm told will require an unbuild and rebuild with a new mother board. Are we there? I don't want to throw stupid money after stupid money but this is getting ridiculous.
Ultimate goal = using the Vive VR that has been sitting unuseable since August.
TIA.