dc5800 Desktop will not boot with USB camera plugged in

[oldsports]

I volunteer at a small non-profit doing basic computer work for them.  They have a number of old desktops that I recently upgraded for use in their kids' programs; this included installing some inexpensive USB webcams.  One of the desktops is a dc5800 computer and it will not complete the BIOS boot when the camera is plugged into the USB port.  The boot stops at the HP splash screen and it will not proceed unless I unplug the camera.  The BIOS is v1.60 which is the latest I can find.  Once the computer is up and running Windows 10, the camera can be plugged in and it works without issue. 

There are no other USB devices plugged into the computer; the keyboard and mouse are plugged into their respective PS/2 ports.  I also know that the camera is not faulty; I swapped out the camera and got the same result.  I upgraded this computer with a quad-core CPU and 8GB RAM, but I don't see how that could be causing this issue.  Does anyone have an idea on how I might fix this?  Thanks!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The only suggestion I can offer would be to make sure the hard drive is the first bootable device.

I don't see any BIOS settings in the F10 setup guide that pertain to the USB ports other than to disable them in the security menu, and you don't want that.

c01363881.pdf (hp.com)

[oldsports]

Hi Paul_Tikkanen,

Thanks for the reply. 

The DVD-ROM is the first bootable device, followed by the hard drive, the Ethernet device and then the USB port.  I disabled the USB as a bootable device, thinking that it might make a difference but it did not.

I happen to have one of the non-profit's spare dc5800's at home, so I decided to try your suggestion.  I plugged a USB webcam into it and turned it on - it booted up without having to make any changes in the BIOS.  There are some differences between the spare set-up I have at home and the set-up that is in the office:

• The spare computer does not have a DVD-ROM and its Ethernet device is disabled as a bootable device.  The hard drive is listed as the first bootable device followed by the USB.
• The camera I had at home is a genuine Logitech; the ones I installed at the office are generic USB cameras.
• The keyboard and mouse I used on the spare computer are both USB; the keyboard and mouse of the computer in the office are PS/2.

When I am back in the office later this week, I will replicate the spare computer set-up with the computer in the office to see which of these variables is causing the BIOS boot to hang.  I will report back when done.

Thanks!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

I always set my HP business desktop PCs to have the HDD as the first bootable device.

I disable the ethernet boot since I do not run any of my PC's in a manner that would need support booting from the ethernet controller.

However, I do not have any USB cameras plugged into any of them.

I do have a USB Wi-Fi adapter plugged into one and have encountered no issues with that.

My PC's also use a PS/2 KB and mouse.

[oldsports]

Hi Paul_Tikkanen,

I was in the non-profit office today so I had a chance to play with the dc5800 and the camera.  I made the hard disk the first boot device, made the DVD-ROM the second boot device and I disabled both the USB and network cards as boot devices.  Unfortunately, the computer still hung during BIOS boot when the generic camera was plugged in.  However, I brought a Logitech C920 camera with me and I tried booting with that plugged in - immediate success! 

So, there must be some checks that the dc5800 does on the USB ports that the generic camera is failing that causes the boot to hang.  It is weird because this is not happening with the other older computers (2 different Lenovo models and a Dell) on which I installed the same generic camera.

When I had the problem originally, I installed the camera currently on the dc5800 onto another computer to see if the camera was faulty but it worked.  I did not take a camera from one of the other computers and try it on the dc5800.  Given they are all the same model I think I will have the same problem, but who knows?  I don't know what else to try other than buying a different model camera for the dc5800.

Thanks!

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

Sorry that you were unable to resolve that very odd problem. 

Unfortunately, I don't have any other suggestions for you to try, so you will probably have to buy a USB camera that you have tested that does not cause that issue.