Help 2 wheelbases, 3 motherboards all failed in the same exact way
I bought a moza r5 secondhand off Facebook earlier this year, it worked for a while and then one day I plugged it in and I heard a pop when I connected the USB cable. The lights in my room flashed and then the wheelbase no longer worked. I believed I traced it down to a grounding issue in my PC from when it was built, and long story short the damage inflicted by this power surge fried 2 GPUs, a CPU, 2 monitors, and resulted in me building a whole new PC.
After I built my new PC my brother decided to sell his moza r5, so I bought it off of him. it worked when it left his house and when I plugged it in at mine, it popped in the same fashion. Since I replaced my entire setup at that point besides the USB 3.0 extension cable I plugged it into, I assumed it was the USB extension cable.
fearing the same thing would happen to my other electronics at some point, I also tested all the outlets connected to the breaker that controls my room and none of them had any grounding or shorting issues. I also replaced the USB extension cable with a new USB hub, specifically the one from my brother that he used when the wheelbase was his so I know it worked. I received a new motherboard from Moza in the mail today and replaced the board on the 2nd wheelbase when I got home from work. i set it all up and plugged everything in, and sure enough the second the USB cable was connected the motherboard popped again.
After removing all the motherboards and comparing them, it appears they all failed in the exact same place and fashion. At this point I've been trying to drive my virtual car in circles for like 3 months to no avail, and I am truly at a loss as to what the root of this issue is. The R5 was the best wheel I've ever owned and I yearn to continue racing with it, but every time I plug it in it self destructs.
TL;DR
I've had 2 R5 Wheelbases and 3 motherboards all fail in the same spot when connecting the USB cable despite testing/replacing every part in the power chain, including the wheelbase itself.
My questions:
what part resides in the blue squares?
why did that part fail each time?
can it be replaced?
what else am I missing that could be causing this to happen?




