[SOLVED] Am I reaching a limit on things connected by USB?

Aug 21, 2014
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I use a lot of devices by USB, I have a Razer Mouse, Razer Keyboard, Razer Mouse pad and Razer Headset (all have RGB except the headset), I also have a UPS connected by USB, a wireless ergonomic mouse.

recently I connected a pen drive to move a file and the ergonomic mouse started behaving erratically until I disconnected the pen drive, then it was working smoothly again.

would a powered USB hub help here? I still have more equipment I would occasionally connect (external DVD drive, external hard drive reader), and it would be a fair bit easier to plug in on the desktop from a hub than having to go under the desk and start disconnecting one thing to plug in another (front of the case has USB 2.0 headers i think).

for specs I have:
Case: Lianli Lancool (non mesh)
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: RTX 3060
Mobo: MSI PC Mate B350
Ram: 32gb @ 3000mhz Corsair ram
Storage: 500gb NVME M.2 ssd , 4TB WD hard drive, 1TB WD hard drive and a 500gb Seagate harddrive
OS: Windows 10 64 bit

most of the peripherals are connected on the USB 3.0 connectors in the back of the pc on the motherboard.
 
Solution
Your suggestion of a powered hub is may be part of the solution. You appear to say that each device is plugged into its own separate USB socket on the main computer, mostly on the rear panel. Normally that would not cause this issue because each port acts separately even though they all are driven by a multi-port controller. However, your story does sound like too many devices connected to a SINGLE port, so that they are not getting enough power from that one port. But that's not what you say is your system.

Occasionally I have had a similar problem that I associated with having changed where things were plugged in. That is, over time, several devices were plugged in, then disconnected and replaced with others, then the originals...
I use a lot of devices by USB, I have a Razer Mouse, Razer Keyboard, Razer Mouse pad and Razer Headset (all have RGB except the headset), I also have a UPS connected by USB, a wireless ergonomic mouse.

recently I connected a pen drive to move a file and the ergonomic mouse started behaving erratically until I disconnected the pen drive, then it was working smoothly again.

would a powered USB hub help here? I still have more equipment I would occasionally connect (external DVD drive, external hard drive reader), and it would be a fair bit easier to plug in on the desktop from a hub than having to go under the desk and start disconnecting one thing to plug in another (front of the case has USB 2.0 headers i think).

for specs I have:
Case: Lianli Lancool (non mesh)
CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
GPU: RTX 3060
Mobo: MSI PC Mate B350
Ram: 32gb @ 3000mhz Corsair ram
Storage: 500gb NVME M.2 ssd , 4TB WD hard drive, 1TB WD hard drive and a 500gb Seagate harddrive
OS: Windows 10 64 bit

most of the peripherals are connected on the USB 3.0 connectors in the back of the pc on the motherboard.
There's a few ways to expand your USB ports.

If you have a free PCIe x 1 slot on your motherboard you could use one of these to expand-
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=USB+3+expansion+card&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

If you have an unused DVD drive bay in your tower you could use one of these-
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=5.25"+usb+hub&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

There's also powered hubs. Powered usually means they will support charging devices as well as powering them.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=powered+usb+3+hub&ref=nb_sb_noss_2
 
Last edited:

Paperdoc

Polypheme
Ambassador
Your suggestion of a powered hub is may be part of the solution. You appear to say that each device is plugged into its own separate USB socket on the main computer, mostly on the rear panel. Normally that would not cause this issue because each port acts separately even though they all are driven by a multi-port controller. However, your story does sound like too many devices connected to a SINGLE port, so that they are not getting enough power from that one port. But that's not what you say is your system.

Occasionally I have had a similar problem that I associated with having changed where things were plugged in. That is, over time, several devices were plugged in, then disconnected and replaced with others, then the originals re-connected on different ports, etc. I hypothesize that, with all those changes, my system's USB controller became confused over which device was on which ports today. In those few cases, I got a little drastic. I went into Device Manager and Deleted all the USB devices it knew, backed out, and shut down. I unplugged ALL USB devices from ports. Then I rebooted so it found NONE, and started re-connecting devices one at a time, allowing Windows to discover the "new" USB devices and load their drivers. I expect that also establishes in its data storage exactly which port has which device. And that helped stop the odd misbehaviour of my USB stuff. That may or may NOT be of any use to you.

Now, you also hint that you realize you have a lot of devices and it might be handy to have more ports so you don't have to disconnect and re-connect items with limited ports. That is a good idea. And I agree, to do that well you really should use a POWERED Hub, or two. Any standard USB port has a limit on how much power it can provide to EVERYTHING connected to that port: for USB2 that is 0.5 A, for USB3 it is 0.9 A. If you use an unpowered Hub (sometimes sold as a "bus-powered" hub), all the devices on that hub must share that one limited power source. If they all are small-power users like plain mice or keyboards or USB memory sticks, that usually works. But if you start using lighted devices, and certainly in the case of portable hard drives, that is NOT usually enough power. Your better bet is a POWERED Hub - that is, one that comes with its own power supply module or "wall wart" that you must connect to the Hub so it does not require power from the host computer port. With this device, EVERY port on the Hub should get almost all the power that any standard USB port can provide. I said "almost" because it is normal that makers of these units supply with the Hub a power supply that provides LESS that the MAX power for ALL ports simultaneously. So how much is that? Well, start with the Hub. Count the output ports (NOT including any "Charging-Only" ports included on some current Hubs that are only used for charging heavier-power devices, and cannot be used for data devices). On a USB 3 Hub, each port is spec'd to provide 5 VDC at up to 0.9 A. Work that into WATTS of power: Watts = Volts * Amps = 5.0 * 0.9 = 4.5 Watts PER PORT. And the reason for that odd step is that so many of these units come with power supplies that feed the Hub with 12 VDC, and the Hub converts that to 5 VDC. So the power available from the power module also needs to be expressed in Watts. Say it is rated to supply 12 VDC at up to 3A, then that is 36 Watts power. If you had a Hub with 10 standard USB3 output ports rated for 4.5W each, that's 45 Watts max power requirement, and the 36 W power module can actually supply about 80% of the maximum possible load on the Hub. That would be good enough if you are not loading ALL of the Hub ports to max simultaneously.

IF the Hub you buy also has high-output Charging Ports that are spec'd to put out higher max amps, and you DO plan to use them for that, work out a similar max load for those ports only, and add that on the the Hub's max requirement. Make sure the power module supplied can handle that. higher total load. In some cases, you might be wise to buy a Hub with more ports than you think you need just to get an included power supply with more power that you DO need.

The other thing that gets shared on ANY Hub, powered or not, is the max data transfer rate of the one port you plug that Hub into. For USB2 that is 480 Mb/s, or 0.48 Gb/s. For USB 3 in the most common variety that is 5 Gb/s.

Side Note on USB data rates
Latest labels are all varieties of USB 3.2
USB 3.2 Gen1 is the same as original USB3 and USB 3.1 at 5 Gb/s.
USB 3.2 Gen2 is up to 10 Gb/s. Not many devices can use this, BUT a HUB that actually CAN so this (few make that claim) can allow several devices on its ports to share that data rate limit on the connection to the computer's host port.
USB 3.2 Gen2x2 can go up to 20 Gb/s, and there are NO current devices that can do this by themselves. I have not yet seen any Hub that claims it can operate this way.

IF you have some USB2 ports on your computer and you want to use those, note that its max data rate is low compared to the new USB3. BUT any USB2 device (like a keyboard or mouse) that only uses that rate (or often less) can be used well on such a port. AND that is where you could use a Powered USB2 HUB to match the slower devices and host port. But do NOT try to connect a newer USB 3 device to such a port and Hub, because that will slow the new device 'way down.

On the other hand, you CAN plug older USB2 devices into a USB 3.2 Hub and they will work just fine, and they will NOT force other USB3 devices on that same Hub and port to slow down. So your simplest plan is to get only a powered USB 3.2 Hub, connect it to a USB 3.2 Gen1 or Gen 2 port, and connect all your USB devices of whichever generation to that. USB 3.2 devices require that you use the USB 3 cable supplied with them to get the higher data rates, but older USB2 devices CAN use the older USB2 cables, and they WILL work, just at their as-designed slower speeds.

Oh, and labels: MANY Hubs now are labelled as just USB3 or maybe USB 3.1 because they cane on the market before the USB guys changed their labels. Typically they will specify 5Gb/s data rates, so they are more properly called by today's labels USB 3.2 Gen1 Hubs. I have seen a few that specifically claim they will operate at up to 10 Gb/s, which makes them USB 3.2 Gen2 devices. Those are much more likely to require that you plug them into a USB 3.2 Gen2 host port of the new Type C design.
 
Solution
Aug 21, 2014
25
0
10,540
thank you all for your answers, I will try to obtain a powered hub and see if it can help, I forgot to mention that 3 of the razer peripherals (mouse, keyboard, and mouse mat) were connected to a USB 3.0 port with an Anker 4-port USB "non-powered" hub, it could be that the power draw there was nearing it's limits as well and cause certain issues with those specific devices connected (sometimes I can't set macros on the mouse like it doesn't read the mouse sometimes).
 

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