[SOLVED] Audio/Video stuttering & USB disconnecting/reconnecting. One issue or two ?

[Mugsy]

I'm trying to fix a Win10 PC I built for a friend about 18 months ago.

He reported to me that his computer "was taking forever to boot up" and "the computer keeps beeping".

The "beeping" turned out to be the USB connect/disconnect sound. For some reason his USB devices (regardless of port) keep randomly disconnecting.

When I brought his PC home to check it out and disconnected everything except a USB mouse, all problems went away. Computer booted up fast and the mouse appears to stay connected (no choppy movement.)

But I don't have a pair of speakers I can simply plug in, so I connected a USB Bluetooth adapter and speaker. It needed a driver update, so next came my USB WiFi adapter. And the problems returned. I don't hearing the USB connect/discount sound b/c the Bluetooth speakers go through a USB Bluetooth adapter.

Upon reboot, the LONG delay returned. Clearly there's a USB issue.

Since I couldn't hear any USB "disconnect/reconnect" sounds with a USB speaker, I tried playing an AVI only to discover choppy playback. Really bad. Like a stutter every second. I tried playing an MP3 and it does it too, so it's not just a video driver issue.

I'm wondering if the two issues could be related (Media playback halting when the Bluetooth speaker disconnects?)

When I first connect the USB WiFi adapter, it connects/reconnects repeatedly, but after a few minutes, settles down and stays connected.

The Windows Dev Mgr says "the latest USB controller is already installed". Uninstalling/Reinstalling didn't help.

I can't run "SFC" (System File Checker) because he does not have an Outlook account and running SFC would wipe out his password and force me to change his username.

I had a similar problem on my Win10 PC a few years ago (USB connecting/disconnecting sound, but no Media issues). The problem turned out to be a single bad USB device, and unplugging it was the solution. This is not the case here.

Any ideas welcome.

FOLLOW-UP: I replaced the bluetooth speaker (and USB BT adapter) with cheap plug-in speakers and the audio/video stuttering went away, so the problems were in fact related. Now I need to figure out why the USB ports are cycling.

 

[Ralston18]

Update your post to include full system hardware specs and OS information.

What PSU was installed: make, model, wattage, age (18 months?) condition (new, refurbished, used)?

Also:

"can't run "SFC" (System File Checker) because he does not have an Outlook account and running SFC would wipe out his password and force me to change his username. " Source/Reference?

"sfc /scannow" (and "dism") do not require an Outlook account and will not wipe out his password.


FYI:

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

How to use DISM command tool to repair Windows 10 image | Windows Central

 

[Mugsy]

Sorry, I should mark this as "solved".

Turns out it was indeed "one issue". The audio/video was stuttering every time the USB-Bluetooth adapter disconnected/reconnected the BT speaker. All media players would pause whenever the speaker "disappeared."

I went out & purchased a cheap pair of standard speakers that plug into the Audio jack (instead of relying on the BT speaker) to see what happens and the problem went away.

As for why USB devices were cycling on/off, that remains a mystery (but unplugging all unnecessary devices seems to have helped.)

PS: I have one PC where I "upgraded" from Win7 (which did not require a MS account and had a 7 character password) to Win10 (which requires you to create an MS account with a password that must be at least 8 chars with at least one uppercase char & one special char), which resulted in forcing me to use the password linked to my MS account. On another Win10 PC, running SFC reset my login to use my MS Account (with different password.) I can absolutely confirm that if your PC is not linked to your MS account, SFC will change you to it.