Connecting/disconnecting USB device freezes computer for a second or two

[Jeff Breiner]

Every time i connect or disconnect a USB device, the entire system freezes. All video freezes on its current frame and all audio cuts out. This all lasts anywhere from a half second to two seconds. If i have a rapid clicker macro running at the time, the input buffer gets overflowed and the system starts beeping as it slowly slide through the buffer, which lags the entire system including the rate at which it processes the bigger itself, rapidly increasing the buffer size until the macro is cut. Being only a half second freeze, i thought it was normal behavior and never gave it much thought. But then my friend told me he had never had any computer behave like this so is something wrong with my setup? i play a lot of idle games and would like to let my rapid clicker macros run on them overnight without fear of this happening when I'm not there to immediately stop it, as if that happens, the only way to clear the buffer is to hard crash the pc which is... Less than healthy for the system

 

[Grobe]

What kind of usb devices have you tried to connect/disconnect ?

 

[Phillip Corcoran]

Try using a mains-powered USB hub, plug as many USB-powered devices in to it as possible (except mouse & keyboard).

 

[Jeff Breiner]

@grobe this happen on USB 2.0 and 3.0. several different devices including mouse, keyboard, headphones, flash drive, use wireless internet adapter, anything

 

[Grobe]

Ok, I beleive it will be difficult to narrow down to a decent amount of possible fault location.
It may be a RAM issue. pros: pretty easy to determine using e.g. Memtest. Cons: f Memtest detects faults on RAM it may be psu that is faulty. cons: there is possible to run several tests and still get a clue if one fault is most likely.

It may be a mainboard issue. Those are the worst type of faults to actually prove. Only method is to eliminate the possibility that the other components is not the culprit. And it is hard to tell (can't prove) the difference between mainboard malfunction and a bad driver. One could use Linux, but you must use Linux for an extended period of time to rule out a driver problem vs. faulty mainboard. Warning: over time you may start like Linux, and even prefer that over Windows.

It could be an USB chip issue. If that is the case, disabling USB ports in bios may or may result in a more stable system, if that is the fault. Unless you have two indepentently usb chips at the mainboard and is able to disable both the usb chips independently from each other, you'll need to get a PCi-E usb card to make use of the mouse and keyboard while testing.