Question Intermittent Keyboard USB Error - "Device Not Recognized"

[whatelsematters]

Hey team, need some help I'm at a loss- can't seem to get this one figured out.

I've got multiple keyboards (both tested in other machines, no errors or weirdness at all) that stop working randomly in Windows. Or at least, mostly randomly. I get a Windows "Device Not Recognized" error, even if the keyboard's been plugged in and working fine up to the point at which it stops functioning. No known software or hardware changes triggered this, it just started one day. Perhaps a software update in the background? Started a few weeks ago and has gotten progressively worse to the point that sometimes unplugging and re-plugging isn't effective to fix the issue.

The error seems to occur primarily when I'm using the Chrome browser (although this could be entirely coincidental), so I've swapped over to Firefox as part of my testing, we'll see how that goes over the next few days. USB settings in BIOS look good, and keyboard works just fine in that environment. When I unplug the kb and plug it back in, most of the time it'll work for awhile before erroring out again. Has the feel of a conflict between Windows USB controllers and some other piece of software.

So I've tried: reformat and fresh Windows install, multiple keyboards (all USB, unfortunately I only have USB kb sitting around at the moment), flashed BIOS, ensuring in Device Manager that all references to HID and USB have the "allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" unchecked, checked all settings in BIOS, double- and triple-checked all device drivers are up to date, updated Windows completely.

Running Windows 10 on a MSI B550A-PRO mobo, 5600x, 6800xt. Again, nothing recently changed, just started having issues out of nowhere and been unable to resolve.

Any ideas?

 

[Ralston18]

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

PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition (original to build, new, refurbished, used)?

Any error codes, warnings, or even informational events being captured by Reliability History/Monitor or Event Viewer?

Especially any that are captured just before or at the time the keyboards stop working.

 

[turtletarget111]

It sounds like you've tried lots of troubleshooting steps already. If you have any keyboard software like Corsair iCue or Razor Synapse you could try uninstalling and reinstalling those pieces of software. If you don't have any third party keyboard software, I would run the Windows Troubleshooter for keyboards. Just go to Settings, open the Troubleshooter, and click Other Troubleshooters.

The AM4 platform had weird issues with USB devices randomly disconnecting. I've never had it happen, but I know other people where it happened multiple times a week. Updating the BIOS patches these issues the majority of the time, and since then, they have stopped having such problems. You could try updating your BIOS to the latest firmware. Just be aware that if the power to your system goes out, it can brick your motherboard without preventative features like Dual BIOS or BIOS Flashback. Don't update if there is bad weather. Hope this helped, take care.