Question Intermittent mouse and keyboard freezing in a USB 3.0 hub

[ergaroot]

Hi Gents,

I have an ASUS laptop with Windows 10. There are three USB ports in it, one USB 2.0 one and two USB 3.0 ones. I have bought a USB 3.0 hub, which I use for a keyboard and a mouse. I am facing with a strange symptom: when I connect two external HDDs in the two USB 3.0 ports and connect my hub in the USB 2.0 port (with the mouse and the keyboard), then the mouse intermittently freezes and my keyboard gets "sticky": when I press a button, it repeats the keystroke many times (5-10x). Normally I can live with it, but when I use the bandwidth, i.e. copying something from one external HDD to another one, then it gets very annoying making the mouse almost unusable.

When I connect the mouse directly in the laptop, there is no such a problem. I would think it's the USB hub, but I have tried several other USB 3.0 hubs, and the issue is the same with all of them. But there is no issue with an USB 2.0 hub: in this case the mouse and the keyboard work file as well.

I would also think that it's due to lack of power, but if I plug a headset in the USB 3.0 hub besides my mouse, and start any music, the issue is also gone: then there is no mouse freezing, even if I do high speed file copy between the HDDs which are connected directly in the laptop. Therefore it cannot be a power thing: with the headset the power consumption is higher than without it, it's still much better when the headset is present.

Really strange. I have seen similar threads where they say it's probably due to a continuous speed re-negotiation, or the controller hits the USB packet limit, I am not sure. Why it is working fine with an old USB 2.0 hub then?

All the drivers and the OS is up to date, I did all the usual things, but nothing helped so far.

Thanks!

 

[CountMike]

Hi Gents,

I have an ASUS laptop with Windows 10. There are three USB ports in it, one USB 2.0 one and two USB 3.0 ones. I have bought a USB 3.0 hub, which I use for a keyboard and a mouse. I am facing with a strange symptom: when I connect two external HDDs in the two USB 3.0 ports and connect my hub in the USB 2.0 port (with the mouse and the keyboard), then the mouse intermittently freezes and my keyboard gets "sticky": when I press a button, it repeats the keystroke many times (5-10x). Normally I can live with it, but when I use the bandwidth, i.e. copying something from one external HDD to another one, then it gets very annoying making the mouse almost unusable.

When I connect the mouse directly in the laptop, there is no such a problem. I would think it's the USB hub, but I have tried several other USB 3.0 hubs, and the issue is the same with all of them. But there is no issue with an USB 2.0 hub: in this case the mouse and the keyboard work file as well.

I would also think that it's due to lack of power, but if I plug a headset in the USB 3.0 hub besides my mouse, and start any music, the issue is also gone: then there is no mouse freezing, even if I do high speed file copy between the HDDs which are connected directly in the laptop. Therefore it cannot be a power thing: with the headset the power consumption is higher than without it, it's still much better when the headset is present.

Really strange. I have seen similar threads where they say it's probably due to a continuous speed re-negotiation, or the controller hits the USB packet limit, I am not sure. Why it is working fine with an old USB 2.0 hub then?

All the drivers and the OS is up to date, I did all the usual things, but nothing helped so far.

Thanks!

All ports in a hub share just one USB port.

 

[ergaroot]

All ports in a hub share just one USB port.

That's true, but still doesn't explain my issue. My USB hub has only two devices connected to it: a mouse and a keyboard. Their power- and bandwidth demand is very low, they get still freezy when there is data transfer between two OTHER USB ports of my computer.

Some update: the issue is not present on my former Dell laptop with Windows 7. There the mouse is never laggy. So the issue is not caused by the devices I use. Then what else?

 

[Adam0ne]

I assume that you have a wireless mouse? I ran into similar trouble with my mouse.

I can't find the article I was reading a few weeks ago.

It turns out that the usb 3.0 is causing some interferrence. Only wireless devices' receivers are affected when connected to 3.0 and 2.0 side by side. I connected mine to a different port location. Note that the affected 2.0 hub works if connected by wire. The solution that others did was use a usb extension cable for their mouse receiver, just to put some distance from that active usb 3.0 port.

 

[ergaroot]

I assume that you have a wireless mouse? I ran into similar trouble with my mouse.

I can't find the article I was reading a few weeks ago.

It turns out that the usb 3.0 is causing some interferrence. Only wireless devices' receivers are affected when connected to 3.0 and 2.0 side by side. I connected mine to a different port location. Note that the affected 2.0 hub works if connected by wire. The solution that others did was use a usb extension cable for their mouse receiver, just to put some distance from that active usb 3.0 port.

No, this is a wired mouse. I am aware there are interference issues with the wireless mouses, but this is an old one.