Motherboard inputs not working (USB 3.0, USB 3.1, HDMI)

[Mscholtes]

So this is a problem I have been struggling with for well over a year, and continuously re-surfaces whenever I upgrade my setup.

The Problem:
Since the day I installed my motherboard, MSI z170A Gaming Pro Carbon, I have not been able to use 6 out of the 7 USB ports. The one port that works is the single USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type A, The remaining 3.0 and 2.0 ports receive power, but are unresponsive. I have coped by using the one working port and an external USB hub for all my devices. When I plug a device into any of the other 6 ports, I get an unrecognized device error and "Unkown USB device (invalid device descriptor)" in device manager. See screenshot below

https://imageshack.com/a/img922/7880/9Nusu3.png

IMPORTANT: I would also like to note that the HDMI port on the motherboard is also not working, although I didn't notice until now. The oddest part of the situation is that all the ports work fine when in BIOS, but malfunction shortly before windows loads. This is what leads me to believe it is a software problem, and therefore can be fixed.

Thought this was weird
While looking for a solution in my BIOS, I noticed a setting called "Windows 8.1/10 WHQL Support" was disabled, while the setting underneath it "Windows 7 installation" was enabled. Knowing that I have windows 10, I messed with these settings and found that enabling/ disabling both of these settings, respectfully, led to a boot right back into BIOS.

What I have Tried
So far I have gone through all the common solutions:
-uninstalling/reinstalling USB Root Hubs and other controllers
-disabling power restrictions in device manager and windows settings
-updating bios
-updating motherboard drivers

Please help! There are so many things that could be causing the problem, so any input is welcome and greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[smorizio]

on the hdmi issue the port wont turn on unless in the bios under priamny display set to ipgpu and mulit monitor support is turned on. with the ipgpu as first display your bios key strock will show up on the mb ports and not on the onboard gpu. if you want it the other way set primany gpu to peg/pci.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-GAMING-PRO-CARBON#down-driver&Win10%2064
make sure you installed acmedia usb drivers and reinstall intel chipset drivers.
in the bios make sure usb handoff set to full on and under usb ports onboard devices both chipsets are turned on.

 

[Mscholtes]

on the hdmi issue the port wont turn on unless in the bios under priamny display set to ipgpu and mulit monitor support is turned on. with the ipgpu as first display your bios key strock will show up on the mb ports and not on the onboard gpu. if you want it the other way set primany gpu to peg/pci.
https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-GAMING-PRO-CARBON#down-driver&Win10%2064
make sure you installed acmedia usb drivers and reinstall intel chipset drivers.
in the bios make sure usb handoff set to full on and under usb ports onboard devices both chipsets are turned on.

First off thanks for the quick response!
The HDMI fix worked, but as for the USB, did you mean the xhci handoff? If so, I have tried that. Also, what did you mean by "under usb ports onboard devices both chipsets are turned on." Is that a bios setting or under device manager?

 

[smorizio]

it in the bios under advance settings...onboard devices....network sound and usb ports should all be there.

 

[Mscholtes]

it in the bios under advance settings...onboard devices....network sound and usb ports should all be there.

I don't have a BIOS option that allows me to pick which chipsets i can use

 

[Mscholtes]

This is for those who are experiencing issues with USB ports (specifically 2.0 and 3.0) and have the error code 43, along with the message "The USB device returned an invalid USB device descriptor." http://imagizer.imageshack.us/a/img922/7880/9Nusu3.png

OK so for anyone else who has had this issue and have spent far too much time pulling their hair out searching forums, with no luck... I have a solution that nobody else has seemed to find. So to start out, I would like to state that I upgraded from windows 7 to windows 10, and as a result, my OS was installed on a MBR partition, instead of a GPT. This led to my pc only being allowed to boot in legacy mode (found in bios under advanced settings-->boot settings). Now, if you think this does not connect to usb ports malfunctioning, hang in there. Okay so upgraded windows 10, OS on a MBR partition, cannot boot into UEFI mode.

NOW, all of this is what led to the MAIN CAUSE for the malfunction: When attempting to enable the BIOS setting "Windows 8.1/10 WHQL Support," the pc would fail to boot and go right back into BIOS.

This Windows 10 WHQL support feature is what kept the simple fixes from working, and because I upgraded to windows 10 (instead of fresh installing it), becuase I installed my OS on a MBR partition, and because I could not boot into UEFI mode, the USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports failed Windows Boot inspection and did not work.

How did I fix it?

Okay so if you have tried everything to fix this problem, with no luck, then read what I said before and check to see if you have the same symptoms listed above. First, see if you have the "Windows 8.1/10 WHQL Support" option in bios, or something similar to it (for me, it was under advanced-->OS configuration). To enable this settings and resolve the problem, you have to be able to boot into UEFI mode. If you can boot into UEFI mode, enable the setting, and start up windows successfully, simply skip to step 4. If you can't boot into UEFI mode, then follow these steps:

1) Open disk management and right click the disk your OS is found on, select properties, volumes, and under Partition Style:, it should say MBR. If it says GUID (GPT), then skip to step 3

2)So your OS is on a MBR, and does not support UEFI boots. You can fix this by converting the Drive to GPT using the MBR2GPT tool build into Windows 10. It is really easy, built into Windows, and does not result in ANY loss of Data. Instructions on how to do this are found in the link below
https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/articles/000024558/memory-and-storage/intel-optane-memory.html
If you run into problems with validation or anything during this step, a quick google search can help. If not, let me know with a reply and I will assist you.

3)After converting your OS drive to GPT, the next steps are easy. Reboot and go into your BIOS, set boot mode to UEFI, then enable the Windows 10 support option (or your version of it). If you want to be safe, do both of these things in two separate re-boots.

4)If you successfully booted with the Windows 10 WHQL support setting enabled, all that's left to do is try the common USB fixes. For me, all I had to do was uninstall the USB 3.0 Controller and Root Hubs in device manager, then unplug all my USB's, and plug them back in. From there, the windows 10 WHQL support kicked in and fixed the driver gaps.

Really hoped this helped some people. I spent over a year trying to fix this and never imagined the problem would stem from upgrading to Windows 10 with a MBR OS disk. Feel free to ask questions, I will clarify anything if need be.

Cheers.