Question Occasional USB failure ( keyboard, webcam, mouse ) ?

[threedb]

Occasional USB failure ( keyboard, webcam, mouse )

USB ports randomly kick the listed peripheries. The machine is a year-ish old. The only recent change is the Super Flower PSU which fixed a previous issue. What does it mean? What is going on with the USBs?

MB - MSI PRO Z690A DDR4 ProSeries MB
GPU - MSI Gaming GeForce RTX 3080 LHR 10GB
PSU - Super Flower Gold 850W
CPU - Intel Core i7-12700K
Fan - Noctua NH-D15
SSD - Intel 660p 1TB Internal SSD
RAM - CORSAIR Vengeance LPX 32GB (2 x 16GB) RAM DDR4

 

[Lutfij]

What OS are you working with?

If you're working with Windows, then open up Device Manager and see if anything is flagged with a yellow exclamation mark. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time?

 

[threedb]

What OS are you working with?

If you're working with Windows, then open up Device Manager and see if anything is flagged with a yellow exclamation mark. BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time?

Windows 10. Device Manager shows no yellow flags that I see. Is there a specific area in there I need to be looking at? Keyboard, mouse and USB, etc all look good.

BIOS version: American Megatrends International, LLC. 1.90, 11/8/2022

 

[Misgar]

In Device Manager, open 'Universal Serial Bus controllers' then open all USB Hubs in turn, open Properties and disable Power Management. In a typical computer you may find 10 USB Hubs.

In the default setting, Windows powers down USB hubs to save power. Some devices do not wake up properly after they are shut down.

 

[threedb]

In Device Manager, open 'Universal Serial Bus controllers' then open all USB Hubs in turn, open Properties and disable Power Management. In a typical computer you may find 10 USB Hubs.

In the default setting, Windows powers down USB hubs to save power. Some devices do not wake up properly after they are shut down.

Ok, there are about 7 in mine. In four of them was able to check OFF 'Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power". Is that right?

Is this an indication that my PSU is underpowered or something?

 

[Misgar]

Yes, Just get rid of all the check marks in the boxes.

No, it's not an indication of your PSU being underpowered.

Powering down your USB hubs when they're idle saves a few hundred milli-watts of power, but when added up over millions or billions of computers worldwide, it's a worthwhile saving to stop the ice caps from melting so quickly.

It's a pity it mucks up some peripherals which don't recover gracefully after dozing for a while.

 

[threedb]

Yes, Just get rid of all the check marks in the boxes.

No, it's not an indication of your PSU being underpowered.

Powering down your USB hubs when they're idle saves a few hundred milli-watts of power, but when added up over millions or billions of computers worldwide, it's a worthwhile saving to stop the ice caps from melting so quickly.

It's a pity it mucks up some peripherals which don't recover gracefully after dozing for a while.

This totally makes sense. All check boxes are off.

Then camera was strobing and I had to unplug / re-plug it which is sort of par for the course. It's what usually happens. I restart the machine a couple of times a week, otherwise I leave it on. It may be ok now but I'm not sure.

Could this be a driver issue?

 

[Misgar]

USB cable length could be the problem, although I've not experienced this with web cams. What sometimes causes trouble is long, poorly constructed leads of 0.5m (1.5ft) or longer, especially when copying photos from SD and CF cards in USB3 card readers. Ditto USB3 portable hard disks and SSDs. They don't like really long leads.

I use 20cm (8in) USB-C leads and 30cm (1ft) USB-A leads when transferring files, to reduce the probability of data corruption.

Obviously you cannot use a web cam with a 30cm (12in) lead, but you might improve things by removing any additional hubs or extension leads and plug the webcam lead directly into the rear panel of the computer. If the web cam supports USB2, that might improve stability, if you have a USB2 port in your PC.

Yes, the webcam driver might be the problem, but you're at the mercy of the software writer working to a strict budget. Check for new drivers and see if other users have reported problems with your particular webcam model. If it's a really cheap camera, you might just have to accept its deficiencies. Good luck.

 

[threedb]

Problem was the webcam. It was old? I guess? New one fixed all issues. Weirdly it was shorting other USB devices.... Anyway, yeah it was just hardware.