Question Plagued with USB problems

[FunsOver]

Hi,

This is a fairly long problem so the following may seem a bit disjointed but try to bare with me. My computer is connected to my television and I sit on a sofa rather than at a desk, because of this I use a USB hub to connect my devices and have it next to the sofa. In total I have 4 USB devices attached to my computer.

Attached to motherboard:
1. A dongle for wireless Xbox controller


USB HUB (Connected to motherboard, mains powered)

1. USB Headset
2. USB Mouse
3. USB Keyboard

The hub is connected to a 3 metre usb 2.0 cable which runs across the floor to the sofa where my devices plug in.



The Issue:

I've had the computer for around 2 years like this with no real problems, one day the headset microphone is picking up some kind of interference/feedback and deafens whoever I am speaking to, think the standard feedback from moving a mouse times one hundred. I try the headset connected directly to the motherboard and the issue goes away. I assume the hub has become defective to some degree, maybe it is no longer receiving mains power and is being powered solely by usb. I throw it away and order a new one of the same kind. The new hub is working fine for around 2 weeks, no audio feedback of any kind but all of a sudden all of the devices attached to it will not respond. They are receiving power as muting/unmuting the headset causes a light to turn on and off when powered, but it is not picking up any sounds from the video playing on screen, the mouse and keyboard are also not responding. The only solution is to hard reset the computer. This has happened twice so far and is incredibly annoying, I have also had the headset disconnect briefly for around 5 seconds or so then reconnect.


What I have tried:

Replacement cables
Different port on the computer
Device manager, scan for changes
Motherboard drivers


I'm really at a loss on what is going on, I'm assuming the single port from the computer can't power all the devices but the previous hub had no issues like this. I've been looking into USB PCI card but I'm unsure if this is for power or just a way to add extra ports to the computer. I've also considered buying a more expensive, reputable hub but I can't be sure the problem would go away.


This is pretty annoying and I'm lost as to how to progress from here, I appreciate this is a long winded post and perhaps missing details but any responses would be greatly appreciated.



FunsOver

 

[Ralston18]

Full system hardware specs and OS?

Especially PSU: make, model, wattage, age, condition?

My concern would be twofold: 1) older PC with its' PSU starting to degrade and 2) the USB load has possibly gone beyond what the single USB port can support as you did indeed mention. Further complicated if the PSU is beginning to falter.

You may need an independently powered USB hub.

In the meantime; try reducing power load on both the PSU and the USB hub.

If you can find stability then start adding devices back one by one. You may find some threshold "load" level where the problems begin again.

 

[AllanGH]

If it is not an active hub (one with its own power source other than from the computer), you may have better luck buying and using an active USB hub, instead.

 

[FunsOver]

Thanks for such fast replies.

@Ralston18

My specs should hopefully be listed here:
https://pcpartpicker.com/list/hpLwLJ

Specifically my PSU is an EVGA 600w White edition which I was unable to find on the above website, it must be around 2.5years old now and was purchased new.

The USB hub which I am using is mains powered but the plug sockets in this house are rather limited and as a result I run a 3m extension cable which then connects only to the usb hub. I probably wouldn't be able to diagnose a faulty PSU but other than this there have been no other issues with power. The fan on the PSU sounds fine and the dust filters are cleaned regularly.

I'm not sure how I would reduce the load on either the hub or computer as I consider all the devices essential, I suppose I could use the TV speakers and wait for the devices to stop responding?

@AllanGH

I'm not sure what you mean, if a powered usb hub then I am using one. Although I could use a more expensive, reputable one but I'm not sure it would fix the problem. Here is the link for the current hub I am using, it's listed on Ebay and I have shortened the url, I hope that is ok:

tinyurl(.)com/TomsHardwareUSB




Thank you both for the help so far.

 

[FunsOver]

Hi,

Just a quick update. I had a few days of the problem not happening then yesterday it happened twice in one day, the second time however I was able to troubleshoot a bit.

I was playing a game with a wireless controller which the receiver is connected to a different USB port on the motherboard. There was around 3 seconds of loud crackling coming through the headset before all the USB devices stopped responding. However the wireless controller was still functioning normally and I was able to move my character etc. I then turned off the power switch for just the headset on the USB hub and the sound then started coming from the TV. So my thought process is that the computer maybe still thinks the devices are functioning? Lastly I unplugged and reconnected the USB cable that connects from the computer to the hub and then all of the devices started working again. Which leads me to believe the problem is hopefully on the hub side of things rather than the computer itself.