[SOLVED] USB headset issues after changing motherboards

[r0dz]

I have a Windows 10 desktop PC and recently changed my old motherboard to a new one, upgrading my i7-2600 to a Ryzen 5 5600X and from 2x4GB DDR3 RAM to 2x8GB DDR4.
After the change, my old USB headset, a Microsoft Lifechat LX-3000, started presenting a bizarre issue: whenever I'm on a Discord call and perform certain actions such as opening Steam or some Steam games, two things will happen:

• 100% of the time, headset audio will become very distored for a short while and I'll hear some static and crackling
• About 50% of the time, the left and right channels will become inverted - I'll hear audio supposed to play on the left speaker on the right one and vice versa

I searched a lot, found people with similar issues, tried several potential fixes and most of them had zero effect on the issue. The only three that had some effect were:

• Changing the Default Format of the headsets' microphone (yes, microphone, not speakers) to 16-bit, 44100Hz (CD Quality). That reduces the audio distortion significantly, but does not prevent the left-right flipping.
• Using an USB hub (TP-Link UH400) . That solves the issue perfectly.
• Using a different USB headset (Logitech G430). No issues with it.

Some things I tried that had zero effect:

• Multiple different headset speaker settings (Enhancements, Default Format, etc).
• Different USB ports (front, back, 3.2, 2.0).
• Reinstalling drivers (audio, network, chipset, headset, USB host controller). I'm convinced the correct drivers are installed.
• Running Windows Update - everything's up-to-date.
• Reinstalling Discord and Steam, and changing multiple settings in them, including running as administrator and in compatibility mode.
• Using an USB extension cable.
• Using a different Lifechat LX-3000 - has exactly the same issue.
• Forcing PCI version 3.0 in the BIOS settings. I saw that USB has some issues with Ryzen and PCI 4.0, but that doesn't seem to be the issue for me.

Is there any way I can make this headset work correctly without having to use an USB hub? What could be causing this? Should I be worried that other USB devices might present issues as well?

 

[Colif]

did you reinstall windows at any stage of process?

if the only problem you encountered swapping mb and CPU without a reisntall, is the headphones, you pretty lucky.
Generally if you swap like this there are 3 possible outcomes

1. It works fine
2. It mostly works but there is weirdness
3. It doesn't work at all.

You are at stage 2.

it could be an old driver conflict, you could try a reset and see if it forces windows to get all new drivers. But a clean install could make other things work better as well.

 

[r0dz]

did you reinstall windows at any stage of process?

if the only problem you encountered swapping mb and CPU without a reisntall, is the headphones, you pretty lucky.
Generally if you swap like this there are 3 possible outcomes

1. It works fine
2. It mostly works but there is weirdness
3. It doesn't work at all.

You are at stage 2.

it could be an old driver conflict, you could try a reset and see if it forces windows to get all new drivers. But a clean install could make other things work better as well.

I did not reinstall Windows - just installed the new drivers and ran windows update. So far everything seems to be working fine save for this particular headset, which made me think it could be some kind of compatibility issue. No idea how likely that is, though.
If no simpler solution comes up I may try reinstalling in the next couple of days. Thanks for the response.

UPDATE: did a clean Windows reinstall today. It did not solve the problem.

 

[Colif]

Is it only discord or other applications as well?

Do you have latest bios on motherboard, there was a USB problem with some motherboard models but as far as I know its fixed.
latest chipset drivers? https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/amd-socket-am4/b550

Using an USB hub (TP-Link UH400) . That solves the issue perfectly.

So i wonder why using a hub fixes it. its not powered so its not a power draw issue - https://www.tp-link.com/au/home-networking/computer-accessory/uh400/

 

[r0dz]

Is it only discord or other applications as well?

Just tested, and apparently it can happen with any application listening to the microphone. I tested with Windows Voice Recorder, Discord's web browser version and Google Meet. Was able to reproduce the issue with all three.

Do you have latest bios on motherboard, there was a USB problem with some motherboard models but as far as I know its fixed.

Nope, it came with the F10 version and I did not update. Description for the F12 version says "Improve connection stability for USB 2.0 ports of USB hub " so yeah, that looks worth a shot. I'll try it in a couple of hours and update here with the results.

Edit: I missed this part:

latest chipset drivers? https://www.amd.com/en/support/chipsets/amd-socket-am4/b550

Yes. I tried both installing the one from the motherboards page, and using AMD's automatic tool

UPDATE: Flashed BIOS version F13. Unfortunately, the problem persists.