Question USB will randomly dropout completely ?

[BaronVonJackal]

For a while now I have been struggling with strange USB dropouts; ranging from my keyboard no longer functioning to sometimes every USB port dropping out including the USB headers. I am not using any hubs either. This problem happens at a roll of a die, but usually happens at start up and usually if there is no activity to the impacted device (this tends to be my keyboard most times; so if I don't touch my keyboard then this issue happens). The total USB disconnect has only happened twice but still has happened more times than it should. When it does happen; it's as if both power and data have been disconnected and reconnected however nothing happens on screen and the computer seems to work as intended; not even Event Viewer will register the event. When it's only the keyboard or mouse; the power is still going to them (they are RGB devices so they still light up), but the animation to the RGB freezes until I disconnect the device and plug it back in.

Now more recently, as this part is an update of sorts to the previous paragraph, using Mega to sync files from an external drive to the cloud; will cause a complete mass disconnect with all USB drives AND the onboard Bluetooth module gets disconnected. I have had the ethernet port drop out twice as well. Everything points to the motherboard, but it was doing this with the previous board as well (as I have RMAed this board before with them sending me a new one in exchange). Some forums suggest it's the z690 chipset as it is happening on Asus, MSI, and Gigabyte (so not just one specific manufacturer). Others suggest it could be a PSU or RAM issue, but after testing RAM it then doesn't seem to be the case and power doesn't seem to be the issue either as there are plenty of times the system works perfectly fine with everything connected and can last for a few days to a couple of weeks like this even under heavy usage.

Forums discussing similar issues:
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?128826-Z690-and-USB-issues

I have done the following:

• Disabled USB power management/letting system turn it off
• RMAed Motherboard with a total different motherboard coming back
• updated BIOS
• updated Windows
• Upgraded Windows from 10 to 11
• Tried different USB ports
• Tried the mouse, keyboard, and other USB devices on another device; they seem to work just fine/as intended
• Disabled C-States
• Tried Powered USB Hub
• updated PD
• Disabled Fast Boot
• Disabled PCIE Native Power Management
• Changed M.2 and PCIE to Gen 3
• Tested RAM with MemTest: Pass

My specs are:

• Windows 11 Pro 64 bit
• Asus z690 Extreme (BIOS version 1505; though this issue has been going on since 3 prior revisions)
• Intel i7 12700k (no overclock currently)
• 2 kits of Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR5-5600 PC5-44800 CL36 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit CMT32GX5M2X5600 - Total of 64GB RAM (not overclocked currently)(Also I know mixing kits are bad, but currently 4 stick kits aren't offered)
• EVGA 3080Ti (no overclock currently)
• Samsung 980 Pro SSD 1TB M.2 NVMe Boot Drive using the DIMM connector
• 2 2TB Samsung 850 EVO SSD
• EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 G6

USB items:

• Logitech Proteus Spectrum
• Logitech G910 keyboard
• Lian-Li fan hub with 6 UNIFans (3 controlled directly; other 3 are controlled only for RGB and attached to AiO) - USB Header 1
• MSI MEG Core Liquid S360 AIO (Controlling the 3 other UNIFans) - USB Header 2
• Small 4TB USB External
• Large 4TB USB External with its own power
• Small USB C 1TB External
• Corsair USB cable for headset charging
• Corsair USB dongle for headset
• Logitech c920 Webcam (newest edition to the list)

 

[Ralston18]

Also look in Reliability History for error codes, warnings, and informational events that may be being captured therein when the USB dropouts occur.

Use Task Manager and Resource Monitor (use both tools but only one at a time) to observe system performance. Watch for some change that takes place just before or at the time of the dropouts.

Look in Update History for any failed or problem updates. [Enter "View your Update history" in the Type here to search box.]

Try running the built-in Windows Troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Also try "sfc /scannow" and "dism".

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

 

[BaronVonJackal]

Also look in Reliability History for error codes, warnings, and informational events that may be being captured therein when the USB dropouts occur.

Use Task Manager and Resource Monitor (use both tools but only one at a time) to observe system performance. Watch for some change that takes place just before or at the time of the dropouts.

Look in Update History for any failed or problem updates. [Enter "View your Update history" in the Type here to search box.]

Try running the built-in Windows Troubleshooters. The troubleshooters may find and fix something.

Also try "sfc /scannow" and "dism".

https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-use-sfc-scannow-to-repair-windows-system-files-2626161

https://www.windowscentral.com/how-use-dism-command-line-utility-repair-windows-10-image

forgot all about Reliability History. Will try that and report back.

as for the other suggestions. I have tried those plenty and sadly Task Manager doesn’t report anything out of the ordinary before, during, or after the event. Neither does Resource Monitor or Event Viewer.

Update History is clean; no failed or problematic updates.

built in troubleshooters were the first thing I tried; nothing.

SFC and DISM were the next things I tried with nothing to fix or report; all healthy

 

[Ralston18]

Reading back:

"I am not using any hubs either. "

All USB devices thus being directly connected to motherboard/case USB ports then - correct?

Try using an independently powered USB hub to support the external USB drives.

My thought being that the motherboard is unable to fulfill the USB power requirements on its' own.

 

[BaronVonJackal]

Reading back:

"I am not using any hubs either. "

All USB devices thus being directly connected to motherboard/case USB ports then - correct?

Try using an independently powered USB hub to support the external USB drives.

My thought being that the motherboard is unable to fulfill the USB power requirements on its' own.

Thanks and yes all were connected directly to the motherboard, but under the "I have done the following" I've specified that I have tried a powered USB hub as well. No go there; the same problem is happening.

After doing more troubleshooting; I've narrowed it down to a possible piece of software: MEGA Sync. There must have been an update along the way that made it become unstable because when it tries to sync to my cloud storage it starts making my mouse lock up a bit. Hadn't done that before; even at the time of writing the main post, it did not do that. However, after removing the software; it isn't doing it oddly. That said though; it could be also a coincidence and I am having a "car mechanic syndrome" moment that has occurred before.

Going to see how it functions over the next couple of days without it installed then try to reinstall it and recreate the problem. Only after uninstalling and slowly reinstalling software did I come across this.

 

[BaronVonJackal]

Reading back:

"I am not using any hubs either. "

All USB devices thus being directly connected to motherboard/case USB ports then - correct?

Try using an independently powered USB hub to support the external USB drives.

My thought being that the motherboard is unable to fulfill the USB power requirements on its' own.

Alright; Reliability History finally caught something.

Received a "Live Kernel Event" code 144:
LKD_0x144_CONTEXT_ERROR_AFTER_STALL_RESET_EP_USBXHCI!TelemetryData_CreateReport_VEN_8086_DEV_7ae0_REV_0011

Doing some research it says that x144 has something to do with USB3 while the VEN_8086_DEV_7_ae0_REV_0011 has something to do with PCIe? Getting conflicting results on both of those.

Update/Edit:

So doing more research it seems the DEV_7 item isn't PCIe, but the USB 3.2 eXtensible Host Controller - 1.20 (Microsoft). Will try to uninstall both and reinstall it. Just trying to make notes on this just in case someone else has this issue. If anyone knows where I can find the drivers for this for the z690 chipset; please point me in that direction

Update2:
Uninstalling, reinstalling, and even disabling XHCI does nothing. The result is still the same. I am wondering if there is something wrong with the CPU at this point. I have contacted Intel for any guidance on this.

 

[Ralston18]

XHCI etc. may or may not make a difference. I do not know.

z690 drivers - start here:

z690 chipset

Two recommendations:

1) Ensure that all important data is backed up at least 2 x to locations off of the computer in question. Verify that the backups are recoverable and readable.

2) Do try to obtain an independently powered USB hub to test just as a matter of elimination.

 

[BaronVonJackal]

XHCI etc. may or may not make a difference. I do not know.

z690 drivers - start here:

z690 chipset

Two recommendations:

1) Ensure that all important data is backed up at least 2 x to locations off of the computer in question. Verify that the backups are recoverable and readable.

2) Do try to obtain an independently powered USB hub to test just as a matter of elimination.

your link sends me nowhere sadly

as for the recommendations:
1) All important data are on my externals which was the purpose of using MEGA so I can have an offsite storage, but if my USB is crapping out; how can I upload anything offsite when it won’t do it or will go through it partially then break? As it stands I’ve had to unplug and replug both mouse and keyboard 3 times as I type this with any other essential USB devices (including my externals) being completely unplug in order not to risk potential hardware damage

2) you didn’t read the original post fully nor the post prior to my previous reply stating I HAVE tried a powered USB hub with the results being the same

 

[Ralston18]

This: "Large 4TB USB External with its own power ". I read that to be a 4 TB External drive with its' own power supply.

Also noted: "Tried Powered USB Hub" - missed that one. Apologies.

As for the link - try this:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18002/intel-driver-support-assistant.html

Another option:

https://www.lifewire.com/install-usb-3-drivers-windows-10-4588096

Covers Windows 10 and 11.

Also try (per the link) Microsoft's USB Diagnostic Tool.

 

[BaronVonJackal]

This: "Large 4TB USB External with its own power ". I read that to be a 4 TB External drive with its' own power supply.

Also noted: "Tried Powered USB Hub" - missed that one. Apologies.

As for the link - try this:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18002/intel-driver-support-assistant.html

Another option:

https://www.lifewire.com/install-usb-3-drivers-windows-10-4588096

Covers Windows 10 and 11.

Also try (per the link) Microsoft's USB Diagnostic Tool.

For that particular external drive; you would be correct. It's one of the WD externals with its own power cable, but it isn't always connected. More was listing it as what USB devices I do have.

No problem!

I'll try the support assistant later as well as the USB Diagnostic Tool. Hopefully, that second one will help. As for the steps listed in that second link; I've tried those steps of uninstalling it as mentioned above as well with no luck.

 

[BaronVonJackal]

This: "Large 4TB USB External with its own power ". I read that to be a 4 TB External drive with its' own power supply.

Also noted: "Tried Powered USB Hub" - missed that one. Apologies.

As for the link - try this:

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/download/18002/intel-driver-support-assistant.html

Another option:

https://www.lifewire.com/install-usb-3-drivers-windows-10-4588096

Covers Windows 10 and 11.

Also try (per the link) Microsoft's USB Diagnostic Tool.

Well, sad to report that I've tried these three things and had no luck either. I will go and contact ASUS Monday on top of contacting Intel again on the matter.

 

[Powder_qwp]

Hi!
I have the excat same problem, with a r5 5600x and an b550 asus board tho.
The errors I see in the Reliability History are pretty much the same.
And my devices also only dro out when i e.g watch videos and not when i play games.

Did u figure out what exactly was causing the problem, I would really appreciate it!!

~Jaden

 

[BaronVonJackal]

Hi!
I have the excat same problem, with a r5 5600x and an b550 asus board tho.
The errors I see in the Reliability History are pretty much the same.
And my devices also only dro out when i e.g watch videos and not when i play games.

Did u figure out what exactly was causing the problem, I would really appreciate it!!

~Jaden

Since posting this; I have yet to figure out exactly what is going on and after 86 emails with ASUS; they seem to not really care. This board is for 12th gen and found out their 13th gen is the exact same board, but with slightly different esthetics (such as LEDs were changed and a few other things that mean nothing).

I've boiled it down to a power management issue. The best thing I can do is turn on any LED software that I need to use then stop the programs and leave it be. I have Armoury Crate running, but can't really turn that off either. So any other software I have to leave off or else things will completely disconnect. I have had some slight video card issues, but I am wanting to believe that was a driver issue as it has not happened since updating the said driver. In that regard; no matter what update to the motherboard I do, be it software updates via Armoury Crate or BIOS updates, it just doesn't seem to fix the problem.

I believe ASUS has a specific defect that doesn't really present itself unless you are using too many pieces of RGB software plus USB devices causing instability in the power regulation via the board.

 

[Powder_qwp]

Since posting this; I have yet to figure out exactly what is going on and after 86 emails with ASUS; they seem to not really care. This board is for 12th gen and found out their 13th gen is the exact same board, but with slightly different esthetics (such as LEDs were changed and a few other things that mean nothing).

I've boiled it down to a power management issue. The best thing I can do is turn on any LED software that I need to use then stop the programs and leave it be. I have Armoury Crate running, but can't really turn that off either. So any other software I have to leave off or else things will completely disconnect. I have had some slight video card issues, but I am wanting to believe that was a driver issue as it has not happened since updating the said driver. In that regard; no matter what update to the motherboard I do, be it software updates via Armoury Crate or BIOS updates, it just doesn't seem to fix the problem.

I believe ASUS has a specific defect that doesn't really present itself unless you are using too many pieces of RGB software plus USB devices causing instability in the power regulation via the board.

Hmm...
I'm using an ARGB splitter (6 ports) for my EK custom water cooling... im actually not sure if ive had those problems before i upgraded to my custom water cooler, maybe that could already be the problem.
Im gonna try to unplug the splitter tomorrow and see if anything changes.

Thanks for ur fast reply!

 

[BaronVonJackal]

Hmm...
I'm using an ARGB splitter (6 ports) for my EK custom water cooling... im actually not sure if ive had those problems before i upgraded to my custom water cooler, maybe that could already be the problem.
Im gonna try to unplug the splitter tomorrow and see if anything changes.

Thanks for ur fast reply!

No problem! I am sitting doing nothing so saw the replies and was like "whelp finally something to do!" lol

See I originally thought it was my splitter as well. I have the Lian-Li Unifan 120 v1 and use their hub. So naturally thought it was that. Changed the hub out with no luck so of course I unplugged it and left it be; still no luck. I didn't have any issues until I installed the RGB control software; uninstalling doesn't truly remove the code so it still freaks out. Only a clean install of Windows would let things work normally, but at that rate I believe it boils down to all the pieces of software fighting the Armoury Crate software trying to manage the LEDs (which if anyone with an ASUS board knows; it's impossible to actually get rid of Armoury Crate as it's built into the BIOS itself and will reinstall on it's own)

 

[Powder_qwp]

No problem! I am sitting doing nothing so saw the replies and was like "whelp finally something to do!" lol

See I originally thought it was my splitter as well. I have the Lian-Li Unifan 120 v1 and use their hub. So naturally thought it was that. Changed the hub out with no luck so of course I unplugged it and left it be; still no luck. I didn't have any issues until I installed the RGB control software; uninstalling doesn't truly remove the code so it still freaks out. Only a clean install of Windows would let things work normally, but at that rate I believe it boils down to all the pieces of software fighting the Armoury Crate software trying to manage the LEDs (which if anyone with an ASUS board knows; it's impossible to actually get rid of Armoury Crate as it's built into the BIOS itself and will reinstall on it's own)

Its just so weird that those problems just appeard out of nowhere.
Ive actually contacted asus half a year ago because ive had this problem but only when i used the Unreal Engine editor.... It was unusable... all my devicec kept reconnecting every like two seconds. Now about half a year later the exact problem is happening when i watch youtube and its so random, sometimes it happends 5-10 times a day with like 1-2 hours in between every reconnect and i had days where it only happened once. It just seems so unpredictably random. Asus offerd me an RMA but im not sure if i can survive 14 days without my pc when not even being sure if a new board would actually fix the problem.
I already reinstalled windows because of bsods probly caused by nvidia drivers. The reinstall didnt fix any problems tho.

Its so annoying... why cant it just... idk... WORK!?!?

Im just really running out of ideas :c

 

[BaronVonJackal]

Its just so weird that those problems just appeard out of nowhere.
Ive actually contacted asus half a year ago because ive had this problem but only when i used the Unreal Engine editor.... It was unusable... all my devicec kept reconnecting every like two seconds. Now about half a year later the exact problem is happening when i watch youtube and its so random, sometimes it happends 5-10 times a day with like 1-2 hours in between every reconnect and i had days where it only happened once. It just seems so unpredictably random. Asus offerd me an RMA but im not sure if i can survive 14 days without my pc when not even being sure if a new board would actually fix the problem.
I already reinstalled windows because of bsods probly caused by nvidia drivers. The reinstall didnt fix any problems tho.

Its so annoying... why cant it just... idk... WORK!?!?

Im just really running out of ideas :c

Mhmm! I did the RMA; didn't change anything. Really not sure why this is happening or why ASUS can't fix their product, but they're notorious for hashing out new versions of items that have issues instead of fixing them. Had a laptop from them and 6 months later they pushed out a new version as there was a severe defect in the subwoofer speaker they knew they shouldn't have put into it.