Weird behaviour of USB 2.0 hub with Xbox controllers

tomincognito

Honorable
Sep 20, 2013
5
0
10,510
I've got a 4 port USB 2.0 hub in a 5.25" drive bay of my case, plugged into a USB header of my motherboard.

If I plug an XBONE controller into it, it buzzes and connects but does not light up... If it's a 360 controller it too connects but the green light flashes continuously and never stops, as if it's still setting up. So the controllers are usable, but something is definitely not right! The light on the 360 controller should indicate whether player 1, 2, 3 or 4 and that's not happening.

Is it an issue if the controllers are recognised and work regardless? YOU DECIDE! I find it really frustrating..!!

This is a new system with everything clean installed. The same hub worked perfectly on my old motherboard (Gigabyte GA-970-UD3P) but not on my new one (Gigabyte GA-AB350 Gaming 3). Legacy USB is enabled in the BIOS (if that has anything to do with it), the hardware itself is showing as 'Generic USB Hub' in device manager, it says the driver is up to date and it DOES work... Essentially! I tried swapping to a different motherboard header but no change. Controllers work as expected in all other USB ports, even the case front panel ones which plug into the motherboard too.

Haven't been able to find this issue anywhere, I'd be very interested if anyone here has experienced it!
 
Solution
How long is the cable/s? Total length from the controller to the motherboard header?

USB Cable Length Limitations : The USB specification limits the length of a cable between high speed (USB 3.0) devices to 5 meters and for low speed devices (USB 1.0 and 2.0) the limit is 3 meters.

If the cable/s are longer than that or near that length maybe the signal is not strong enough from the controller to the mobo header.

Also might be because the hub is in the middle. If you could use same hub and controllers on the old mobo with no problem it should theoretically work on this one too. Anything else connected to the hub which draws current? Maybe something charging or keyboard and/or mouse?
How long is the cable/s? Total length from the controller to the motherboard header?

USB Cable Length Limitations : The USB specification limits the length of a cable between high speed (USB 3.0) devices to 5 meters and for low speed devices (USB 1.0 and 2.0) the limit is 3 meters.

If the cable/s are longer than that or near that length maybe the signal is not strong enough from the controller to the mobo header.

Also might be because the hub is in the middle. If you could use same hub and controllers on the old mobo with no problem it should theoretically work on this one too. Anything else connected to the hub which draws current? Maybe something charging or keyboard and/or mouse?
 
Solution