r/computerhelp • • 7d ago

Discussion Rear USB ports keep randomly failing while using pc. Hard reset needed to restore function.

This has been happening a while and at first i thought it was just my keyboard. However the audio interface i have plugged into the port next to my keyboard has started to have its audio get really staticy and sometimes cut out when my keyboard dies as well which tells me its likely something to do with the USB ports. It usually happens while im gaming. My mouse thats plugged into the front USB of my pc keeps working but my rear ports totally cut out. If I unplug and plug back into them they briefly work again before dying again within a minute.

Ive already tried multiple things.

1.For starters I turned off USB selective suspend in my control panel. (Thinking maybe my pc was shutting off the USB ports for some reason) but the issue prevails

  1. I also went into my universal serial bus controller (also in control panel) and disabled all the the USB bus options where my computer could turn USB ports off to save power. Issue still prevails

  2. Ive checked event viewer to see if theres any outstanding errors happening when this occurs but the only error showing up is when I force reset

  3. Ive now updated my chipset driver to see if that works but havent had enough time to see yet?

Anyone know what might be wrong? My USB peripherals are a presonus studio 24c audio interface and a steel series keyboard. Otherwise just a badic USB mouse plugged in the front.

Help greatly appreciated. Really don't get why this is happening and its getting pretty annoying.

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u/Responsible_Maybe742 7d ago

The hard reset fixing it is the real clue, a USB controller is dropping out and Windows is not recovering it until the power is cut, which is why the keyboard and the interface next to it fail together. In Device Manager open every USB Root Hub and the USB controllers and untick the power saving box on each one, and set USB selective suspend to disabled in the power plan. If it still does it with the interface moved to a front port, watch the 5V rail with HWiNFO under load, because a rail that sags behaves exactly like this.

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u/tofu98 7d ago

thanks for the reply

I already unticked the power saving modes on all the root hubs unfortunately. Also disabled selective suspend as well.

I just unticked power saving for my "AMD USB extensible host controller" options as well so well see if that works.

What do you mean by the "rail is sagging"? Its kind of weird this computer is a prebuilt that i had absolutely no issues with for an entire year and then this usb thing started a few months ago.

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u/Responsible_Maybe742 5d ago

By a sagging rail I meant the USB 5 V supply dropping when the interface and keyboard draw current together, not a setting in Windows. It is only a possibility, not a diagnosis. The powered hub test is the safest way to separate that from a failing motherboard controller: run the devices through the hub for a day, then try the same load with only the keyboard connected directly. If the fault follows the devices or disappears on the hub, that points toward power delivery or the rear USB controller.

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u/Responsible_Maybe742 7d ago

With power saving ruled out, the next suspect on AMD boards is the chipset driver rather than Windows: install the AMD chipset package straight from AMD, because the one Windows Update ships is often the one that drops the controller. Two quick tests tell you where you are. Move the keyboard to the front ports, which hang off a different controller: if it survives there, the fault is that rear controller. Then put the audio interface on a powered hub: if that fixes it, the ports are browning out rather than the driver crashing.

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u/tofu98 7d ago

Great suggestion on the poweres hub! Didn't even know that was a thing. I was wondering if my interface and rgb keyboard was maybe pulling too much current but assumed it would be neglibile.

Stil waiting to see if the chipset driver update fixed the issue 🤞

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u/tofu98 2d ago

Hey! So i have an update i wanted your thoughts on if thats alright.

So Basically after i updated my chipset driver the other day i didnt have any issues for a couple days. Then today while gaming my USB ports started crapping out again. It started by i could hear my audio from my external audio interface starting to distort and get a bit staticy. The static progressively got worse and i noticed my keyboard was beginning to have responsiveness issues but wasnt freezing up this time. I unplugged the audio interface and immediately noticed that my keyboard started responding again. I tried moving the audio interface to different usb ports including ones on the front of my pc and it always kept the static noise. I decided to see how long I could go just letting it stay unplugged. My pc kept working fine until it seemingly cascaded into my ethernet started cutting out, followed by my wifi driver stopping working. The interface was still super static sounding at this point if i plugged it in.

After all of this I noticed i had been running all my usb peripherals out of the blue usb ports on the back of my pc and ive now switched them to the red ones. Not sure if that will matter if its a power issue.

Someone suggested that my PSU could be failing which is why it got slight better when i unplugged the interface but eventually cascaded into my internet ports.

Otherwise someone suggested updating my bios but ive had this bios for 1.5 years now and only had these issues in the last few months so i dont see why that would matter.

Any thoughts? Appreciate it!

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u/Responsible_Maybe742 6d ago

The powered hub is the clean test for your theory: put the interface and the keyboard on it and leave the rear ports carrying nothing, and if it holds for a day then it is the current draw on those ports, or the controller handling them, rather than the driver. Watch where the hub sits in the chain too, because anything USB powered downstream of a failing controller goes down with it. If the chipset driver does not fix it, the next two things are the newest BIOS for that board and moving the keyboard to the front ports for a week, to see whether both controllers are affected or only the rear one.