Unusual USB issues, strange glitches, and a simple workaround for some problems
Unusual USB issues, strange glitches, and a simple workaround for some problems
I've never seen such a simple solution, but it might actually work. The setup involves an Asrock X370 Taichi board with mostly stable performance except for a few USB problems on one side of the back ports outside warranty. No issues with port expanders, which are 4-to-1 or similar. I suspect some USB ports use a separate controller, though my current concern isn’t that. I updated the BIOS to version 5.1 after fixing settings, and everything returned to normal.
Later, about a week later, I turned on the computer and found the keyboard wasn’t responding. I moved it to another port on the back, and it worked fine. When I opened Windows, I noticed certain USB drives connected through an 8-to-1 expander were offline. One controller showed problems in Device Manager. After restarting that device, the drives reconnected normally—first up, then down, etc. Eventually, they stayed online once the external drives were disconnected and reconnected.
Now, only the external hard drives remained offline, while the internal ones worked independently, each powered by its own power source. I considered connecting them to a free USB port on the computer, but the expander had an extra power connection that allowed it to exceed the 500mA limit for regular USB. So I connected it there and resolved the issue.
I didn’t plug it into the wall or surge protector; it only had a standard power adapter. The wall unit was just sitting on my desk next to the expander. It’s possible all these USB quirks are tied to that port expander, but the keyboard worked when I moved it back. Have you encountered similar problems? Any thoughts or suggestions?
The most likely cause seems to be the power plug port detecting the plug, possibly due to a minor system glitch that resolves after a reboot. I even had to reinsert my keyboard during startup because there was no obvious explanation.
Have you heard anything else? I restarted it again and everything seems fine. It's really odd...