USB Audio Suddenly Cuts Out (FW 31.03, USB 1.17)

YamenFahham

YamenFahham

Member
I was listening to music today while working, using the Axe-Fx III as my audio interface. The audio suddenly cut out and stopped for no reason. I was even away from the laptop. The sound does not come back until I reboot the unit.

I then remembered that this has happened few times before (almost a week between each incident), but I never paid much attention to it. I’ve checked all my connections and everything is fine, and the unit was recently purchased. Has anyone else encountered this? Is this a bug, or could it be faulty hardware? I'm using Windows 11 and everything is updated to the latest version both on the unit and the laptop.
 
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Hi mate,

this has happened to me under 2 situations - and it's ALWAYS one of these two for me.

1. the USB cable. Cables go bad - try another good quality cable. This is the number one cause I've had of disconnections
2. something to do with power in your house. If I switch on a light in particular room downstairs while the Axe-FX is playing audio, it cuts out, and then requires rebooting. It's definitely down to a power issue in my house, as turning on too many things in that room causes the breakers to pop!

I had regular audio cutouts until I switched to a good solid USB cable and it now very (very) rarely cuts out - and is usually down to point 2 above.

Also, as others mention, if your computer goes to sleep mode, it can cause the USB to sleep too.

Sukh
 
It’s unlikely that a cable that has always worked, sitting still behind the device, would suddenly start malfunctioning. I changed the cable — no luck. I also have the AxeFx3 connected to a power conditioner, by the way. I believe it’s a firmware issue.
 
ZenRigs Man said:
something to do with power in your house. If I switch on a light in particular room downstairs while the Axe-FX is playing audio, it cuts out, and then requires rebooting. It's definitely down to a power issue in my house, as turning on too many things in that room causes the breakers to pop!
Click to expand...
I've read of others here with a similar condition.
 
stralalla said:
It’s unlikely that a cable that has always worked, sitting still behind the device, would suddenly start malfunctioning. I changed the cable — no luck. I also have the AxeFx3 connected to a power conditioner, by the way. I believe it’s a firmware issue.
Click to expand...
It's very likely. It happens all the time.

Edit:

Also which power conditioner? Most are just fancy power strips and the doesn't do anything for your computer...
 
YamenFahham said:
I was listening to music today while working, using the Axe-Fx III as my audio interface. The audio suddenly cut out and stopped for no reason. I was even away from the laptop. The sound does not come back until I reboot the unit.

I then remembered that this has happened few times before (almost a week between each incident), but I never paid much attention to it. I’ve checked all my connections and everything is fine, and the unit was recently purchased. Has anyone else encountered this? Is this a bug, or could it be faulty hardware? I'm using Windows 11 and everything is updated to the latest version both on the unit and the
Click to expand...
Nothing wrong with your stuff. It happens to more users. No fix, just restart your axe.
 
Harm said:
Nothing wrong with your stuff. It happens to more users. No fix, just restart your axe.
Click to expand...
100%. It’s a computer and computers need to restart sometimes. I chased it in circles and this is my conclusion, as well.
 
Yeah, that’s excessive. Mine is maybe once every few weeks and I often leave it on for days at a time.
 
It's a firmware issue, IMO. look at the update date!

Axe-Fx III USB Firmware Update v1.18​

Zip Archive – Jan 5, 2026. See included instructions.
 
It's more than likely just a bad cable...

This has been happening since the Axe FX 2 and almost every time it's a bad cable (including when it happened to me).
 
Hi Sukh, good to see you here mate.
ZenRigs Man said:
1. the USB cable. Cables go bad - try another good quality cable. This is the number one cause I've had of disconnections
Click to expand...
I use the cables that you guys include with the units. Do you recommend replacing this?
ZenRigs Man said:
2. something to do with power in your house.
Click to expand...
That's actually so true. I do remember the last time this happened, it happened at the exact moment I plugged a device into one of the room outlets. I've also seen another report mentioning static electricity. So this power thing seems like the most probable cause. Is there a solution for it?

However, since I've done this fix (https://forum.fractalaudio.com/thre...x-3-as-an-audio-interface.218395/post-2749384) the issue has never happened again.
 
stralalla said:
It's a firmware issue, IMO. look at the update date!

Axe-Fx III USB Firmware Update v1.18​

Zip Archive – Jan 5, 2026. See included instructions.
Click to expand...
Nothing was changed in v1.18 other than adding support for a new component that ships with newer units. Also, the issue happened on v1.17 as mentioned in the title of this thread.
 
I posted this solution in another thread about the same issue. It fixed it for me. So Windows users, give it a try.

YamenFahham said:
I’ve had kind of a similar issue. In my case the sound came back after I restarted the unit.
I checked all USB power settings and some of them were set to turn off USB devices after a while. I turned these off and so far no issues.

If you’re on Windows you have to check two places. First is power settings in control panel, you have to disable USB selective suspend setting as shown in this screenshot. If you have a laptop, make sure to do this on all power plans.

View attachment 165382

Second is device manager under USB devices. You have to untick the option shown in this screenshot for all USB devices.

View attachment 165383
If you’re on mac, I can’t help you where to find these settings. But it was mentioned here that there are similar settings on mac as well, so a bit of googling might help.
Click to expand...
 
YamenFahham said:
Hi Sukh, good to see you here mate.

I use the cables that you guys include with the units. Do you recommend replacing this?

That's actually so true. I do remember the last time this happened, it happened at the exact moment I plugged a device into one of the room outlets. I've also seen another report mentioning static electricity. So this power thing seems like the most probable cause. Is there a solution for it?

However, since I've done this fix (https://forum.fractalaudio.com/thre...x-3-as-an-audio-interface.218395/post-2749384) the issue has never happened again.
Click to expand...
The cables are good… but any cable can go bad
 
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