USB connection issues (Windows 10)

L

Lilarcor

Inspired
Hey,

not sure if this is the right place to post. Please move this thread if it's in the wrong subforum.
I'm a long time Axe-FX user and have owned the Axe-FX III almost since release. For quite some time now - about a year maybe - I've been having some serious USB connection issues which I cannot resolve myself:

When using Axe Edit the Axe FX just loses connection to my PC after some time. The amount of time that it takes to happen is random, usually between 3 to 30 minutes but it can be longer. Only a restart of my PC or the Axe-Fx fixes the problem until it happens again.
I haven't experienced the problem using Fractal Bot alone for firmware update etc, but when the problem is "triggered by Axe Edit" Fractal Bot also doesn't work anymore.

I'm running Windows 10 with the latest update on an older Intel CPU (i7 4790k @stock clock speed). I have installed the latest Axe-FX USB drivers and Axe-Edit version.
I don't experience this problem with my notebook also running Windows 10 and the latest drivers using the same USB cable. So both the Axe-FX and the cable are most likely ok.
I've switched the USB ports, right now using the back panel ports of my mainboard. So a faulty port can also be ruled out (unless all are faulty).
I have also disabled the USB power management (so that the ports don't go into standby after some time) but to no success.

Any ideas on how to fix this?
 
Sounds like the issue originates from the PC...but as to whether it's software or hardware related is anyone's guess.

Could be a Windows software / drivers issue - but I would think the easiest place to start would be with Windows itself; a drive format and reinstall.

Failing that fix, it would have to be hardware related.

I assume you've run the windows diagnostic tool when the ports fail? Do the USB ports also stop working with other peripherals when that happens, have you tested that?
 
No, every other USB device works flawlessly on every port of the pc. Only the Axe-FX has this problem. It started about a year ago. Before that everything had been ok.
I haven't reinstalled the whole system as this would consume more time than I have right now. I've been running the same installation for several years now without any other problems.
 
Likely it's due to the heavy amount of traffic over USB coming from the Axe...

There may be some registry hacks that you can employ using regedit, but nothing that I have seen in passing as I've never experienced the problem myself. I'm sure there are either timeout issues or data transfer issues that are plaguing the system. It wouldn't surprise me if there was something that you could hack in the registry to address that issue. I'll take a look around and see if there's anything I can see quickly
 
There are a number of things you can try, including changing the cable, which I know you feel is not the issue, as you've indicated earlier. I had a similar experience with a Logitech Harmony remote, and it turned out to be the USB cable not functioning correctly with that remote but it did work with other USB devices.

That said, here's an interesting blog with a number of different things you can try...

I'll bet you can find a solution within this blog

Also check to see if the ports are USB 2 or USB 3, and use a USB 3 cable. Sounds like time mode issues and or data transfer rates to me.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/usb-ports-keep-disconnecting-and-reconnecting.1471561/
 
There are other threads on this issue I encounter too. Also some mac users are troubled by this by the way. Cables or faulty usb-ports are not the problem. Nor does the new usb driver help. It must be hardware (pc / mac) related 'cause orherwise everyone on this forum would 'suffer'. But since it only occurs with AF3 units there must be some connection. Comms time out or something like that. I'm not a computer hard- / firm- / software technician so it's hard for me to pinpoint the fault. Therefore I hope the FAS magicians can shine their light on this and help us to find a solution...
 
I don't think this problem is caused by faulty hardware. I've been running this pc in the same configuration for years. Initially I didn't have any problems with the Axe-Fx's USB connection. This problem came out of nowhere about a year ago.
I tested most of the things that stated in the link above but none helped. I can't disable USB 3 and switch to USB 2 because I need USB 3. I tried the USB 2 only ports of my PC but that didn't help, either.
One other thing that I noticed is that every kind of de- and re-connecting the Axe-Fx fixes the problem for some time until it disconnects again. The kind of reconnection doesn't matter (whether it's rebooting the Axe, the PC or just pulling and reconnection the USB cable).

It's probably some software/driver problem or conflict.
 
Sorry, expressed it wrongly (not a native English speaker): I ment the issue must originate somewhere on the pc / mac side. But I do think there is a relation to AF3 (firmware) because there is indeed some comms conflict between pc and af3 which locks play back from my pc (dell lap top)
 
I have been chasing this problem for years too over multiple computers and have tried all of the suggested fixes to no avail so I believe it to be something in how the Axe connects to the pc too. One thing that I found that can trigger mine is that I have a small fan under my desk on a remote switch and sometimes when I switch it on or off, it will kill the Axe connection and I have to reboot it. I have moved all of the cables and computer away from the fan but it still kills it more often than not and doesn't affect anything else when it happens either. It maybe is because it is plugged into the same outlet.
The only other time I have seen anything like this is that I have a fan under my desk at work too and one time when I switched it on, it killed the audio on the workstation too. That computer has never seen an Axe Fx so had to be something in it but it has never happened again and a simple reboot fixed it that one time. It gets really irritating at times- I had everything set up to record some tracks yesterday and it bombed out so bad that I ended up having to reboot the pc and Axe to get it to work again even though I have the newest driver too. I hadn't switched the fan or anything so it was a spontaneous death.
 
To me it has never seemed related to firmware updates. This update just appeared out of the blue and "survived" multiple firmware updates without any significant changes.
I haven't had any success in solving this, yet. Hopefully somebody here knows a solution.
 
Does anyone know where we can find the previous USB drivers? Those had no isseu with my setup and I want to change back to them!
 
Hi @Lilarcor, if the brand of your PC is a Dell/HP or other main brand you should be able to go to their website support section and either input something like a TAG or serial number or maybe they will detect your machine and they may offer firmware update for different aspects of the motherboard and/or bios. I would suggest you update all those to the latest as well what you have done with Windows.

Another option would be to purchase an "internal" PCI USB card as they are pretty cheap and see if that helps as it will have it's own firmware but probably use standard compliant PCI driver for W10 to see it.

I sounds like you've switched off all power saving things that could get in the way so I'd look at firmware (especially if your PC is a Dell) or installing a secondary USB card (I did this recently to gain more USB 3 and also USB C ports).

Hope that helps!
 
Nick Sumner said:
Hi @Lilarcor, if the brand of your PC is a Dell/HP or other main brand you should be able to go to their website support section and either input something like a TAG or serial number or maybe they will detect your machine and they may offer firmware update for different aspects of the motherboard and/or bios. I would suggest you update all those to the latest as well what you have done with Windows.

Another option would be to purchase an "internal" PCI USB card as they are pretty cheap and see if that helps as it will have it's own firmware but probably use standard compliant PCI driver for W10 to see it.

I sounds like you've switched off all power saving things that could get in the way so I'd look at firmware (especially if your PC is a Dell) or installing a secondary USB card (I did this recently to gain more USB 3 and also USB C ports).

Hope that helps!
Click to expand...

No, it's a self built pc which already is a couple of years old. I don't have this problem using my Dell XPS laptop. I'm hesitant to invest more money in this pc since I'm planning to build a new pc sometime soon (as soon as parts get available again and aren't ridiculously overpriced).

Thanks for the support so far!
 
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