USB3 Port Problem on Maximus VII Gene...Help! :(

[JoRoSaR]

Hi all,

Hope everyone is having a good weekend! I've been having some intermittent issues with my PC for a while now (about a month) and I am slowly narrowing this down to what I think might be an issue with my motherboard. My build is as follows:

CoolerMaster V850 Gold PSU
ASUS Maximus VII GENE Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Intel i7-4790k
Corsair H100i cooler
Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB DDR3-2400 Memory
Zotac NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11 GB AMP Extreme Edition
2x 512GB Crucial MX100 Solid State Hard Drives
1x 2TB WD 7200rpm Hard Drive

I previously had an issue where occasionally either my webcam or microphone would seize up while playing (streaming or not). At first, I thought it was a minor interruption in power or similar - so was sorting out overclocking and stability issues.

After a while, I then noticed that it was only happening with some USB devices and not others (my mouse and keyboard were fine for example). I moved some devices around and then realised that sometimes I'd get errors and sometimes I would not.

Today...I ended up doing a further test that helped me narrow it down further. I just got a Logitech BRIO 4K webcam. It needs a USB3.0 port to use 1080/60 or 4K I believe, so I swapped some devices around so that I could plug the webcam into a USB3 port.

However, it didn't work! Despite the computer detecting the webcam I couldn't get a picture out of it in any software. I then swapped it to a USB2 port, and suddenly I got a picture (but only up to 1080/30 or 720/60, suggesting USB3 required for higher frame rates / resolutions).

For this reason, I think the USB3 ports on the back of my computer seem to have a problem. I have no problem so far (about 3 hours) with the peripherals that used to crash/hang after swapping over to the USB2 ports. But I need a USB3 report to use my new webcam 😞

Things I've tried so far:

- Hardware / Windows reset
- Ensured all OCs are stable (basically switched off while working out what else it could be)
- Used only the USB3 reports for mic + webcam then mouse + keyboard on USB2 (problems with USB3, no problems with mouse/keyboard)
- Updated Intel USB3 controller drivers
- Ensured all drivers for the ASUS Maximus Gene VII (from the ASUS website) are up to date
- BIOS version 3003

Thanks in advance for any help - I would prefer just to be able to use my USB3 ports as USB3 ports and not have to replace anything if possible. >.<

-JoRo

[JoRoSaR]

Update: Unfortunately after about 6h of testing, I've managed to recplicate the problem with one of the USB2.0 ports using a different USB device as well (first a microphone, then a keyboard).

What happens is: the device 'freezes' (accepts no further input and stays frozen in time - for example, if the mic was at 25% volume then it stays stuck there, if the keyboard had caps lock on the light will stay on and cannot be toggled. Unplugging / replugging the device does not allow it to be registered by the computer. Only a system restart allows the USB device to function again.

However: I also notice the 4K webcam (requiring USB3) still only works at 1080p on USB2 ports, and won't work on any of the USB3 ports on the Maximus Gene VII.

This is about as much as I know at this stage, and unfortunately I have no answers other than I'm becoming increasingly convinced it may be a motherboard issue.

[JoRoSaR]

Update: After a long email discussion with ASUS, a series of basic fixes (drivers, reinstalling Windows etc.) was recommended. Unfortunately it also very promptly ended with "ASUS don't handle any warranty related queries, therefore please return your motherboard in person to the store where you purchased it". I bought my motherboard from a store that is no longer in business. Great. 😕

It feels like the support process for me has been designed to put as many barriers up as possible between the consumer and ASUS helping the customers, rather than actually be help-focused. This is really sad, and if practical / there is a viable alternative I will reconsider buying ASUS for my next machine.

TL;DR - USB3.0 ports don't seem to work on my Z97 MAXIMUS GENE VII mobo and ASUS have spent the last month doing everything possible to avoid taking any action to help me fix it.