ASUS ROG Strix x99 USB Ports Not Working with xHCI

[Dimebag]

Hi, second time poster but this appears to be more so in the correct place.

Firstly I apologise if this is a repeat thread but I've done some searching and the only useful and semi related thread I could find, was this one:
https://rog.asus.com/forum/showthread.php?88633-ASUS-X99-STRIX-installed-USB-Ports-not-working-after...

Which I posted in and have since received no responses.

So, the problem - I have a very frustrating problem which is basically making my system completely unusable.
At random times during the usage of Windows 10, after a reboot the machine's USB ports will simply stop working.
This cripples the entire system as both my keyboard and mouse are USB so there is no way of using the system.

On reboot, if I enter the bios (the USB ports work outside of Windows) and switch off xHCI the USB ports are limited to USB 2.0, but work in Windows.
Clearly this is not the way I want to run my system, I require USB 3.x connectivity and speeds for certain devices and data transfer.

I've tried many things to fix this but the only thing that actually works is a complete reinstall of Windows 10.

I've updated the BIOS, rolled back driver updates, downloaded USB 3.1 drivers, tried the ASUS AI package drivers, played with just about any combination of USB BIOS settings I can think of, tried every single USB port and multiple devices as well as reading up on as many threads as I can possibly manage.

If xHCI is set to anything other than Disabled, I get no USB port access at all. This has crippled 3 Windows 10 installations now.

The company I bought this board from are absolutely uninterested in helping me as they claim there is no fault with the board as it "works".
There clearly is a huge fault as many people are affected and I'd like to know what can be done so the platform I've spent a lot of money on will actually be useable.

If someone out there has any relevant information on what can be done to make this actually work with USB 3.x / xHCI enabled or if there is a fix I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks
Paul

[Chino]

Please specify all the USB devices that are currently connected to your system. 🙂

[Dimebag]

Hi thanks for the reply

There is nothing connected to the system via USB apart from a wireless keyboard and mouse.
It's a logitech model that works via a USB dongle, as mentioned previously it works perfectly before Windows 10 loads.
I've tried with a wired kb/mouse and also a brand new Cherry wireless system I have - no difference.

Just to clarify - I'm not having issues with the system hanging on boot or anything like that, simply that all ports do not work with xHCI enabled.

Thanks
Paul

PS - if it helps the system is:

Intel i7 6800k - no overclock
ASUS ROG STRIX x99 with latest BIOS
32GB of DDR4 Quad Channel RAM (Corsair)
2 x ASUS Geforce GTX 1080 cards in SLI
Samsung PRO 950 nVME m.2 system drive
3 x Samsung PRO EVO 850 drives in RAID 5
Corsair 850W power supply

[Chino]

After you reinstalled Windows, did you look in Device Manager to see if there were any missing drivers?

[Dimebag]

Nothing looked missing no, it all looked good.

The only thing I did see after the reboot was an ASMedia USB driver installed, but the system still didn't work when I rolled it back to a Microsoft version.

I've hunted down newer drivers for just about every aspect of this and performed a BIOS update... nothing works.
The system still has absolutely no USB functionality with xHCI enabled.

P

[Chino]

Try reinstalling Windows. For testing sake, disconnect the system from the internet while doing so. That way Windows install the ASMedia driver on its own. See if your system works properly.

[Dimebag]

I understand where you are coming from on suggesting this but it's a fairly hefty ask.
This would be the 4th time I've reinstalled Windows because of this problem.

The issue doesn't seem to manifest until I reboot and the problem occuring seems to be random.
I've not managed to see anything speific that ties this into a driver coming down from Windows update.

So all fresh installations of Windows 10, internet connected or not do actually work fine. 😞

[Chino]

The fact that your USB ports work fine outside of Windows would suggest that it's software related.

[Dimebag]

Chino wrote:
The fact that your USB ports work fine outside of Windows would suggest that it's software related.

I agree to some extent, but it seems more to me the xHCI handoff from bios to the operating system is not working rather than the software being broken. The software works fine until a reboot where it stops working fine. I can't see any software updating at this point.*

[DuelRevovers]

I've been having the same issue. Did you not find a solution?