Not so random USB disconnect/reconnect

[SonicVanguard]

It's been a very long time - but what can I say, I sold my studio and have basically been enjoying life. But recently I've been doing some random post production work here and there and I've discovered a rather interesting problem.

I'm running two systems - both Windows 7 64 Ultimate. Both have 16gig of RAM. Both are running i7 CPUs - one is one of the originals, a 2.67GHz 920, the other a new 3.33GHz 980 Gulftown. The new rig runs in my studio, the other is my office system. The office rig is giving me rather interesting USB disconnect/reconnect problems.

It started about four months ago out of the blue - any Flash-based video that I'd watch on the web would cause it. Generally it would happen once, maybe twice. I attributed it to an older USB storage drive that had power supply issues. But in the middle of December I decided to do a fresh reinstall of Windows. I'd purchased a number of new SATA drives and wanted to start fresh. Nothing odd about the install and I don't run any oddball programs - Office 2007 and Adobe Creative Suite CS5 are really it. I have Chrome, iTunes, Nero 7, Paragon Partition Manager 11, and MacDrive 8 as well, but nothing out of the ordinary. My USB devices are a Canon MX printer, basic wired keyboard, and basic wired optical mouse. No more USB storage - everything is internal or on my NAS.

I hadn't really noticed the problem occurring again until I had a video I needed to work on for my church. At the time my studio rig was rendering a Cinema 4D animation so I started working on it on my office system. For whatever reason, Adobe Premiere CS5 uses Flash to render it's active camera monitor and clip monitor. I didn't have any problems capturing video from my source tapes - the problems started when I began editing - I'd start hearing that USB disconnect/reconnect sound - no mouse functions, no keyboard functions for a split second then back to normal. But it gets worse and worse and worse to the point I need to Alt-f4 to close the program. So...

• I first made sure my chipset was up-to-date - it is.
• I made sure I had all relevant Windows updates - I do.
• I made sure my BIOS was current - it is.
• I uninstalled all USB components - went into Device Manager and uninstalled them all - controllers, hubs, you name it I uninstalled it. Rebooted and let Windows reinstall.
• I installed specific product drivers rather than generic Windows drivers for the printer and the mouse.
• I made sure that USB power management is NOT set to disable a device to conserve power.
• I uninstalled Creative Suite to see if that was the problem. It still happened in Chrome watching Flash videos. I disabled the Chrome flash plug-in and well... yeah, no videos played. I installed the Firefox Flash driver and had Chrome use that driver instead - problem persists.
• I reinstalled Creative Suite and looked over the installation options for Flash Media - nothing really other than installing plugins for browsers and making the Flash Media Player the default for various formats. I unselected everything. Problem persists.
  Found an old ps/2 mouse and ps/2 keyboard - helped when watching Flash videos on the web but no help in Premiere Pro. And I had a hellufa time getting Windows to even recognize the ps/2 mouse - took half an afternoon. And then the center wheel is inoperable - I use it a lot in Premiere Pro so going to ps/2 really isn't a good option.

At this point I'm at a loss. Normally I wouldn't worry much about it but my studio rig is going to be rendering various animations for the next week or so - and I have a few other small projects that I'd like to get a start on.

My system info:
CPU: Intel i7 920 @2.67GHz
Mobo: ECS X58B-A (first version)
RAM: 16Gig DDR3 1600

Anyone have any ideas other than another reinstall? No time for that really. I know the mobo is older - and I'm not opposed to thinking that the USB controllers have had a brainfart and the mobo needs to be replaced. But again, I really don't have time for that this week. So if there's a fix out there or I'm missing something - that would be much more convenient than hardware replacements.

[rwest]

Maybe a USB controller card. It may work for your current project or at least untill you can get it figured out.

[jdeb]

I would post this in a Adobe forum as it appears to be an issue with them.

Have you checked device manager for error symbols?

You could also check the event viewer snap in to get clues.

The other thing that comes to mind is the chipset drivers. There was a new release about two weeks ago. v9.2.0.1030, you can double check your version from the device manager/

Possibly a BIOS update that may be related to your issue. Unfortunately I checked the website on the BIOS update and of course it is not really detailed in its description and no readme file, another reason I do not use ECS boards. BIOS version 10/02/08 (providing I selected the right board, there are two V1's) 1.Update release, and 2.Support Gulftown 980X CPU.

[SonicVanguard]

I agree about the ECS board - but really it's been stellar until now. I've never really used it for any editing until now - it has always been office rig.

I should add I've also added a powered USB hub to see if it was a power issue - no help. The funny thing is it's so random. This morning I've watched a number of youtube videos - no problems. Then out of the blue one video after another - dah-dum, dah-dum. I installed IE tab for Chrome - and never have a problem. As far as I know, Chrome and Firefox use a very similar - nearly identical - plug-in. IE uses a Active-X plug-in (I'm assuming).

But my main issue is still Premiere Pro - and the Adobe forums are clueless. Others have reported the problem - but like many issues with the CS suite, Adobe is aware of it but doesn't seem to think it's worth fixing. Honestly I'd move back to Avid Media Composer but I'm not doing enough actual editing to make it worth the investment. Most of my work is on After Effects - which surprisingly doesn't use Flash to render it's video.

The only other thing I can think of that's really been a change is I had to install a old video card because my other card decided to die an early death. So I'm running an old Radeon X800GT - but again, this system is in my office so a high horsepower video card has never been a need. My studio rig is running a FirePro V7800 but I need that rendering power for 3D animations and motion graphics. I can't imagine the video card is the culprit - but it a first gen PCIe x16 card - it's not a 2.0 card. Maybe I'll order up a inexpensive Radeon HD 5000 series card or a lower end FirePro card. I'm not a gamer and the added OpenGL support would be nice.

[jdeb]

Maybe the video card but I suspect an adobe issue. If you have a PCIe USB controller card, you could try that to eliminate hardware... They are pretty cheap

If you ever want to sell that X800GT send me a PM, believe it or not I have a use for it.

[glc]

Dave, I'm going to have to say it is very likely the ECS board. There are very good reasons we have recommended against them here over a span of many years. It's a shame you didn't vet your system here before you bought the components.

I believe this is the only X58 board that jdeb highly recommends:

Newegg.com - ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

[jdeb]

Right on the x58 board. The problem with those ECS boards is that they are so flaky (voltage, memory, BIOS). I cringe every time I see one, especially an X58 chipset. You are probably right George on a board replacement, I was trying to exhaust all avenues.

[SonicVanguard]

So I'm left wondering - do I get a USB 3.0 PCIe card or a new board altogether? I don't have much time over the next month - I can't afford for this computer to be down for very long but I can't deal with this problem any longer. If I go with a new board the ADHD nerd in me will want to do a fresh install - that will take a while considering Creative Suite isn't the fastest install in the world (on top of hardware installation, configuring everything, OS install...).

I can pick up a USB 3.0 PCIx card from Newegg or Meritline for a little bit of nothing and have it here Friday. If it is a voltage problem to the USB bus, would this at least temporarily quell this problem (since everything will be running through the PCI bus instead)?

[jdeb]

I think you answered your own question It is not like a USB/PCIe card is a waste of money.

[glc]

Fresh install with a new mobo shouldn't be necessary because it will have the same chipset.

[rwest]

Shoot with win 7, I was able to go from a 790X chip to a 880G without a repair or a reload. 7 just loaded generic drivers on boot. Took about an extra 2-3 minutes to boot.

What I did, may work for you too. I moved everything over to the boot drive and wiped the other. Shut down and unplugged the drive with the current OS on it. Loaded my new install to formatted drive. Once the new OS was in place I hooked up the other drive, I now had two drives with the same but different OS installs on each. As I prepped my fresh install and got it ready for use, I was able to continue using the older install off the older drive by just changing the boot order in BIOS. Once the fresh install was ready with all software loaded. I moved my files over. Then I wiped the original drive. Of course i have two identical drives, but that shouldn't really matter, you just need a drive to load the fresh install to.

In all honesty, the OS was loaded twice, but I never tried to activate it while I had it in this form. Now I have the OS on just one drive and it falls into the category of just replacing the hdd. It's on the same pc on one drive. I can honestly say that's true. It's the same as if i just replaced the drive or formatted, I just moved ithe OS to the other dive, with hardly any down time.

[Petef56]

I have not read all the posts or all the details but here's a shot in the dark worth trying. Try shutting off Hardware Acceleration of the display properties. In addition, I believe you can also shut off accelleration of the Flash player by right-clicking the video and selecting to shut it off.

The above solution recently solved a problem on a computer that would shut down or BSOD anytime a youtube video was viewed. It might be worth a try.

---pete---

[SonicVanguard]

Petef56 - thanks, I actually thought of all of that when everything was getting flaky with youtube and other flash videos. When the problem moved to Premiere Pro I started considering other options.

glc - I'm anal enough that I wouldn't feel good about everything unless I did a complete re-install. It's the ADHD in me - or should I say it's the adderall-controlled ADHD in me.

jdeb - I had a feeling it was all some crazy voltage issue. It's like there's a ghost in the machine - I ordered a new USB .0 card from Newegg Thursday and from that point, I didn't have a single USB issue. Got up this morning to check a pre-production video a videographer I work with sent me via Vimeo and all sorts of problems. 30 minutes later FedEx delivered my new card. Plugged it in, running my 7 port hub to it now - no problems at all. So a worthy albeit temporary fix. I'll be ordering that ASUS board shortly.

Thanks all for your help.

[jdeb]

Originally Posted by SonicVanguard Petef56 - thanks, I actually thought of all of that when everything was getting flaky with youtube and other flash videos. When the problem moved to Premiere Pro I started considering other options. glc - I'm anal enough that I wouldn't feel good about everything unless I did a complete re-install. It's the ADHD in me - or should I say it's the adderall-controlled ADHD in me. jdeb - I had a feeling it was all some crazy voltage issue. It's like there's a ghost in the machine - I ordered a new USB .0 card from Newegg Thursday and from that point, I didn't have a single USB issue. Got up this morning to check a pre-production video a videographer I work with sent me via Vimeo and all sorts of problems. 30 minutes later FedEx delivered my new card. Plugged it in, running my 7 port hub to it now - no problems at all. So a worthy albeit temporary fix. I'll be ordering that ASUS board shortly. Thanks all for your help.

Glad to hear you got it figured out. This is a great post as to why we do not recommend ECS motherboards. People often think we are just being biased towards Asus but your issues are precisely why we do not. You see, as a tech guy, my first thought is to exhaust the easiest and simple things (less cost) first but deep down inside I am thinking motherboard because I have seen it so many times. ASRock has similar issues. Asus, Gigabyte, and Biostar do not or I should say it is rare. Quality components and manufacturing process are critical and those three companies seem to nail it... in that order. X58 is a whole other animal. The Asus Sabertooth is my friend for workstation builds to say the least. If you get the Sabertooth, you will notice a performance gain as well.