I've been using about 18 USB devices across three 7-port hubs for years without any major issues. Recently, I added two 24 TB external drives, and now I'm facing random dropouts with all devices, including my keyboard and mouse. I've already replaced the hubs and cables and even added a PCIe USB hub directly into my PC. The problem persists, but when I unplug about half of the devices, everything stabilizes. I can't help but feel this might be related to power load, but all my external HDDs and hubs have their own power sources, so they shouldn't be taxing the PSU too much. My PSU is a 750W unit, which has been plenty in the past.
I've checked my motherboard, GPU, and CPU thoroughly, and they all seem fine. However, diagnosing the PSU isn't straightforward since I can't really access it programmatically. I read that OCCT software can stress test PSUs to see if they're failing under load—has anyone used it? I'm hesitant to replace the PSU with a new 1300W unit without being sure that it's indeed the problem. Any advice on diagnosing this or testing the PSU without needing to use a multimeter?
4 Answers
Make sure your USB hubs are externally powered. If not, consider upgrading to higher quality ones. Low-quality hubs can fail easily, which could explain your ongoing problems, especially if your USB ports work fine without the hubs.
Check the Event Viewer for any USB disconnections or errors. If it’s simply dropping connections, it could be an unstable PSU. If there are error messages, then it might be driver related. It’s possible your hubs are failing too.
A faulty USB device could be the root cause here. Try unplugging each device one by one to see if the problem resolves itself. Sometimes a single malfunctioning device can cause all the others to disconnect.
Stress tests primarily push your components like CPUs to their limit but don’t really test the PSU’s max load. If things start acting up under a stress test, it might point to power issues, but it’s not definitive for the PSU itself.
Thanks for the tip! I initially checked the Event Viewer and didn't see anything, but I’ll look again. I did update all drivers and replaced the hubs, so maybe it’s not them.