After my computer has been running for roughly 30 minutes, new USB devices stop connecting. Devices that were already plugged in continue working, but if one is unplugged, it will not reconnect. The problem affects every USB port I have tested.
I have already disabled USB sleep and power-saving options in Device Manager and the power plan, updated the motherboard BIOS, run Windows SFC repair, and removed the USB root hubs in Device Manager before restarting. I also have a Kraken Elite liquid cooler with a display, which I mention because similar coolers have reportedly caused USB-related problems.
The issue seems to occur most often while Valorant is running, although I have not yet confirmed that it is responsible. I have a Ryzen 7 9800X3D, Radeon RX 7700 XT, WDC SN730 boot drive, ROG Strix X870-A Gaming WiFi motherboard with BIOS 2402, and Windows 11 25H2 build 26200.8973. What should I try next to determine whether this is a Windows, driver, software, overheating, or motherboard problem?
4 Answers
A heat-related failure is worth checking because the symptoms appear after the system has been running for a while. Monitor motherboard chipset, VRM, CPU, and USB-controller-related temperatures if your monitoring software exposes them. When the issue occurs, try shutting the PC down completely, switch off the power supply for a minute, then boot again. If a full power removal consistently restores USB detection, that points more toward a controller, firmware, or power-state problem than ordinary USB selective suspend.
The quickest way to separate a Windows problem from a hardware problem is to boot a separate operating system from a flash drive, such as a Linux live environment or a Windows-based recovery environment. Test connecting and disconnecting USB devices there for longer than 30 minutes, since your issue takes time to appear.
If USB devices fail in the live environment too, the motherboard, USB controller, power delivery, or another hardware component becomes the likely culprit. If everything continues working outside your normal Windows installation, focus on Windows drivers, background software, and applications such as Valorant's anti-cheat. Use rear motherboard ports during testing and disconnect unnecessary internal USB devices, including the cooler's display/controller, where practical.
If the issue can be reproduced only with Valorant running, update or reinstall Valorant and its anti-cheat component, then test with the Kraken control software and other hardware-monitoring utilities closed. Avoid changing several things at once so you can identify the trigger. If it also happens in a live Linux session or with all third-party software removed, the motherboard may need warranty testing or replacement.
Since all ports stop accepting newly connected devices while existing ones keep working, this sounds more like the USB controller or its driver becoming stuck than a single bad port. Check Event Viewer and Device Manager immediately after it happens for USB, chipset, Kernel-PnP, or device enumeration errors. Install the latest AMD chipset drivers from the motherboard or AMD support page, not just the generic Windows drivers.
Also test with the Kraken's internal USB connection temporarily disconnected, if the cooler can operate safely without its display software. A USB-connected cooler controller, monitoring utility, or game anti-cheat driver could be triggering the failure. Compare Valorant with another game and check whether the issue returns under similar CPU and GPU load.
The problem has not happened again yet, but I noticed every confirmed occurrence was while Valorant was open or being played. I am going to test that more deliberately and compare it with another game before creating a live boot drive.