Z97 Extreme6 USB device problem

Both are USB 3.0 hubs. Here are links:

gniblack wrote: Thank you so much Parsec. I was thinking about it while I was at work, and when I got home I realized that many of the items show the amp usage on their labels. I am going to plug my scanner and HDD dock directly to my tower as they have the highest power consumption. One hub has a 4A output, and the 7 devices I chose to connect should be under that (mouse, keyboard, and webcam @ 500 mA each; Blu-ray @ 1.8A with dual USB; gaming pad @ 250 mA; and the data cable for my battery backup being unknown). For my other hub it's 900 mA max. I think it's safe to plug in 2 flash drives and 2 Oculus Rift sensors @ 250 mA each.  Do the front USB 3.0 carry the same current as the rear USB 3.0 ports? For now I have connected my Xbox One and Steam wireless adapters and Bluetooth 4.0 adapter in the front. I am definitely connecting my scanner, capture card, and headset to the rear. That leaves the hard drive dock. I guess I can test different spots for it and see how it goes.

Flash drives don't use much power. Any device uses different amounts of power depending upon what it's doing, but the power rating should be the maximum used.

The seven device connected hub is at 3.55A + the unknown connection from the battery backup, which is close to 4A.

Any USB spec, 2.0, 3.0, etc, is for both data transfer rates and amount of power supplied. So all USB 3.0 ports regardless of their location must supply the same amount of power to be within the spec. Front and rear USB ports should be the same regarding power delivery.

One detail not to miss is in order for USB 3.0 level power to be available, the connecting cable must be USB 3.0. A USB 2.0 cable connected to a USB 3.0 port is only capable of meeting the USB 2.0 spec for data transfer and power. USB 3.0 cables have extra wires that connect to the extra data and power contacts in the USB 3.0 ports. A USB 3.0 cable in a USB 2.0 port will only provide USB 2.0 spec data and power transfer. Dual USB cables as used with your Blu-Ray drive may be just USB 2.0. Look inside the USB connector on a keyboard and compare it with a USB 3.0 flash drive or cable, you can see the extra connections. USB 3.0 connectors should be blue color coded. If the connector is not blue inside, it should not be USB 3.0.

You never described your powered hubs USB level/spec. If any are USB 2.0, the ports are only capable of providing USB 2.0 levels of power, regardless of the total power rating. A quick look at the "wall wart" PSU output for the hubs will reveal if it matches the power output specs.

In regards to my PSU I am using a Corsair AX1200i.

gniblack wrote: I am not sure of the best way to troubleshoot my problem, but I have 16 USB devices that I keep plugged in that use 17 USB ports. Since I only have 6 rear USB ports and 4 front USB ports I am using 2 powered USB hubs to help. The problem I am experiencing is that devices are shutting off, as if they're not receiving enough power. Is there a particular way I should connect the devices? The devices connected are as follows: 2 Oculus Rift sensors 1 Oculus Rift headset 1 hard drive dock (WD Red 8TB inserted) 2 thumb drives (32GB and 128GB) 1 scanner 1 battery backup 1 Logitech G13 1 Steam controller adapter 1 Xbox One wireless adapter 1 LG Blu-ray writer (2 USB ports) 1 HD60 S Game Capture 1 Logitech G910 Keyboard 1 Logitech C922 Webcam 1 Logitech G900 Mouse This is all from memory. I can update with more part numbers when I get home if necessary. Is there a way to test if a device is receiving enough power? Do my SATA devices impact my USB devices also? I am using 13 SATA devices so that's why I ask.

The first thing to know is that the power available from USB ports differs with the type of USB port. USB 3.0/3.1 ports can supply much more power than USB 2.0. You need to check the power requirements of each of your USB devices, and connect the more power hungry devices to the USB 3.0 ports, and the low power devices to USB 2.0. Here is some info about the power output capacity of various USB ports:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB#Power

For example, keyboards and mice don't use much power, so should always be on USB 2.0 ports. Do you really have all of those devices powered up all the time?

The same applies to your powered USB hubs. Are they USB 2.0 or 3.0? Also, the PSU for the hub will have a maximum power capacity, which may limit the amount of power they can supply when all the ports are in use.

Are you using any of the USB 2.0 and 3.0 headers on the mother board, for connection to the PC case and USB port adapters? Your board has two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 headers that can be connected to USB port adapters that mount in the PCIe slots on a PC chassis. That might help you get away from using the powered hubs, that may not supply enough power.

Another thing to do is configure the USB ports in Device Manager. All of the board's USB hubs have a Power Management setting in their Properties, that is usually set by default to turn them off to save power. Just uncheck the box next to that option. You may need to restart the PC to really apply the setting.

SATA devices should not be stealing power from USB hubs. SATA connectors supply 12V, 5V, and 3.3V to a drive. SSDs normally only use 5V power, but HDDs use 12V mainly, and 5V. They of course are sharing the +5V power rail from the PSU, but any loss of power potential is determined by your PSU's +5V rail power spec. What model PSU are you using?

I know of no way to measure if a device is receiving enough power. All you can do is try to match the power spec of the device to the maximum power of the USB ports.

Something else you can try is installing the ASRock App Charger software for your board. While its main purpose is to provide more power to the USB ports when the PC is shutdown or in Sleep mode, it might help when the PC is running too. Here is some info on it and its download link. The software can also be found on your board's download page:

http://asrock.com/feature/appcharger/index.asp