Strange USB, Bluetooth, and Audio Issue

User Support Hub Hardware & Peripherals
1

During the past few months, I’ve started having a very frustrating issue while playing MSFS where my USB and Bluetooth peripherals will reset while loading (and sometimes mid-flight). I don’t experience this issue in any other game or program. I can usually recreate the issue by loading the game, going into a flight (picking plane / airport), then going back to the menu and loading either the same or different airport. During the loading screen between airports, I will frequently experience a full dropout of audio (I use a Steelseries wireless headset with speakers plugged in to the base station), or my Bluetooth controller will disconnect completely. When audio cuts out, I can open the Steelseries GG app and can see Windows sending audio to the Steelseries audio outputs, but the base station for my headset shows no audio being received. If I unplug and replug the headset base station, audio works again, but I have to completely close MSFS due to the USB disconnect bug where the game will hang when USB peripherals are changed. On occasion, when the audio drop out happens, my Bluetooth controllers will also disconnect completely and Bluetooth stops working until I reboot my PC. Device Manager shows no device issues when this happens, and event viewer has no errors or warnings at the time of the dropout.

I’ve been researching this issue since it started happening, and recently read that power spikes from a GPU / CPU could cause USB power issues, so I upgraded my power supply today to a 1000W unit with no relief from the issue. I’ve also changed the power settings on every USB device in my system to not shut off to save power, and that hasn’t made any difference either.

Has anyone else experienced issues like this with USB devices just dropping out at random like this during loading screens? If so, is there anything else I can try to alleviate the issue? This feels like some sort of hardware problem, but I don’t have any issues with any other games or benchmarks, so I’m thinking it’s some kind of bug or something my system can’t handle with MSFS.

System specs:
Intel Core I9 11900K (Water cooled, not OC’d)
Gigabyte Z590 Aorus Master
32GB Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro SL RAM
3 Samsung 980 Pro NVME SSDs (500GB boot drive, 1TB game drive, 2TB drive for MSFS and add-ons)
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 FE
EVGA SuperNOVA 1000GT
Windows 11 (23H2)
MSFS 2020 (MS Store Version)

USB Peripherals:
Glorious GMMK Compact
Finalmouse UltralightX
Anker Powerconf C200 Webcam
Steelseries Arctis Nova Pro Wireless headset (base unit has powered PC speakers plugged in via Line Out)
HyperX Quadcast

1 Like
2

Do you have this “feature” turned off on all your USB ports???

See this article…https://helpdesk.flexradio.com/hc/en-us/articles/204290929-How-to-Disable-Power-Management-for-USB-connected-Devices

3

maybe investing in a UPS if you don’t have one yet may resolve your issues.
LD0005928182_1

when pc is directectly plugged to power without this, the PSU may struggle to deliver a constant and good energie flow while an UPS avoid issue like cpu desync and MB faillures

4

I did that and disabled “Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power” under each USB hub and device in device manager when the issue first started occurring, but it still happens every session of MSFS.

I also have my machine connected to an adequate UPS.

5

Do you use USB HUBs to connect your peripherals and do those HUBs use their own power supply? I have a ton of USB devices connected to PC, using two x7 USB HUBs, each with its own power supply, and I never have any disconnection issues.

If you use many devices on a non-powered HUB the energy needs to be provided by the USB port on your PC where that HUB is plugged to. This may not be enough to feed all devices at the same time, in particular if any of them require any significant amount of power (e.g: any device that can charge its internal battery).

Cheers

6

I was just going to say the same thing.

One thing to get is one of these (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07JYVPLLJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) This is the one I use and I find it very helpful to troubleshoot any USB power issues. FWIW

7

I don’t currently use any external hubs to connect any peripherals to my machine. I did buy a powered USB-C hub for use with my Oculus Quest headset for VR games, but I haven’t taken it out of the package just yet. I’ve tried unplugging my camera and USB mic and flying only with my headset, mouse, and keyboard (using a Bluetooth controller) and still had USB dropout issues within MSFS.

8

I definitely recommend attaching most USB devices to a powered hub. I say ‘most’ because I do connect my keyboard, flash drives, and charging cable directly to the computer ports. iPads have their own power supplies, and connect via WiFi.

I have 15 devices connected to 3 hubs, and I never experience any of the disconnect issues you’re having. As for bluetooth…that stuff is voodoo. Best to get a witch doctor to help with that. :rofl:

9

Yep - you’re correct here! I’ve found that some Bluetooth issues are caused by interference with other devices in the immediate area of your PC. Try shutting down those other devices as a test to see if it resolves the issue.

10

same issue now. msfs24. bluetooth headphones working fine untill i start msfs. sound is immidietly gone. windows 11. yesterday everrythning was fine. now i have this. strange