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I am programming and debugging external devices such as Arduino and Atmel ARM chips (in electronics development). Whenever I connect via serial (USB-to-serial), I notice that my keyboard and mouse (both external USB) periodically freeze, symptoms such as:

  • No mouse cursor movement for a second or two
  • No keyboard input registers for a second or two
  • Keyboard strokes repeat like a stuck or sticky key (e.g. keeeeeeeeeeeyboard)
  • Sometimes the Windows sound of USB disconnect/connect will also happen, suggesting that the USB hub has rebooted or something

To trigger the issue, I needed to only connect to the external device using PuTTY, XCTU, or the serial monitor within Arduino's IDE. Terminating the connection would resume normal USB operation.

I've tried:

  • Different keyboards and mice
  • Different USB ports
  • Disabling unused USB hubs/ports
  • Remove all other peripherals including Dell D6000 docking station
  • Ensuring Windows 10 (Pro) is fully up to date
  • Updating driver software
  • Updating motherboard BIOS
  • Removing applications (unneeded or presumed to have potential to interfere)
  • Windows Registry tweaks, such as disabling serial mouse support/detection

Nothing has worked. I'm about to sell this computer and become a Mac user.

How can I troubleshoot this USB-input freeze issue? Are there any tools to investigate what's going on at a deeper level? I've not been able to see anything unusual with Process Explorer, Process Monitor, etc.

I'm using a Dell XPS 9570 with Windows 10 Pro. The CPU is an Intel Core i9-8950HK and the machine has 32 GB RAM.

JYelton
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  • In case others have a similar issue, the USB-to-serial port device I am using is a Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge. However, the issue is not specific to this alone -- other USB-to-serial adapters also caused the problem. – JYelton Mar 27 '19 at 17:18
  • Try turning off power management for the usb root device https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/usb-ports-are-not-working-often-freezing-windows/4b303def-7490-4ce5-9c8a-33b9e5304410 – spuder Aug 11 '22 at 19:52

1 Answers1

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After a couple of days of being very frustrated and not sure if it was an OS or hardware problem, I started to zero in on model-specific complaints. I found this thread on Dell's support forum.

For me the issue has been solved. It came down to two suggestions by forum users:

  1. In BIOS, under Performance, disable C-States Control.

    This option enables or disables additional processor sleep states.

    The forum poster mentioned that this may incur higher power usage and temperatures.

  2. Also in BIOS, under System Configuration > Thunderbolt Auto-Switch, disable Auto Switch. Click 'Apply', then check Native Enumeration.

    This option configures the method used by the Thunderbolt controller to perform PCIe device enumeration.

I am not sure if only one of these changes solved the issue, or if both were required.

JYelton
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  • no luck for me doing that. I have a thunderbolt dock and the freezing of mouse movement + "keyboard sticky" is driving me crazy (where the last thing you are typing is repeated many timesssssssssss for example). – Shackrock Jul 22 '19 at 15:14
  • If you happen to figure it out, please post an answer or comment so it may help others in the future. Good luck! – JYelton Jul 22 '19 at 15:22
  • Thanks, this seems to have worked for me as well, Dell XPS 15" 9570. I'm curious though who ultimately bears the blame for the behavior? Intel hw? Intel sw? Dell? MS? The issues has been really irritating!! >_<. I also found the C-States suggestion in Dell forums. – Johnny5 Sep 15 '20 at 17:07
  • Worked for me on Dell XPS15 9570. Unfortunately the Laptop fan now runs loudly and continuously :-( . – harry courtice Oct 27 '21 at 23:58
  • Same issue, except I don't need a serial device, it just happens. C-states fixed it. According to Throttlestop my CPU idles 5 watts and a few degrees higher, but that's fine with me. Also, I'm not sure if it's just placebo, but my laptop feels much more responsive. – Aloha Jul 07 '23 at 01:43