In few words: Fifteen days ago, AMD acknowledged the increase in complaints around sporadic USB disconnections on X570 and B550 motherboards. They have had engineers working on the problem since then, but to no avail: for now, AMD’s official guideline is to employ the alternative solutions suggested on Reddit.
In the past two weeks, AMD has been collecting user reports to clarify some of the ambiguities. From public posts on Reddit, it is only possible for us to paint a picture of the problem in the broadest strokes: in systems that combine 500 series motherboards with Ryzen 5000 or 3000 series CPUs, USB devices can suddenly disconnect or suffer from interference. But the problems seem to occur more frequently on systems with RTX 3000 series GPUs and high-bandwidth devices, according to the grouping efforts of some Redditors.
In other words, the problem may be related to the amount of data flowing between the components. Some solutions proposed in Reddit try to reduce the volume of data flow, changing the system to PCIe 3.0, for example, or disabling unnecessary ports / devices. Another workaround, disabling global C-states (which is the hibernate version of the CPU), is an attempt to improve the system’s ability to handle data.
A Redditor, fed up with an unusable system, asked AMD to return his CPU. In its email refusing a refund, AMD recommended updating the motherboard software and, if the problem persists, trying to disable C-states and change the system to PCIe 3.0.
Since then, AMD has made the board official. In his words:
- Make sure your motherboard is up to date with the latest BIOS version and configured using factory default / optimized settings. Check the motherboard manufacturer’s website for BIOS updates and download instructions.
- Make sure your Windows 10 has the latest build and is fully up to date. For information on how to update Windows 10, see the Microsoft article: Update Windows 10
- Make sure the AMD Ryzen chipset driver is installed and updated. The latest version of the Ryzen chipset driver is 2.13.27.501 and can be downloaded here.
And if that fails, then “consider using one of the following workarounds:”
- Set PCIe mode from Gen4 / Auto to Gen 3 in the BIOS
- Disable Global C-States in the BIOS
In its email, AMD reiterates that its “engineering team is actively investigating this issue with a high priority”. While AMD’s deference to the community does not say good things about its engineering team, at least they are humble enough to recommend working advice.