AMD is analyzing USB disconnect issue in 500-series motherboards

AMD AM4 socket up-close — (Image credit: AMD)

AMD is looking into a USB issue with 500-series motherboard chipsets it says only a "small number of users are experiencing". Over on the AMD subreddit, an official account posted that AMD is aware and investigating the root cause of a USB disconnection problem and is actively seeking help from the community in collecting further information.

The issue is said to arise when users plug devices into certain USB ports, or combinations of such. This can lead to disconnections and devices being unrecognised. There are three 500-series chipsets available today: X570, B550, A520, and the issue has been reported across X570 and B550 chipsets to our knowledge.

An Update on USB connectivity with 500 Series Chipset Motherboards from r/Amd

It's not an issue we've run into yet, and I'm running an X570 AMD Ryzen system as my daily machine, but it does appear to be more than a localised case. Many users on Reddit are reporting their experience with the issue and workarounds (often marking functional USB sockets or plugging things in in a certain order).

The reporting thread is a lengthy list of users reporting the issue:

"MSI B550 Carbon Gaming with 5900x: HP Reverb G2 only working on front USB 3 ports," says user Mugendon.

"I am also having USB issues with my 400 series chipset mobo. I have a semi-repeatable issue. Seem to mostly be taking place on my USB 3.0/3.1 ports. Asus Prime B450-Plus with Ryzen 9 3900X," says caboose1835.

A good few users have figured out workarounds, however, with many recommending configuring the PCIe slots to PCIe 3.0 mode appears to work:

"B550M Mortar/5800x and 3080. Sometimes randomly the pump on my h100i platinum will have the disconnect sound but I can usually guarantee making it do that by using any type of streaming software. Solution was to change PCIe from Auto to 3.0," says fugly16.

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"Solution: CHANGING PCIE x16 slot to function in PCIe 3.0 mode fixes the issue at a performance deficit. This is 100% confirmed to be what the issue is and is its own category of USB issues with 500 series motherboards," says AVxVoid, who seems confident in the fix.

It's worth a shot, at least. Let us know if you've been finding this issue on your system and if the above worked at all.

As far as AMD is able to report today it is still only a small number of devices that are facing issues with USB connectivity, but we'll keep an eye on this one for updates to see if there are any further developments. It seems like a hot topic over on the AMD subreddit, at least, with many users thankful that AMD has finally shared information on the issue, which one can assume has been around since these chipsets first launched.

Here's hoping for a quick and easy fix with the next AGESA update.

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Jacob earned his first byline writing for his own tech blog, before graduating into breaking things professionally at PCGamesN. Now he's managing editor of the hardware team at PC Gamer, and you'll usually find him testing the latest components or building a gaming PC.