Hi everyone, I just bought a brand new notebook with the latest specs, i.e. i7-12700H, RTX 3070Ti. The notebook comes with 1 Thunderbolt 4 port and 3 USB-A ports: USB 3.2 Gen 1 USB-A (5Gb/s max) USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-A (10Gb/s max) USB 3.2 Gen 2 USB-A (10Gb/s max, with power-off charging) My problem is, I have tested a few mice, including wireless and wired, in both BIOS and Windows environments, the 2nd item of the above list does not work with all of my mice. What makes it interesting is that, if I plug in an external SSD or a USB thumb drive and do some Read/Write operations, it behaves normally. I have even written a whole Windows 10 installation to a data USB drive without getting any system error or disconnection. So the port isn't corrupted as it can R/W data, just mouse function seems not working. I've tried uninstalling USB controller drivers from Device Managers, but since it happens in BIOS too, apparently it didn't help. I've called the technical support from the notebook manufacturer, he said since data can be R/W without issue, it should be a mouse compatibility issue. However, he is not sure why only other ports are working with mice because these ports should be equal and backward compatible. Please can anyone suggest any possible cause to this problem or anything I can try? Appreciate your time.
USB 3.2 100% backward compatibility is accurate when it comes to electrical and signal layout, but there's no guarantee an old and barebone mice is gonna do the hand-off and etc with the os. Not without a suitable BIOS configuration. On a notebook you hardly ever see the related settings being exposed. MSI for example are lackluster out-of-the-box, but might provide a hidden advanced settings mode with usb 3.x legacy compatibility and even per-port power-off charging. A gaming mouse from the likes of Logitech would likely work regardless, they simply cover more bases (and manufacturers tend to test with such premium peripherals). You can't really do much other than update BIOS, enable compatibility options if available, and try other mice. You probably have a usb 2.0 port, use that for the mice. Or an extension cord if position is what's bothering you.
Thank you very much for your reply. Mine is an Acer Predator laptop. I've tested with 2 Logitech mice on the mentioned port. From what you have said, there is actually no guarantee in backward compatibility when it comes to USB and the BIOS firmware also plays a significant role here and it isn't a defect in the computer hardware that I've bought. In that case, I'd expect that other units of the same model won't work with my mice on that port either. Position is not an issue because there are 3 ports and they are on 2 sides.
I've tested with even more USB-A peripherals. My gut feeling is that the port design does not have backward compatibility. Mice and keyboards, I believe they are usually USB 2.0, therefore they don't work. External storage devices, on the other hand, are USB 3.x, therefore they work. That's the only possible reason I can think of. But not sure if it is something every user of the same product will end up getting or mine is faulty. I believe that it is not faulty, otherwise it should simply not work with any device including external storage devices.
Acer Predator.. talking about lackluster BIOS options No, it does not sound faulty, more a design limitation - high chances you send it back and get another one just like it. Acer tends to stick with the reference design, and the reference design from Intel kinda sucks BIOS-wise. In the past models there used to be even worse problems with USB 3.x booting. Maybe a BIOS update is gonna fix this, too. Even with this issue it's still a great deal for the price. And you will eventually need a usb hub that will negate it.
Let me tell you something weird. I just disassembled my Acer Predator but I did literally nothing and then I assemble it back into one piece. After that I plug in my mouse USB receiver to the problematic port, and out of a sudden the mouse has been working for a few minutes. So it changes from not working 98% of the time to working 98% of the time. Funny. It could be just some poor contact somewhere in the motherboard. But it is still not working perfectly, because when I press some digit button on my numpad (located above the USB port) with some force, the port disconnects and reconnects in a split second (like 0.1s), some icon on the right of the taskbar appears and disappears really quick, and the Device Manager page refreshes itself, implying hardware changes. And if I move the cursor at the time I press the digit button, the cursor freezes for around 0.5s.
While wireless transmitters are not so great in usb 3.x ports due to EMI interference (and it's recommended to use an extension cable / usb hub like I've mentioned) - it should never happen simply pressing keys. Now, it depends how much is "some force" don't report you're doing that to acer when you send it back. But you have to be sure, so double-check you're properly inserting the dongle in the port without it catching some plastic edges. Those dongles are known to not fit well / be shorter length than usual, and a usb 3.x port is less forgiving than 2.0
USB3 ports are less forgiving when used with USB3 devices (because the additional tiny contacts) a mouse, especially a bit old one is almost 100% USB2, so... The OP has likely a faulty connector or the connector itself is connected to the mainboard via a not well connected flat cable or alike Sure! A device that worked pretty well in 1984 via a 9600 bps serial port, surely needs a USB3 connection to be used in games in 2022, why not use a 1TBps optical connection?
It's kinda interesting to find out that even if I physically lift up my Predator laptop and gently move it around, it may also trigger such reconnection by chance. I'm testing it with a wireless mouse, so it is a wireless USB receiver, no cable or wire is involved. Other ports have no issue at all, and external data storage devices also have no issue in that problematic port. Such premises make it hard to guess the actual root cause. None of the mouse connectors I own is faulty as I have tested them with the other 2 ports to narrow down the scope of the problem. And no, I assure you that I'm NOT using any decades-old peripherals in the testing, they are Logitech Pebble M350, Logitech G502 Hero, Cooler Master CK350 keyboard, etc. I believe most (if not all) of them are USB 2.0 though.
I have no doubt about the male connector of the external device, I have doubt about the female one (the one on PC side). Like I said It could be not perfectly soldered, could have one of the leaf spring contacts slightly bent, there could be an internal flat cable not properly fit, and so on. Even on a brand new PC. Mistakes in production happens... Come on! That sentence was a bit sarcastic one, aimed to the pointless suggestion to buy a USB3 mouse, not to you. Perhaps a decade old pointing device works today just like it worked 10 or 20 years ago. I use personally a logitec trackman portable from 1996 or so and a IBM model M keyboard built in the '80s w/o any problem.
Sorry for misunderstanding you, English isn't my mother language. I have no knowledge in USB, so it sounds like one physical portion of the female connector is for mouse or similar kind of purposes, and another part of it is for data? No matter what, what I'm facing is the weirdest tech thing I have ever learnt these years.
Update When I posted the above reply, I haven't put the screws back. Now with the screws on the back cover, the issue happens again.
Well that prove that my guess was right. But, I can assure (I worked for 15 years as electronic tecnician, before moving to IT) that those kind of problems were the worst to bisect, even before the tiny surface mounted components were a thing, and the crappy leadless solder was (forcefully) introduced. (tin/lead based solder may be an environmental problem and also an healt problem for people working in factories doing soldering 8h a day, but it was way better for electronics itself). In short your problem can be a simple screening metal that touch a data line (and that should be relatively easy to spot/fix), but can be also a "cold" (poor) solder point somhere on the PCB, in the worst case can be a poor solder point below some BGA ICs which would require a relatively costly equipment (and a very skilled technician) to desolder the whole IC, and resolder it in place correctly (search on youtube for "BGA reballing" to understand better what I'm talking about). In short if it's a temporary short circuit you should be able to fix it yourself, possibly a tiny piece of adhesive tape can be enough, but if the problem is a solder I don't suggest to fix it unless you're prepared to spend a good amount of money just to fix a minor problem. Keep the workaround you found yourself and live long and prosper.