Unknown USB device (Device Descriptor Request Failed) DS4

[Mark Kaine]

This just started happening out of nowhere... 

 

When I disable the device and re enable it works for a couple of minutes then I get the error again... 

 

Steam doesn't recognize the controller then, the led is turned off and the weird thing it "works" but there's huge input lag and it randomly stops working for a split second too... now I don't think the controller is broken... more like a weird software issue I remember I had before with another DS4 controller but I don't remember how I fixed it, unfortunately... 

 

Should I just remove the device or is there something specific I need to do? 

 

After restarting / enabling the controller:

 

 

After a few minutes:

 

 

PS: tried another known to be working DS4, same thing, works for a few minutes then stops working (this time it really stopped working completely...) 

[ATBawden]

12 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

This just started happening out of nowhere... 

 

When I disable the device and re enable it works for a couple of minutes then I get the error again... 

 

Steam doesn't recognize the controller then, the led is turned off and the weird thing it "works" but there's huge input lag and it randomly stops working for a split second too... now I don't think the controller is broken... more like a weird software issue I remember I had before with another DS4 controller but I don't remember how I fixed it, unfortunately... 

 

Should I just remove the device or is there something specific I need to do? 

 

After restarting / enabling the controller:

 

 

After a few minutes:

 

 

can you find specific drivers for the controller?

 

[Digideath]

Is that plugged in to a front panel usb port by chance? Have you tried a usb 2 port on the back of the motherboard?

[HanZie82]

• If possible unplug USB-dongle and try other port.
• Reboot PC
• Remove controller and re-link. (hold share button then hold PS button to enter BT-pairing mode)

These are some options you could try, in random order.

 

 

If it still acts weird im out of options. I also use a DS4 on PC, but i also use DS4Windows to add some functionality and somewhat to debug minor errors.

 

Ive also found when using a USB-BT-Dongle it matters a lot which port you use and also if you use extensions they have to be a good quality as the dongle will need correct voltages. (Front USB also uses an extension cable just inside the case, which also can be of mediocre quality).

Edited January 26, 2021 by HanZie82
Added info and some now proper formatting of the texts

[Mark Kaine]

24 minutes ago, ATBawden said:

can you find specific drivers for the controller?

 

I tried it says "the best driver for this device is already installed" 

 

I think I fixed this last time, a year ago or so by simply removing the device in device manager... but that doesn't seem to work now either. 

 

16 minutes ago, Digideath said:

Is that plugged in to a front panel usb port by chance? Have you tried a usb 2 port on the back of the motherboard?

yes, it is, it has always been for the last 2 years and worked flawlessly, except that one time I had the same or a similar issue, but that was resolved pretty quickly back then... 

 

 

I'm about to try the back ports, although I'm not sure what's usb2 and what isn't... 

 

Also note I changed my PSU a few days ago, still everything worked perfectly fine... until now, and also really weird... kinda as soon I move the controller, don't even need to press any buttons this "error" seems to happen, so maybe something is really wrong with the front USB? 

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

9 minutes ago, HanZie82 said:

• If possible unplug USB-dongle and try other port.
• Reboot PC
• Remove controller and re-link. (hold share button then hold PS button to enter BT-pairing mode)

These are some options you could try, in random order.

I'm not using bt, I can't deal with the input lag tbh and this pc doesn't have bt either. 

And DS4 is natively supported in Steam (and worked perfectly fine until now) 

Unplugging / restarting the pc fixes it, but apparently only until I move the controller... I've even tried moving the USB plug around a bit - which *did not* trigger the error... so really weird lol... 

 

I'll try the back ports of my motherboard and also check if the front USB is connected properly on the motherboard... tho I have no idea why it wouldn't since it worked just fine. 

 

 

[HanZie82]

13 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

I'm not using bt, I can't deal with the input lag tbh and this pc doesn't have bt either. 

And DS4 is natively supported in Steam (and worked perfectly fine until now) 

Unplugging / restarting the pc fixes it, but apparently only until I move the controller... I've even tried moving the USB plug around a bit - which *did not* trigger the error... so really weird lol... 

 

I'll try the back ports of my motherboard and also check if the front USB is connected properly on the motherboard... tho I have no idea why it wouldn't since it worked just fine.

Ah my bad, i misunderstood.

(Just FYI the lag when using BT is less very similar as when using cable. ^{See hidden content})

 

Maybe its the USB cable being iffy. If you could try another. Al-tho having wiggled the connector one would think that might not be it.

 

 

Spoiler

 

Here the app i was talking about (it can give an extra layer of issues tho so lets first fix this one ) you can see the delay from controller to the app via BT is only a very low sub 4ms number, from there it ofcourse still needs to be proccesed further inducing more 'lag'. But regular wired controllers are around 20ms total. I'd almost put money on it this wont be much more then that. If it would be above 30ms i'd be suprised.

(Picture shows Wireless BT conenction. Just checked using cable results in same speeds, i made sure by removing the BT-dongle i used)

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

1 hour ago, HanZie82 said:

Maybe its the USB cable being iffy. If you could try another. Al-tho having wiggled the connector one would think that might not be it.

 

It could be... although yeah, kind of unlikely - needs some further testing. 

 

So I unplugged the controller, turned off pc, checked the USB on the motherboard and also what I suppose is for the front LED, not sure, it's a SATA plug, but definitely needs to be connected to the front panel) everything seems to be seated properly. 

Then I used my old USB to whatever the DS4 uses... worked so far, but I tried to shake the controller again (not to hard just a bit) and sure enough it disconnected shortly - the DS4 LED was yellow, which is kinda its default "charging state" afaik, but this time the controller recovered (I see this easily because it then turns light blue which is my Steam setting) and I played a few games to check, it didn't happen again, and light movement didn't trigger it either anymore - so I'm still not sure what's going on... 

 

I guess I have to test the back USB if the shaking issue occurs there too... 

 

 

THE WEIRD thing is I just tried out the gyro controls in a ps3 game recently, shaking the controller heavily (which didn't work because the emulator doesn't seem to support six axis controls) but it didn't disconnect or anything, so something must be different now... really odd. 

 

 

[Mark Kaine]

For clarification (I don't think the front LED has anything to do with it that would make no sense but still for completeness sake and to avoid confusion) 

 

 

(PC +Controller) 

 

 

(front USB + front LED) 

 

 

(DS4 + LED, which turns off if the issue appears) 

[HanZie82]

If you're willing to open it up. (Not the easiest since lots of tiny stuff crammed in small space.)

But you could take out the ribbon cable to the lightbar and usb board and re-insert it.

[Mark Kaine]

On 1/26/2021 at 3:13 PM, HanZie82 said:

If you're willing to open it up. (Not the easiest since lots of tiny stuff crammed in small space.)

But you could take out the ribbon cable to the lightbar and usb board and re-insert it.

It was the USB cable...!  weird because it's not damaged at all, the connectors sit tight... but I tried to use it again and immediately "driver error - defective device" 

 

wtf it's literally a cable to use with DUALSHOCK 4 controllers... they're all garbage I guess (not the first one to break with no reason...) 

 

my old Logitech cable (pictured) still works just fine since over 10 years or so...