My Thunderbolt Controller Vanished

[LinusTech]

I'm kind of at a loss here. We were in the middle of playing a game and the display went blank. 

 

Thunderbolt hub was dark and the device disappeared from device manager.

 

Selecting 'show hidden' doesn't change anything. 

 

I've tried updating the bios, disabling and re-enabling the controller. Nothing changes. 

 

Board is a Z490 Aqua. 

 

Seems like the controller capped itself mid-use and is just dead, but I find it hard to believe.......

[GuiltySpark_]

CMOS clear and BIOS update time? Not because a newer BIOS is needed but just to re-flash it in hopes that it might help. 

[Lurick]

Is there another TB dock you have perhaps to check on that, see if the dock went kaput?

[CommanderAlex]

Reinstall Thunderbolt controller drivers? Disconnect all non-essential devices plugged in and have the TB hub plugged in. 

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z490 AQUA/Specification.asp#Download

[Kilrah]

I supposed you tried the dock on another TB-equipped machine already, or just disconnecting it? Reasoning being the dock might have failed and do something that causes the controller to shutdown... 

 

[RONOTHAN##]

I'd try to confirm if this is actually a hardware issue or a Windows issue by seeing if it shows up in Linux live environment. Boot up some Linux distro and run "lspci | grep -i thunderbolt" and see if the thunderbolt controller is detected in another OS. 

[GuiltySpark_]

8 minutes ago, CommanderAlex said:

Reinstall Thunderbolt controller drivers? Disconnect all non-essential devices plugged in and have the TB hub plugged in. 

https://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z490 AQUA/Specification.asp#Download

I've found trying to install a driver for hardware that isn't found by Windows (in his case, not in Device Manager) usually doesn't work. 

[CommanderAlex]

1 minute ago, rickeo said:

I've found trying to install a driver for hardware that isn't found by Windows (in his case, not in Device Manager) usually doesn't work. 

i've had instances where installing drivers will work when they are not detected. I suppose it's a case-by-case basis. 

[LinusTech]

Unreal... Couple things I didn't anticipate here. 

 

My kid unplugged the dock, apparently, while sitting there. That would explain why the display cut out. He's normally pretty competent and I would have thought he'd mention something like that, but not this time.

 

Then the device disappearing completely. I've seen it go hidden before, but never seen it disappear outright unless there's a bios configuration issue or something like that. 

 

I tried another thunderbolt device (took me a while to do since the physical location of these systems makes them a bit of a pain to troubleshoot) and it fired up right away, so that led me to figure out the power thing. It lit up and after reinstalling drivers I'm back up and running.

 

So the lesson is to never underestimate the "kid chaos" factor.

[dilpickle]

Those who work in IT know even adults often leave out critical info.

 

"Is it plugged in?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure"

"Yes I'm not an idiot!"

 

Solution: It wasn't plugged in.

[da na]

On 11/27/2021 at 4:12 PM, dilpickle said:

Those who work in IT know even adults often leave out critical info.

 

"Is it plugged in?"

"Yes"

"Are you sure"

"Yes I'm not an idiot!"

 

Solution: It wasn't plugged in.

I've got my signature for a reason...