edit: Marking as solved, see below.
The original problem: When I run Diablo IV, my USB controllers start restarting. It’s the only game or application that causes this issue. I’m using a 4090 i5 13600k with a 1300W Super Flower PSU and have no other power issues with any other game.
I ignored the problem, and after dealing with power flickering and trying to reset the game, the USB 3 ports eventually just died. The USB C ports still function, so I am running things through them now, but they also flicker when under stress from Diablo IV. Why is Diablo IV having such a dramatic effect on the system? I play more demanding games regularly, so this makes no sense.
I do not have thermal issues.
This problem is isolated to Diablo IV.
My motherboard’s USB 3 ports have been confirmed by ASUS to be fried. They haven’t explained why, but thankfully, they will replace the motherboard since there is no visual reason why this happened.
This is the first I have heard of this happening to anyone,
Sure, players have blamed the game for frying a GPU, a CPU, etc. But honestly, the game is not able to damage hardware. Something else must already be having an issue before the game can cause it to manifest.
Take the GPU failures.
Most of the cards that were dying were all Gigabyte cards. The game stress revealed the weakness of their design and they were failing. They were able to be warrantied though, as it was a defect in the card, not the game’s fault.
Diablo IV wasn’t the only game that caused those cards to fail in that manner either.
In your case, its possible that motherboard is defective, or one of the USB devices you are using is causing a heavy power draw on the system and for whatever reason when D4 is running it causes the issue to present itself. But it also means the problem is already there in one way or another.
Flickering USB connections is a direct result of bus reset with the system trying to protect itself from damage. Meaning a USB device connected to the system is causing the issue. I would more likely suspect that first. Just because it only shows up with D4 doesn’t mean it isn’t there at other times.
Are you using Peripheral Lighting in D4? Running keyboards like Razer or similar that have lighting options?
Otherwise we would have had a LOT more reports of USB failures being caused by D4.
It is not unheard of, if you google the game there are reports of others with flickering usb back in 2023. In my case it starts the moment you launch the game and have the blizzard screen on. I assume the game is building shaders or something while the logo/default load up things run. I have tried dozens of other games over the past few weeks to see if I could replicate it and cannot. Gpu stress tests and all that are easily passed with things staying well within acceptable limits.
I do agree though that there should be more reports of this but I just cannot for my life figure out why D4 is doing this but nothing else does. I have traded peripherals out and do not run software for lights and all that.
My 4090 is a gigabyte so I will look into that with them!
I just downloaded and installed this game yesterday and this problem immediately started happening to me. I have been gaming on this system for a year without issue until yesterday, so I do not believe it to be motherboard related. This is caused by the game.
more people would be having this issue then. the issue you’re experiencing is 100% caused by some hardware or software conflict, power issue (bios or windows), or a failure of a system component.
It has to do with conflicts between the game and any lighting option keyboard/mouse/headset, etc.
Sometimes its Razer causing issues, sometimes its Logitech. Well causing issues in that Diablo IV doesn’t like them. lol
So turn off Peripheral Lighting in the settings for the game and that should correct it. You can also try updating the software for those devices from their manufacturer website.
Ace, you’ve already mentioned this here, the fizch guy came in here 9 days later to revive a post as a “me too” instead of reading the comments or creating his own thread and without any specific hardware or software of his own listed (as a 1st post mind you).
While I agree that the issue is likely caused by what you’ve stated with peripheral lighting, it’s still what I stated without holding his hand.
I might have found a solution! Note that I have since replaced my entire motherboard (with the same model) and reinstalled windows, etc and was still having the problem.
I do not want to say for certain yet but so far its stable by putting the devices that are having problems on a different usb controller than what is onboard. Nuts that this is ONLY a problem with Diablo 4 for me though I have had usb ports reboot when building shaders in a few other games but nothing that persists beyond launching the title. I even did a maxed out furmark/hdd/prime95 run that had my system pulling 782watts at one point without any issues, temps were stable, system was stable. I could unplug usb devices and plug them in and nothing reset despite the high load. In response to the lighting, I think it is more likely to do with any usb peripheral that has a power draw. My headphone wireless adapter and controller adapter both were turning off. I also replaced the mouse and keyboard with a rgb free option and the problem still continued to happen. Disabling the in game rgb interactions and disabling any interactions/turning off the lights on a hardware level for ALL my devices was also done prior to posting here.
Copy and paste the bold lines in google and one of the top results should be the discussion that goes over the problem, I cannot post direct links here. : MSI Z690 USB issues discussion
MSI forum Z690 USB problems
Z690 USB connectivity issues MSI
Troubleshooting USB issues on MSI Z690
MSI motherboard USB disconnecting Z690
They describe the same issue I am having with Diablo 4 but I dont have a msi motherboard (mine is ASUS) but it is also a z690. Some of the users suggest that this is an issue on multiple vendor boards involving usb 3.0. The solution: Inateck PCI-e to USB 3.0 (4 Ports) PCI Express Card and 15-Pin Power Connector (you can look it up yourself from your favorite corporate overlord online shop). I plugged the devices that seemed to be resetting or struggling when the problem occurs into that expansion card and am able to finally play with everything setup as it should be! There is some stuttering and you can hear the system huffing a bit right when you launch Diablo 4 (when previously my wireless headphone adapter would reboot and my keyboard would flicker)but I wouldn’t even note it if it had not been such a enigma for me previously. No other notable issues. No noted stuttering in game when playing so far but I need to play a bit more before confirming since I also thought it was solved before. I play all new titles and max everything out and this is the only game that does this.
Came here to chime in as I had the exact same issue. On the initial install it ran fine, but the next day I loaded Diablo IV up I got audio issues where it sounds like static and the sound goes out. At which time I get the blue circle loading icon instead of your cursor and the USB ports drop out and they fail in device manager. Can confirm it’s totally an application problem everything else works perfectly fine. Tried the peripheral lighting toggle and disabled any lighting SDK in iCUE, G-Hub, etc. nothing works. It definitely needs to be reviewed by some support team at Blizz.
