USBPORT.sys causing high interrupts in my system, leading to CPU usage spikes and stutter in games. Is it a problem with my motherboard's USB ports or my Fiio E10?

[DjokovicFan]

I used Windows Performance Analyzer to check DPC/ISR interrupts and noticed that USBPORT.sys was the primary culprit. Playing games was unbearable due to the stutter merely by walking around.
 
I only have one other USB device in my computer besides my Fiio E10, my Logitech mouse. So I tried disabling the Fiio E10 and uninstalling all my USB drivers in device manager and rebooting the system. I did a second analysis and USBPORT.sys interrupts were drastically reduced, and lo and behold my games were playing smooth as butter.
 
So the problem now is, how can I have both the benefits of my Fiio and the benefits of a smooth gaming experience (and browsing experience too because every video I watch or song I listen to, USBPORT.sys becomes a problem again)?
 
My motherboard provides 2 USB ports in the front of the computer case and around 6 in the back. I tried installing the Fiio into all of them and the problem persisted. Yet it could still be a problem with the mother board itself, and I don't know how to diagnose it. I flashed my BIOS to the latest version. I also tried performing a clean install of Windows 7 on two different hard drives, to no avail.
 
So, all that brought me here. Should I just try getting another DAC, or is there anything else I can do to figure out if it is indeed a problem with the USB ports themselves? 
 
I've attached a picture of the analyses, the top two graphs being the results with the Fiio E10 working and the bottom two being the results without the Fiio E10.
 

 

[DjokovicFan]

bump, still having trouble with this

 

[jiiteepee]

Have you
- checked if both of your USB devices are using same USB controller (usually there are more than one controller onboard)? --> If they are then try by using separate controller for each of these two devices.
- examined your system a/v capabilities? --> http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon

 

[DjokovicFan]

"- checked if both of your USB devices are using same USB controller (usually there are more than one controller onboard)? --> If they are then try by using separate controller for each of these two devices."

If I try disabling all the USB controllers in device manager, the Fiio never turns off, but the mouse does. Dunno if that means that they're separate.

"- examined your system a/v capabilities? --> http://www.resplendence.com/latencymon"

Yeah that was actually the first thing I did and what lead me to perform the Windows analysis. Here's what I get these days (also shows that USBPORT.sys is the culprit):

http://i.imgur.com/wOp1W38.png
http://i.imgur.com/70dctm3.png

 

[jiiteepee]

Depending on your hardware there but on certain setups some has been able to fix DPC issues by turning off the Intel's RST systm.
 
Is that usbport.sys a native system driver or from 3rd party installation (Logitech/FiiO driver package)?
Is your mouse a std type or specially build/set for gaming use? Does t help if you use std settings for mouse tracking/actions (might reduce interrupts)?
What resolution (bit-depth / samplerate ) are you using for audio playback (USB 2 usually supports up to 24/96 (max 24/192)?

 

[DjokovicFan]

I don't have Intel's RST, I'm pretty sure I have Windows' default called "Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller"

According to this image showing my 2 separate USB controllers, both of them show USBPORT.sys is from Windows


I don't think the problem is with the mouse but the Fiio, but if I try to reduce the polling rate of the mouse it doesn't affect USBPORT.sys at all.
The Fiio is set at 16 bit / 44.1k.

Anyway, thanks for the help but I've spent way too much time on this already so I'm going to be saving up for a non-USB DAC. I don't think USB DACs are a good mix with gaming at all, at least from my experience.

 

[jiiteepee]

 If I try disabling all the USB controllers in device manager, the Fiio never turns off, but the mouse does. Dunno if that means that they're separate.
 

? Do you mean you still be able to play audio through FiiO even you disable all USB controllers or that the power light of FiiO stays on?
 
By the image it looks like your system has few other driver issues as well (DM: Other devices -section). Have you installed the chipset driver package for your motherboard and the latest BIOS image as well?

 

[DjokovicFan]

? Do you mean you still be able to play audio through FiiO even you disable all USB controllers or that the power light of FiiO stays on?

My mistake, it says that the computer needs to be restarted for the changes to take effect, so yes that means that both my mouse and my Fiio share the same USB controller. Is there a way I can separate them so one uses the Fiio and the other the mouse? Would this help at all? I'm not sure what the second controller's purpose is, but as the pictures above show they do share the same drivers. If I disable this second controller, Windows won't boot correctly when I restart and I have to do a system restore.

By the image it looks like your system has few other driver issues as well (DM: Other devices -section). Have you installed the chipset driver package for your motherboard and the latest BIOS image as well?

I have the latest BIOS for my motherboard, and as for the driver package I can't remember if I reinstalled it when I did a clean install of Windows so I'm going to install it now.

After installing it the SM Bus Controller yellow exclamation mark went away but the other ones are still there. Not sure what they could be. Maybe the problem is a motherboard issue, which could be the case considering mine is pretty outdated now: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3899#driver

idk, could be anything really

 

[jiiteepee]

My mistake, it says that the computer needs to be restarted for the changes to take effect, so yes that means that both my mouse and my Fiio share the same USB controller. Is there a way I can separate them so one uses the Fiio and the other the mouse? Would this help at all? I'm not sure what the second controller's purpose is, but as the pictures above show they do share the same drivers. If I disable this second controller, Windows won't boot correctly when I restart and I have to do a system restore.
I have the latest BIOS for my motherboard, and as for the driver package I can't remember if I reinstalled it when I did a clean install of Windows so I'm going to install it now.

After installing it the SM Bus Controller yellow exclamation mark went away but the other ones are still there. Not sure what they could be. Maybe the problem is a motherboard issue, which could be the case considering mine is pretty outdated now: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3899#driver

idk, could be anything really

 
By specs, both controllers have six ports (six back panel ports and six ports through internal connectors (are two front ports taken from these?)) but, as you said already, you have tried every port with no success.
How to solve which ports are under what control: motherboard manual usually mentions this and if not then device manager can be used for to trap the ports/controller quite easy.
 
It's quite common that not all of those motherboard related drivers are installed (maybe because of you get some generic drivers in O/S installation) which may lead to issues with hardware (unknown devices listed in DM, <100% performance, etc.). If you install all needed drivers those unknown devices should be gone but, IDK if fixing these would help in your issue with usbport.sys but least it should make your PC more stable.
 
If possible, have you updated the FiiO firmware/drivers. Check also that USB controllers are in 2.0 mode and are not sharing IRQ with controllers as like graphics/SATA. Is there issues with other (type) USB devices?
 
I noticed you have already tried with VAC ... any improvements? Could you try with VB Audios Voicemeeter Banana + FiiO ASIO combination ... or do you need DS for games?

 

[DjokovicFan]

I'm gonna try your suggestions over the weekend, been busy with school stuff. Thanks for still trying to help me out, appreciate it

About the VB audio bridge, I didn't notice any improvements in USBPORT.sys and it also introduced an unbearable audio delay in my games, about a half second delay, even when using the lowest possible buffer size. It worked fine when listening to music through foobar but I don't think it's usable in games at all.