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Wowerus · ‎04-11-2016

Hello! First post and happy to be part of the famous ROG community

I have a Steelseries Mouse (Wireless Sensei) and keyboard (Apex M800). I have to re-plug them sometime to get them to work.
It is usually the keyboard that needs to be re-plugged but it happens with the mouse as well. I have contacted Steelseries and they
just want to RMA the keyboard and mouse, they do not want to find any solutions with this problem. I borrowed them to a friend
where they worked without a single problem on his computer.

thats why I hope I can get some help from ROG as the problem can be something with the motherboard. I have changed the settings in
Device Manager and ticked of all ''Let the computer turn this of..'' on all USB-Devices linked to the keyboard and mouse.

Any solutions or ideas I can try out?

Specifications

Chassi NZXT H440W
Motherboard Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero
Graphic Card Nvidia Geforce 980TI Asus
Processor Intel Core i7-6700K Skylake
RAM Vengeance DRR4 2133Mhz 16GB
SSD Samsung 850 500GB
HDD 1 Seagate 4TB SSHD
HDD 2 Seagate 2TB
OS Windows 10

Eric_F · ‎04-11-2016

I also have a Steelseries keyboard and mouse -- Original Apex and Rival. I don't think this problem is specific to ROG boards -- I've had similar issues with the same two devices plugged into a Mac Mini (late 2009 model) and a Z61 ThinkPad.

On the Mac Mini, the mouse would sometimes fail to be detected at wake from sleep but the keyboard was fine.

On the ThinkPad, the keyboard wouldn't fully illuminate during POST (only the main keyboard and the numpad section, none of the F-keys, and then would be fine once Windows booted.

On my Maximus VIII Hero, usually the keyboard and mouse will be fine (and always are fine in BIOS screens) but once the USB bus resets before booting Windows, sometimes the keyboard will come up only partially illuminated again. Sometimes re-plugging it will fix it, other times I must shut down completely and restart. Also, the mouse will wake the PC from sleep fine, but using the keyboard will cause it to be dropped completely.

So on every computer I've connected these two, there have been various issues with how they interact with USB. I tend to think that Steelseries still needs to work out a few issues in their firmware. Perhaps someone's discovered a useful tweak in the Asus BIOS that might help USB detection and behavior?

I'd like to try re-flashing the keyboard's BIOS, but all I've encountered is auto-updaters in a few of the driver updates, and once it's done flashing, there doesn't seem to be any reset/re-flash options. Overall, I like this keyboard and mouse a lot, but I'd love to see a more robust utility for managing the firmware.

If there are any other Steelseries users out there with more ideas, it would be great to try a little brainstorming.

Motherboard: Maximus VIII Hero
Processor: I7 6700K - 4.9GHz OC
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2
Memory: G.Skill DDR4-3000 16GB
Graphics: EVGA GTX 1080 FTW2 1721/1860MHz
Storage #1: 1TB Western Digital Black
Storage #2: 2TB Western Digital Black
Case: Antec Nine Hundred
Power Supply: Antec Edge 650 80+ Gold
OS: Windows 10 Pro

TaijRai · ‎04-12-2016

I used to to use the Original APEX RGB until I upgraded from my old AMD Sabertooth 990FX R 2.0 to a new I5 6600k Skylake. My Apex worked totally fine on my 990FX system. However once I was up and runninng on the z170-A motherboard it would cut out, aka the keys would now longer respond but the lights remain lit. After much reserch I determined it was an issue with the new USB controller on the Z170 and legacy built in cntroller that steelseries uses. I reported it many times, as did many other. There is no known fix for this issue and it is not limited to just steelseries after much posting on web. It is the new usb vs the legacy usb. I tried every USB port, disabling ports, disabling lan controller, changed USB bios setting to everything possible. When it would happen I had to unplug/re plug the keyboard to regain functionality. I reverted my APEX firmeware to many previous versions to no avail. MY conclusion was either deal with it or replace it. Dealing with it was a no go due to not being able to game with it. So I got a Corsair K70 as a replacement. Also I I have since rebuilt the old Sabertooth 990FX for my partner and use the Steelseries Apex keyboard on it with no issue

Chino · ‎04-12-2016

Legacy USB devices cause conflicts on the Z170 platform. If you're experiencing this problem, go and look for a firmware update from the manufacturer.

Eric_F · ‎04-13-2016

Well, I'm running the latest BIOS (1601) for the M8H, and just took yesterday's Win10 cumulative update (KB3147458) which is supposed to address some USB issues among others. So far, the keyboard has come up perfectly across several reboots. If nothing else, it might be minimized by fixing some Windows bugs. I still think the Steelseries firmware might need more tweaking for Win10, and what I'd really love would be away to perform the effect of a CMOS reset-to-default on the Steelseries hardware.

Also, I keep my keyboard and mouse plugged into the USB2 ports on the top group of ports. I know the board has some limitations on legacy USB support on the USB3 controller. That shouldn't affect the USB2 ports, though. I keep my keyboard, mouse, joystick, and USB2 hub for older devices connected to the USB2 ports only to avoid potential legacy issues. For anyone else having issues with the Steelseries hardware, it might be worth making sure they're not on the USB3 or 3.1 ports.

Motherboard: Maximus VIII Hero
Processor: I7 6700K - 4.9GHz OC
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i v2
Memory: G.Skill DDR4-3000 16GB
Graphics: EVGA GTX 1080 FTW2 1721/1860MHz
Storage #1: 1TB Western Digital Black
Storage #2: 2TB Western Digital Black
Case: Antec Nine Hundred
Power Supply: Antec Edge 650 80+ Gold
OS: Windows 10 Pro

Steelseries Mouse and Keyboard, need to re-plug to get them working.