MSI Controller or Firmware not working, on restart/hard reset functionality intermitently returns.

[isaac11712151502ca]

So, this is probably going to be a bit long-winded, but I've been dealing with an issue for the last few days (From the 19th I believe) where my MSI Claws controllers have seemed to stop functioning correctly. Essentially, after a restart or shutdown, all functions of the controllers stop working and the LED's remain turned off. Intermitently between hard resets and restarts, the controllers will work again for a session, only to repeat the process of not working for some time. Quick Settings and MSI claw button still work fine through all of this. Below I'll list everything I've tried to resolve it.

1. 1. EC resets, holding down power until the light blinks with no power plugged.
2. 2. Uninstalling and reinstaling MSI center (multiple times)
3. 3. Resetting MSI center within settings
4. 4. Wiping the drive and reinstalling windows entirely, same deal
5. 5. Installing a completely separate drive, reinstalling windows, no change
6. 6. Within BIOS, loading default options, as well as disabling fast startup
7. 7. Tried rolling back graphics drivers by uninstalling the drivers with DDU and reinstalling the drivers recommended in MSI center. Little change.
8. 8. Toggling the Embedded Controller option in quick settings
9. 9. When the Gamepad/Desktop function was working correctly between restarts/shutdowns/EC resets, I reinstalled the Firmware. It said update succesful, but the issue still returned later.
10. 10. Disconnected the battery from the mobo for a few minutes, and reconnected
11. 11. Checked the ribbon cables on the mobo, but was pretty sure it isn't physical damage or a disconnect as I've never dropped it, and its had a case around it since I have had it these last few months. LED's also often do show up during reboot initially, only to turn off when it reaches windows.
12. 12. In Device Manager, I can clearly see a USB device throwing an error of Descriptor Failed. If I open up properties it's mentioning Code 43. I've both tried disabling/uninstalling it to see if it makes any difference. Uninstalling makes it dissapear for a moment, but it will re-appear with the same error after a few seconds. Disabling will disable it, but on restart. it's back to the same thing.

I'm honestly out of ideas, and have already submitted a request for RMA. Worst part of all this is my warranty expired litterally a week before this started, so no idea if they will still be able to honor that. Regardless, just wondering if anyone else has experienced something like this, or if you all had any other ideas. Thanks.

 

[Edric]

Kindly recommend sending it for repair.
Seems like we cannot provide any suggestions on this case, maybe it is related to the gamepad firmware, and they should do further analysis.
Make sure to record how the issue is triggered. If there isn’t a specific action that causes it, try to note how long the system has been running before the problem appears, and any patterns you notice. This kind of detail will help narrow down the cause.

 

[msa247]

Hi,

I seem to have a very similar issue on my MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ and spent about an hour troubleshooting it today. I was able to narrow the problem down quite a bit, so I thought I would add my findings to this thread.

In my case, the issue occurred after a Windows restart. The built-in controller stopped working completely and the controller LEDs remained off.

Windows then continuously displayed notifications saying:

“Controller disconnected – XInput Controller #1”
followed by
“Controller connected – XInput Controller #1”

This happened in a very consistent cycle of approximately 8 seconds.

At exactly the same interval, Device Manager refreshed/re-enumerated its device tree.

I checked the Windows Event Viewer under:

Applications and Services Logs → Microsoft → Windows → Kernel-PnP → Device Management

and found repeated Kernel-PnP Event ID 1010 entries, also occurring exactly every 8 seconds.

The affected device was identified as:

USB\VID_0DB0&PID_1901\00006F64096B22E7

Windows identifies it as a USB Composite Device. VID_0DB0 / PID_1901 appears to be the MSI Claw XInput controller.

Event 1010 reports that the device was unexpectedly removed because it was reported as faulty on the bus. The event also reported multiple devices/interfaces being removed.

I did a few additional tests:

• Disabling the subordinate HID-compliant game controller did not stop the 8-second disconnect/reconnect cycle.
• Stopping the MSI Foundation Service did not change the behavior either.
• I traced the device hierarchy and confirmed that the affected USB composite device is connected through a USB 3.0 Root Hub to an Intel USB 3.20 eXtensible Host Controller.

What is particularly interesting is how I was able to recover it:

I performed a full Windows shutdown, waited until the Claw was completely powered off, and then powered it back on.

After this full power cycle, everything immediately returned to normal. The controller works, the LEDs are back on, the XInput connect/disconnect loop is gone, and the repeated Kernel-PnP events have stopped.

This makes me wonder whether this could be related to the gamepad firmware / embedded controller / USB power state, rather than Windows itself.

Your post is also very interesting to me because you already tested a completely fresh Windows installation — even on another drive — without resolving the issue. Based on that, I am currently reluctant to reinstall Windows on mine, especially since a full shutdown/power cycle currently restores normal operation.

I will continue to monitor it. If the issue occurs again, I will check whether it is once again the exact same VID_0DB0 / PID_1901 device generating Kernel-PnP Event 1010 every 8 seconds.

Maybe these additional details are useful for MSI or for anyone else experiencing the same problem.

If anyone has seen the same PID_1901 / Kernel-PnP 1010 behavior on a Claw 8 AI+, I would be very interested to know.

Best regards,
Marco