Acer Swift 3 SF314-42-R9YN and USB-C Hub Issues

Hi there! I purchased an Acer SF314-42-R9YN last year and for the most part it's been great. However, it consistently has issues with USB-C hubs. I have the hub connected to the sole USB-C port. Connected to the hub I have external power (via USB-C), a monitor (via HDMI), and a webcam (via USB-A).

Everything seems OK at first - it functions fine, when the laptop goes to sleep it wakes up OK and the USB-C devices work as expected. Unfortunately at some point over the next 24 hours it will fail - the laptop will turn on but the monitor will not. It's random and intermittent. The hub is in a disconnected state and I need to pull it from the laptop, pull the power from the hub, and reset everything. It works fine for a while, then the cycle repeats.

I've tried it with an Anker hub, a Hootoo hub, and a Hyper-X hub. Having tried three hubs at this point I don't believe it's the hub that's the issue, it's the laptop's USB-C port. I did notice with the Anker hub I'd routinely hear the "da-ding" sound of hardware being disconnected from the laptop. This was puzzling because when the sound occurred the monitor was still connected and everything was working OK.

Are there any BIOS settings or whatnot that I should be looking to tweak? Any other settings/suggestions? Or has anyone found a USB-C hub that is rock-solid with the Swift 3? This is ruining an otherwise excellent laptop experience.

Accepted answers

billsey

Check to make sure you aren't set for Windows Fast Boot. That will do funky things with USB power when sleeping. It takes just slightly longer to recover from sleep or hibernation, but the USB devices will be properly initialized if you have it off.

All comments

billsey

Check to make sure you aren't set for Windows Fast Boot. That will do funky things with USB power when sleeping. It takes just slightly longer to recover from sleep or hibernation, but the USB devices will be properly initialized if you have it off.

jasondunn

Wow, thanks so much @billsey for the response - that appears to have done the trick. It's been 24 hours and so far <fingers crossed> it hasn't disconnected.

It's sad to think of how many others may have this same problem and not know to dig into the BIOS and tweak this one setting - laptops boot so fast now anyway, I don't know if having fast boot turned on is worth the problems it causes. 😕

billsey

I expect Microsoft will tweak Fast Boot to get it more and more stable as time goes by. It is of greatest help to someone who isn't booting from a SSD...

jasondunn

billsey said:

It is of greatest help to someone who isn't booting from a SSD...

Indeed, but then why wouldn't Acer turn it off on a laptop that only ships with an SSD? It's a missed opportunity for them to create a better experience for their users.

billsey

I believe Acer prefers to keep the number of software builds as low as possible. They already have to deal with different builds for different languages, adding separate builds for SSD vs. HDD in the same language would increase the complexity... Leading to more potential for a system to get out with a bad load. I believe they are doing as most of the rest of us are, and waiting for Microsoft to get Fast Boot working better with all systems.

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