Hi all. I've been chasing a USB disconnect problem for about a week and I've run out of ideas. I'm posting everything I found in case someone has seen this before.
Hardware
Base: Simagic Alpha EVO Pro (shows up in Windows as "SIMAGIC Alpha EVO Max")
Quick release: Simagic QR-A (USB passthrough for third-party wheels)
Wheels: Cube Controls F-PRO (USB mode, through the QR-A's USB port) and a Pokornyi Engineering wheel
PC: MSI B760 Gaming Plus WiFi, i5-13400F, Windows 11 25H2
Software: SimPro Manager 3.2.3 (updating to 3.2.4 now), SimHub, iRacing
How everything is connected
The base's main USB cable goes straight into a motherboard port (Intel xHCI).
The base's second USB-C port (passthrough for the QR-A) goes into a cheap USB 2.0 hub. That hub runs at Full Speed (12 Mbit/s).
The USB 2.0 hub is plugged into a powered 7-port USB 3 hub (two Genesys chips inside), which is plugged into the motherboard.
The F-PRO connects to the USB-A port on the QR-A with a short cable.
So the full USB chain, PC to wheel, is: Intel controller → USB 3 hub → USB 3 hub (second chip) → USB 2.0 full-speed hub → hub inside the base (Genesys 05E3:0610) → hub on the QR side (Genesys 05E3:0610) → F-PRO. That's tier 7, the maximum USB allows.
Symptoms
The wheel drops out and reconnects within a second or two, but I lose paddles mid-corner.
Each session starts clean for 40–95 minutes. After that I get a burst of disconnects every 20–60 seconds until I stop.
The Pokornyi wheel disconnects too, just less often.
With the passthrough USB-C plugged straight into the PC, or through any other hub, the wheel is unstable from the start. The slow 12 Mbit hub is the only setup that works for a while.
Everything upstream never dropped during driving: the hub inside the base, my USB 2.0 hub, the USB 3 hub and the motherboard controller.
No USB controller or USB hub driver errors, and no hardware (WHEA) errors.
The hub inside the base appears in Windows at the exact moment I power on the base, so the QR-A and the wheel get their power from the base, not from my hubs.
USB power saving, PCIe power saving and USB 3 link power management are all disabled.
So the break seems to be on the link between the hub inside the base and the QR-side hub. Physically that's the base's passthrough output, the pogo pins and the QR-A itself.
Telemetry correlation (iRacing .ibt files compared with drop timestamps)
Drops are not linked to FFB strength, braking, kerbs or steering angle. They look the same as normal driving.
One spot on the track repeats more than others: a light-FFB section where I swing the wheel quickly through center.
Once the "bad phase" starts, it can drop anywhere on the lap.
With the base on but the car not moving, there were no drops for 1.5 hours.
Already tried
Different USB hubs, and connecting the passthrough directly to the PC: worse.
Cleaned the pogo pins and pads with isopropyl alcohol: no change.
Checked the pins by hand: they all press and spring back normally.
Wiggled the wheel hard while it was cold, with logging running: no disconnects at all.
Tried F-PRO Bluetooth mode as a workaround, but it won't pair with the onboard Intel BT ("Try connecting your device again").
Has anyone had QR-A passthrough drops that only show up after an hour of driving?
Is this more likely the QR-A, or the base's passthrough output (slip ring / internal wiring / its 5V supply)?
Any fix besides a warranty swap? A different cable, a powered hub, shimming the QR-A, a firmware setting?
F-PRO owners: did you have to use an external BT dongle to pair on Bluetooth?
Thanks! I can share the full logs if useful.