[Bug 2141964] Re: AMD B550 USB audio dead until reboot due to xhci_hcd “HC died; cleaning up” on Ubuntu kernel

Thank You. It is definitely better than a full reboot, but you are
right: I would need to do this every minute, which is not very
convenient.

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/2141964

Title:
AMD B550 USB audio dead until reboot due to xhci_hcd "HC died;
cleaning up" on Ubuntu kernel

Status in linux package in Ubuntu:
New

Bug description:
Ubuntu release:
Description: Ubuntu 25.10
Release: 25.10

Package version:
linux-image-6.17.0-14-generic
Kernel version: 6.17.0-14-generic

What I expected to happen:
USB audio devices should continue to function normally when starting or participating in a voice call. In case of an error, the USB subsystem should recover gracefully without requiring a full system reboot.

What happened instead:
When starting a voice call (most reliably reproducible with Discord), USB audio devices stop working after a short time. The failure sometimes happens almost immediately, sometimes after several minutes.

The kernel logs show that the USB xHCI host controller enters a dead state, for example with messages like:
xhci_hcd … HC died; cleaning up

After this occurs:

All USB audio devices stop working

Unplugging and re-plugging USB devices does not restore functionality

Restarting PipeWire or user-space audio services does not help

Only a full system reboot restores USB functionality

Onboard (non-USB) audio continues to work normally.

Additional information:
This issue occurs consistently on the following hardware and setup:

Mainboard: ASRock B550M Pro4 (AMD B550 chipset)
CPU: AMD Ryzen™ 7 3700X × 16
USB audio devices: multiple devices tested; the problem is not device-specific
Audio stack: PipeWire (default Ubuntu configuration)

The problem only occurs under Linux. The same hardware works without
issues under Windows.

The issue is reproducible with:

Discord official .deb package or Flatpak

Sandboxing (Snap/AppArmor/Flatpak) is therefore not the root cause.

Discord appears to act only as a trigger. Recording audio with other
applications does not cause the issue. The failure clearly occurs at
kernel level, not in user space.

Kernel logs indicate a hard failure of the USB host controller rather
than a normal USB disconnect or user-space audio error.

This issue appears to be related to known upstream Linux kernel problems where the xHCI controller enters a dead state and logs "HC died; cleaning up". For example:
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=219824

Steps to reproduce:

Boot Ubuntu 25.10 with kernel 6.17.0-14-generic

Connect a USB audio device

Start Discord (official .deb package)

Join any voice channel

After seconds to several minutes, USB audio stops working

Kernel logs show xHCI host controller failure

USB audio remains unusable until reboot

Expected result:
USB audio continues to function, or the USB controller recovers automatically without requiring a reboot.

Actual result:
USB xHCI host controller enters a dead state; USB audio devices are unusable until the system is rebooted.

Logs:
journalctl -k -b:

Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.3: xHCI host not responding to stop endpoint command
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.3: xHCI host controller not responding, assume dead
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: xhci_hcd 0000:07:00.3: HC died; cleaning up
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: usb 3-2: USB disconnect, device number 2
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: usb 3-2.1: USB disconnect, device number 3
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: usb 3-2.1: Not enough bandwidth for altsetting 1
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: usb 3-2.1: 2:1: usb_set_interface failed (-19)
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: usb 4-2: USB disconnect, device number 2
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: usb 3-2.2: USB disconnect, device number 4
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: usblp3: removed
Feb 16 21:12:26 paninum kernel: usb 3-2.3: USB disconnect, device number 5

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 25.10
Package: linux-image-6.17.0-14-generic 6.17.0-14.14
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 6.17.0-14.14-generic 6.17.9
Uname: Linux 6.17.0-14-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia_modeset nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.33.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CasperMD5CheckResult: pass
CurrentDesktop: ubuntu:GNOME
Date: Mon Feb 16 21:12:47 2026
InstallationDate: Installed on 2026-02-13 (3 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 25.10 "Questing Quokka" - Release amd64 (20251007)
IwDevWlp3s0Link: Not connected.
MachineType: To Be Filled By O.E.M. B550M Pro4
ProcFB: 0 nvidia-drmdrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/vmlinuz-6.17.0-14-generic root=UUID=74c636ee-a244-4e89-b9b8-f6d310039740 ro quiet splash crashkernel=2G-4G:320M,4G-32G:512M,32G-64G:1024M,64G-128G:2048M,128G-:4096M vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
firmware-sof N/A
linux-firmware 20250901.git993ff19b-0ubuntu1.6
SourcePackage: linux
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 09/30/2025
dmi.bios.release: 5.17
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends International, LLC.
dmi.bios.version: P3.90
dmi.board.name: B550M Pro4
dmi.board.vendor: ASRock
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.chassis.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInternational,LLC.:bvrP3.90:bd09/30/2025:br5.17:svnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:pnB550MPro4:pvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:rvnASRock:rnB550MPro4:rvr:cvnToBeFilledByO.E.M.:ct3:cvrToBeFilledByO.E.M.:skuToBeFilledByO.E.M.:
dmi.product.family: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.name: B550M Pro4
dmi.product.sku: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.product.version: To Be Filled By O.E.M.
dmi.sys.vendor: To Be Filled By O.E.M.

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