USB cable and the flashing light

Steinberg Hardware UR Series
1

I have seen similar posts on this topic but no one seemed to say the issue had been successfully addressed, and those posts were like 9 years old now, so I decided to start a new thread.

I have an ASUS Zenbook and Steinberg UR22. I have used them both for many years and they always worked just as expected. Then a few weeks ago when I plugged in the USB cable, the white LED on the UR22 was flashing slowly and I could hear a thump thump coming from the monitors. My first thought was that I needed to plug in the USB before I run Windows, so I tried that, no difference. I have one Ethernet dongle that only works when I plug it in after I run Windows, and then only after I plug it in a second time. I know that doesn’t make any sense but it only cost $10 on eBay so, whatever, it always works the second time. But the Steinberg just wasn’t going to work no matter what.

Then I got the bright idea that maybe the USB cable had gone bad, so I tried another cable, and lo and behold this other cable works. So I ordered a new USB cable, a blue one like the one I have that is working, only a nice short one this time. The first time I plugged it in it worked just fine. But only that one time. Now it will not work no matter what. The old longer blue cable still works. I have another UR22 mkII, so I tried it, and it’s the same way?!? I have one more black USB cable so I tried it, no dice it’s not working either.

My question is this, when I see the white light slowly flashing on my UR22, is this a normal function of the Steinberg UR22? Does the UR22 have some internal troubleshooting hardware/software that tests things out and then flashes the white LED to indicate that it has found a problem?

What I am thinking is the answer is no, that there is nothing within the UR22 that would purposely flash the LED. I think the USB hardware inside my Asus has some current limiting function, so that when I start up the UR22 (either by plugging it in before I run Windows, or if I plug it in after I run Windows) if it doesn’t like the type of current draw it ‘sees’ then it will shut off the power, and then it might try to turn it on again, over and over. Does that sound right to you?

2

Yeah, nobody listening here.

I noticed the UR22 will start the slow flashing if the Ethernet dongle is plugged in (the first time when it is not working) even with the ‘good USB cable’ so I think I am right - it has nothing to do with the USB cable nor the UR22.

The laptop (probably most laptops) have some USB port hardware to protect things and if it doesn’t like what is going on then the white LED on the UR22 will appear to be flashing slowly as it shuts off the power to the USB ports and back on again for another try, over and over. If your Steinberg audio interface appears to be slow flashing it’s white LED that means something else that is plugged into another USB port has some sort of issue.

3

I think someone at Steinberg knows what makes the white light flash on the UR22 but either they keep it a secret or they are afraid to say?

So there must be a processor device within the UR22, and it would have firmware that makes the white light flash. Since I am an authorized Yamaha warranty service center, I guess I will have to download the schematic and see.