iCUE stops registering K55 Pro keyboard randomly when a game is open

[TiredProtag]

I just got this keyboard to replace my CyberPowerPC one that was biting the dust, thinking it would be a worthwhile purchase since my experience with Corsair headphones has been good. Instead, I've been getting nothing but problems.

First of all, the macro buttons at the side don't respond to games. Having additional macro functions in-game was one of the reasons I bought this, so I'm not happy about that.

Second of all, randomly (usually pretty quickly), when any game is open, iCUE will stop registering the keyboard, reverting the lighting to the default, gaudy setting, and I'd assume any macro settings if those would work in-game in the first place, since iCUE stops acknowledging the keyboard as a whole. It still shows my headphones, but not my keyboard. There has been one instance running a game where the keyboard even went dark and stopped responding entirely. In any case, my settings MIGHT be restored once I close the game, but that's only a "might". Often times, iCUE has to be entirely force closed and rebooted to register my keyboard again, and even then, the issue of it ceasing this still continues whenever a game is opened.

I've tried all the basic "fixes" everyone always tells you to do when having problems like this. I've tried swapping around USB ports. I've tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers. I've tried rebooting my PC. I even tried some niche solution to another post that involved holding the ESC button while plugging the keyboard in to reset it. It did absolutely nothing.

Many other similar posts I've seen have mentioned it being related to issues with plugins. I know it's not that for me, because I don't HAVE any plugins.

I'm not sure what the point is to a gaming keyboard that loses functionality in games. Why does this only happen with the keyboard? My headphones (VOID Elite Wireless) don't experience any random iCUE disconnects or loss of personal settings, even if iCUE is closed. So why does it happen to the keyboard? How do I fix it? My bar of expectations was so low, I literally just wanted something with plain, static light for nighttime visibility and some extra macros for my games, and it's failed on both fronts, giving me horrible, flashy lighting unpleasant to look at that overrides my configured settings on its own whims and macros that don't do anything. Extremely disappointing for $70 hard-earned money.