So I have been dealing with hardware issues for the past week, including all corsair devices locking up. They don't disconnect, they simply stop functioning, with RGB still on. Unplugging them and plugging them back in will often take several tries, and even then with most programs that conflict it will simply happen again after a minute.
This happens reliably when launching certain programs, including games like Far Cry 5, and third party monitoring software such as RGB Fusion and HWiNFO64. I have attempted driver updates, driver re-installations, firmware updates, bios updates, software repair and uninstallations (iCUE 3.25 will NOT install, I managed to download and install iCUE 3.24), clean boots, safe mode, even rounds of memtests. I have done everything except reinstall windows.
The only solution that makes my system semi-usable is to disable or remove iCUE. I think I have tracked the issue to multiple programs accessing hardware info from my corsair devices simultaneously. This is apparently a common issue when attempting to run iCUE and HWiNFO64 together, despite the option in HWiNFO to stop monitoring corsair devices.
But how do I approach this issue with games and other software? Far Cry 5 also disables my Astro a50 headset mic, so the program obviously dives into the hardware and messes with things without your consent. This conflicts with monitoring software for corsair devices, making them unusable.
At this point I'm using my expensive corsair equipment on default RGB and performance settings, default fan curves etc, because I can't run the garbage software, and the hardware can't handle anything beyond a single program, even if it's just an ASUS app center that sends a single ping to every device.
A month ago, well before these issues, I did a system upgrade, adding a H150i AIO to my system, as well as migrating it to a new case, with non-corsair fans that only run on BIOS settings. I think I updated iCUE and some firmware then, however I have tried testing with the H150i usb disconnected. I'm not sure what kind of changes iCUE has undergone the past 6 months, but it's clearly ruined my system.
Is this Corsair's business model going forward? Some attempt to force iCUE on users? Are there fixes coming?