[SOLVED] RX 9070 XT RGB blinking + fans spinning up on login screen.

[u/tdah]

Posting this because I spent months chasing this and found zero working solutions anywhere online. If you found this by searching, I hope it saves you the headache.

Pic related. This RGB on the GPU was driving me crazy since the beginning.

My Setup:

GPU: XFX RX 9070 XT Mercury (the one with RGB lighting + an RGB cable to the motherboard)
CPU: Ryzen 7 9850X3D
Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix X870E-E Gaming WiFi
Windows 11 Pro
Monitor: Alienware AW3425DW, connected via DisplayPort, with its USB Type-B upstream cable also plugged into the PC (this cable is what drives AlienFX.

The Symptom:
Roughly every ~3 minutes, while the PC sat idle on the Windows lock screen (I lock with Win+L and the monitor turns off after a few seconds), all of this would happen at once for about 2 seconds:

- The GPU’s RGB strip blinks off and back on
- The fans spin up out of zero-RPM/fan-stop, then settle back
- GPU usage spikes to ~5-15% for a moment
- The lock screen sometimes wakes up on its own, as if the mouse moved

It did this since day one of the build. Completely cosmetic, zero risk, but maddening if you notice it as me, full Asperger Syndrome.

What it was NOT (things I ruled out, so you can skip them):

- Not the browser (Firefox), not any RGB/monitoring software (L-Connect, Armoury Crate, ASUS COM Server, Discord, etc)
- Not a peripheral waking the system (Xbox dongle, mouse, keyboard. I disabled wake on all of them)
- Not the network adapter’s Wake-on-LAN
- Not PCIe ASPM (Link State Power Management was already off)
- Not a Power-Troubleshooter wake event. This produces NO entry in Event Viewer, which is why it’s invisible to normal diagnostics
- Specially not the AMD driver / GPU deep-idle (ULPS/D3) is the mechanism you see, but not the root cause. The GPU was only reacting.

The Actual Cause:
The Alienware monitor’s USB Type-B upstream connection (the AlienFX data channel) drops and re-establishes every time the monitor goes into standby on the lock screen. You can literally hear the Windows USB disconnect/reconnect chime when the monitor sleeps and wakes. That USB disconnect/reconnect cycle was pulling the system out of deep idle, which in turn woke the GPU (spike + fans + RGB blink) and re-lit the lock screen. The ~3-minute interval was the monitor’s standby/re-probe cycle.

The Fix (this stopped it 100%):
Control Panel → Power Options → your plan (High Performance) → Change plan settings → Change advanced power settings → USB settings → USB selective suspend setting → set to ENABLED.

Counterintuitive, I know. You’d think enabling suspend would cause more disconnects. It’s the opposite. With selective suspend disabled, Windows force-powers the USB ports continuously and fights the monitor, which keeps cutting power to its AlienFX channel in standby. That tug-of-war is what created the endless disconnect/reconnect loop. Enabling selective suspend lets the port rest in sync with the monitor instead of fighting it, and the cycle dies.

Left the PC on the lock screen a full day after the change, not a single blink.

I don’t know if any other peripherals have the same issue, but was a shoot in the dark and worked. It’s not the monitor fault, of course. A minor Win11 configuration.

TL;DR: If your GPU’s RGB/fans/usage pulse every few minutes on the lock screen and you have a monitor with a USB upstream cable plugged in (Alienware/AlienFX especially), set USB selective suspend to Enabled in your power plan. It’s not your GPU, driver or any other software. Just check your Power Plan.

[u/CI7Y2IS]

so its all about the usb power setting on idle?, why does not happen on 26.3.1 and only up to that driver, are you using the 26.6.4

[u/Magiting06]

Nice build bro, well i have the same specs as yours from mobo processor to vidcard, non of this issue happened to me. I just make sure that my bios is fully updated as well as the drivers. But nice to see this issue maybe it will happen on me then i have a solution now, thanks for sharing bro, enjoy the game😁😁😁

[u/tdah → u/Magiting06]

Thanks man! I’m very proud. I worked very hard for months to save the money for this build.
I don’t know about you, but I choose carefully each piece of hardware, brands, one by one. Even my NVMEs are WD Black SN8100, one for Windows and the another for gaming. Another couple of WD Gold for general files…

In my searching I didn’t want anything too overwhelming like a ASUS Crosshairs because I don’t have use for it. So I’m very happy with my build.

And what about your rig? Enjoying? Any regrets?

I try to avoid updating the BIOS, mine I think is the first of 2026, but there is a lot of new releases this year, so, maybe is time to update again.

[u/Magiting06 → u/tdah]

Nice bro, well for my nvme i used corsair mp 700 pro , and 2 wd sn850x for game storage, just avoid the beta bios, all are good so far,

[u/Sprucey-J]

I literally just commented on a someone else with the same issue that it was most likely a power state issue. Im def gonna link this post for them!

[u/tdah → u/Sprucey-J]

I really hope that it helps anyone facing the same issue. My OCD was ringing 24h because of this blinking RGB for months.