iTunes won't read or import songs off CD from 3.1 & 3.2 USB ports

Hi everyone,

I bought a new external optical drive (Verbatim Pioneer BD-RW BDR-UD04) to go with my new PC (ASUS B550M-E WiFi motherboard) and laptop (HP 15S-EQ0XXX), and have been experiencing trouble trying to play & import audio CDs through iTunes. It works fine off the USB 2.0 ports on my new PC, and the USB 3.0 port on my old PC (ASUS M5A78L-M motherboard), but not the 3.1 and 3.2 ports on my new PC or laptop. If I try to play the songs from the CD, iTunes simply skips through all songs in a second each until it thinks it has finished the CD, and if I try to import the CD it takes about 10 seconds and the imported files are about 1KB in size. I have a similar issue if I try using VLC, whereas Windows Media Player will play CDs fine from any USB port, and EAC will rip CDs fine too; but I prefer my iTunes! Strangely, if I totally remove all Apple software from my computer, restart the device and then reinstall iTunes, iTunes will play the CD from the 3.1 & 3.2 USB ports so long as I launch iTunes immediately from the installer once complete, but then it will no longer play the CD once I restart iTunes!

I feel like I've tried everything:

- uninstalling & reinstalling the newest and multiple old versions of iTunes (always removing all traces of Apple software, ejecting the CD and restarting the computer between installations),

- installing 32bit and 64bit versions,

- using two different computers (one a laptop with Windows 11 Home, one a desktop PC with Windows 10 Pro, and also trying Windows 8.1 on the desktop PC),

- VPN on, and internet disconnected, and internet on with no VPN or firewall,

- setting the audio to my headphones, and the onboard device speakers,

- ensuring my optical drive and USB ports have the latest drivers installed,

- using multiple CDs from different years of release and from different record labels,

- playing the CD using iTunes as the auto-play option, playing the CD by going into iTunes itself and clicking the CD icon, and also right-clicking individual tracks inside the disc's folder to select "play with iTunes",

- and a few other odds & ends I can't recall.

As my laptop is normally my only device connected to the internet for fetching CD metadata & artwork and doesn't have USB 2.0, and the 3.1 & 3.2 USB ports are faster than the 2.0s, I'd really like it if I could get iTunes to work with these ports!

If anybody has any solutions, I'd be grateful. Thankyou for any help!