Z97 requires xHCI for USB2: IR remote unusable

I have an HP MCE IR remote receiver that will not work on my ASRock Z97 based system, whether plugged into USB2 or USB3 ports. It is known that this device did not work in USB3 ports, but with the Z97 it will not work on either. The symptom is that when you use ir-keytable -t to display the scan codes for keys pressed, you will get inconsistent codes for the same key.

The problem seems to be that Z97 requires xHCI:

Due to the design of the Intel 9 series chipset, all USB devices connected to the
USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 ports are controlled by the xHCI controller. Some legacy USB
devices must update their firmware for better compatibility.

From kern.log:

Dec 14 22:17:10 smeagol kernel: [ 1.319467] usb 3-9: new full-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
Dec 14 22:17:10 smeagol kernel: [ 1.348617] random: nonblocking pool is initialized
Dec 14 22:17:10 smeagol kernel: [ 1.443369] tsc: Refined TSC clocksource calibration: 3491.913 MHz
Dec 14 22:17:10 smeagol kernel: [ 1.449102] usb 3-9: config 1 interface 0 altsetting 0 endpoint 0x1 has an invalid bInterval 0, changing to 32
Dec 14 22:17:10 smeagol kernel: [ 1.449114] usb 3-9: config 1 interface 0 altsetting 0 endpoint 0x81 has an invalid bInterval 0, changing to 32
Dec 14 22:17:10 smeagol kernel: [ 1.450738] usb 3-9: New USB device found, idVendor=1784, idProduct=0006
Dec 14 22:17:10 smeagol kernel: [ 1.450749] usb 3-9: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Dec 14 22:17:10 smeagol kernel: [ 1.450750] usb 3-9: Manufacturer: TopSeed Technology Corp.
Dec 14 22:17:10 smeagol kernel: [ 1.450751] usb 3-9: SerialNumber: TS004Rop