USB 3.0 vastly slower than USB 2.0 Windows 7 64 bit Gigabyte Z97X-UD7

bengershon · 29 Jul 2014

I have Windows 7 64 bit installed on a Gigabyte Z97X-UD7 TH motherboard, with 32G memory. I have a Lexar USB 3.0 dual CF/SD card reader. It works fine on my Lenovo laptop (Windows 8.1). On the desktop machine I kept getting messages that it 'could go faster' if connected to a 'super speed' USB 3.0 port. On further investigation it turned out that the cable I was using to connect was a USB 2.0 cable. So I bought a certified USB 3.0 cable.

Imagine my surprise when I found that the unit was definitely being recognised as USB 3.0, but the download speeds I was getting were VASTLY SLOWER than what I was getting with the old USB 2.0 cable (which was of course being recognised as USB 2.0 only).

I have tried reinstalling the USB 3.0 drivers. This is taken from the Readme.txt file:

* Production Version Releases
*
* Microsoft Windows* 7
*
* Intel(R) USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller: 3.0.0.16
*
* February 2014
*
* NOTE: This document refers to systems containing the
* following Intel processors/chipsets:
*
* Intel(R) 8 Series/C220 series Chipset Family
* 4th generation Intel(R) Core(TM) Processor Family
* Intel� 9 Series Chipset Family

Can anyone help?
For the time being, it will be much faster for me to use the USB 2.0 cable, as the download speed may not be up to USB 3.0 standards, but is certainly fast, but how can I get the USB 3.0 to work properly?

I ought to add that I had another USB 3.0 cable, which I use to connect an external backup drive to another machine running Linux and which I know works well at USB 3.0 speeds. It gave me the same slow USB 3.0 speed on the WIndows 7 machine as the other cable, so I am sure it is some driver problem and not the cable.

Layback Bear · 29 Jul 2014

This may or may not help. Hurts none to read it.

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...&DwnldID=21129

fireberd · 29 Jul 2014

May be hardware, too. I had that problem with my Gigabyte motherboard's USB 3.0 ports. The board developed some other problems and was sent back for warranty repair. The returned board (looks like a different board) does not have the problem.

Along with the message about it could "go faster", that I got on one of the two USB 3.0 ports, the other one got alternating messages from Windows when I connected my USB 3.0 drive. One time it would show the drive contents and then Windows would display a message that the drive needed formatting.

Mark Phelps · 29 Jul 2014

According to Gigabyte, your board uses a Renesas USB 3.0 chipset. I have an older Gigabyte board and it also uses a Renesas USB 3.0 chipset -- and mine needed a firmware patch before it could achieve USB 3 speeds.

You need to find out the Nec chip identifier on the motherboard -- and then google for "RENESAS NEC Drivers". That should take you to the site where you look for the specific USB 3 chip, and from there, you can download both the firmware updates and the drivers.

bengershon · 29 Jul 2014

It uses the Renesas 720210 hub. There are no available drivers for this. The drivers which came with the motherboard are Intel drivers (I think that some USB sockets are Intel and some Renesas, but I am not quite sure and the manual is not that clear).

bengershon · 30 Jul 2014

Problem solved, by installing new firmware into the Lexar card reader!

Thanks anyway to all those who helped. I still can't quite figure why the reader was fine on Windows 8.1 at USB 3.0 and not on Windows 7 at 3.0 though.