Odd Problems With New EHDD (usb3.0)

[kerryunite]

Hi all,
So on Saturday I got a new EHDD, a Seagate 1tb usb 3.0 (bus powered), as my old usb 2.0 one must be like 8 years old and at 500gb it was getting full (although it still works fine, something which at this point I'm very glad about). I was excited to be trying all the speed usb 3.0 could throw at me, and quite pleased with results.

But then things got weird, and I'd really like to know if it's a problem with my system or a faulty drive, so I can work out what to do.

1) Randomly it seems it'll just stop being recognisable. When it's in this state it ranges from showing as no files/folders on the drive, showing empty folders, or showing all the files there, but they're unreadable/useable when you try to click on them. This has happened during idle time and during use of the drive. Even though I formatted the drive before use, it shows up during these times as having RAW file system, constantly says the device is inuse and unable to be removed - and even if you unplug and replug it it wont be recognisable again until you restart the pc.

2) Upon start up, it seems there's an extensive period of the drive 'lagging', maybe 5-10 seconds, before you can do the first thing you try to do. After that, it seems to work fine, until issue #1 comes in that is.

I have tried updating my usb 3.0 controller driver (it's the renesas (sp?) controller, built into mobo) and all that did was make the lag slightly worse for issue #2 (or randomly made it go away, although that's only happened twice). I also tried a usb 2.0 port upon start up and the issue #2 was still there, however I was busy at said time and couldn't wait to see if #1 happened - as it can take the better part of a day to surface. Right now it's plugged into usb 3.0 and I've had to restart 4 times today.


So.. any suggestions? I'm totally at a loss here. I'm thinking it's the drive, but if anyone has any ideas I can try to find out either way, that'd be really appreciated. Thankyouuu!

 

[bobafetthotmail]

#1 seems like a power issue, but the "does not get recognized until you restart" part and the #2 does make me think of driver issues.

Your USB controller is NEC, not rensas (the former acquired the latter, but anyway), so it's possible that you are using wrong drivers. Go here and download/install the driver under USB category.

Also installing the latest chipset drivers is worth giving a shot, from here (as they seem to pack USB3.0 functionality in the pack as well).

 

[kerryunite]

Thanks for the reply
Power would be my guess too were it not for the it being unrecognisable afterwards. I've just installed the new chipset drivers, and upon doing so I found there was an issue with my ATI catalyst control centre thingy not opening so I uninstalled and reinstalled those drivers too and now that works.

I also uninstalled the renesas drivers and put the NEC ones on - initial results show #2 seems no more (however could just be a one off) - I'll have to keep you informed as to whether #1 happens again, if it's going to happen I imagine it'll happen within the next 24 hours as I'd already had to do it twice this morning whilst working before I started trying these fixes, that was like twice in 1 hour with the drive not even being used..

 

[kerryunite]

Sorry for double post but to bump with new information - it happened again so drivers didn't fix it. Suggestions given that anyone?

Interesting side note I just found out - plugging it back into the same port doesn't work, but plugging it into a USB 2.0 port causes it to be rerecognised by windows. HOWEVER.. the files on it still don't work (trying to play a video says 'file not found' on MPC). Faulty drive?

 

[bobafetthotmail]

To be sure you would need to plug it in a powered usb hub or even better to use a usb-y cable. (like this) To make sure that the USB 2.0 is giving it enough power to work.

Also testing it on another PC would be a good idea.

 

[kerryunite]

I don't have another PC with a USB 3.0 port unfortunately - but I'm always using back ports directly connected to the mobo rather than hubs/front ports.. Surely they'd always have enough power?

I can try dig out my old Win XP machine and see if that has issues after an extended period of time like this does, should have time to do that tomorrow morning/afternoon.

Thanks for the suggestions/help so far

 

[bobafetthotmail]

By design specifications, USB 2.0 can provide up to 500 mA per port, while USB 3.0 can provide up to 900 mA per port, which is slightly less than double.

PC ports usually enforce this limit, a powered 2.0 hub... is much less likely to.

By looking again at your board's driver list, it seems that in the "utility" section (same link as above), there is a "USB 3.0 Host Controller Driver" entry. Try that as well.

You could also check the disk, if you can identify it, with a disk checking utility from the manufacturer or even by doing a checkdisk with both checkboxes checked. But if drivers don't solve this I suspect an enclosure failure more than a disk failure. Anyway, if you don't solve, RMA it.

You could also try a BIOS update, but take all precautions to be ready in case it goes wrong (even my oldish board allows to reflash a bios in case of failed update by using a usb flash drive with a spare bios file on it).

 

[kerryunite]

sorry to bump this, but I've been swamped with work and not had time to test any more things to do with this drive and kind of just ignored it.

until today, that is, when something happened that I don't understand at all and worries me:
I had the drive unplugged all day, long enough for the usual problem #1 (first post) to have appeared had it been plugged in, but obviously it wasn't. So I went to plug it in and absolutely nothing came up at all. I tried a USB2.0 port, and it came up with saying 'this drive had to be formatted before it could be used'. I restarted the PC and the drive now works fine again, until the inevitable problem #1 happens,which i'm sure it will. Also is whilst the USB3.0 wouldn't recognise it, the usb2.0 ports would recognise other devices, such as a flash drive, fine.

I have uninstalled the drivers and reinstalled them and tried all you suggested in your previous post short of a bios update, which I'd rather avoid if possible. Not had a chance to try it on another pc, but doesn't this kind of suggest the issue is with my Pc and it's USB3.0 parts?

Suggestions/thoughts?

 

[bobafetthotmail]

Frankly, I'd have it sent back. RMA the EHDD and hope that it was its own issue.

I have not found other cases of people with real USB 3.0 issues on your board, so yeah...

 

[kerryunite]

fair enough - that works for me! I'll send it back as soon as I get time. Thanks for your help