USB 3.0 Ports Bad?

[jrstokes]

I am using a M5A88-V EVO MB and recently tried to use an external hard drive that is USB 3.0 enabled but had problems with 2 different hard drives. I bought a Seagate brand hard drive and a Western Digital MyBook or something like that. Anyway, the problem with the first one was similar to the problem with the second one. However, the first hard drive would connect up to the computer and the autoplay would come up but after about 3 seconds it would disconnect and not show up again unless I unplugged then re-plugged the USB back in. It would still do the same thing though unless I hooked it up to a regular USB 2.0 port. It would work just fine then.

The western digital hard drive had a similar problem, but would stay connected until I tried to transfer a large amount of data. If I transferred just one document it was fine in the 3.0 port but anything that required a progress bar would cause the hard drive to disconnect spontaneously and then just as quickly reconnect. It would beep that it was disconnected and the transfer would stop, then it would indicate through sounds that it was connected again and I could sometimes hit try again but sometimes could not. Just like the other hard drive, if I plugged into a 2.0 port it would work just fine. :mad2:

I have all the proper drivers, updated, everything is in order except for the USB 3.0. I do not have any other devices to see if it is device specific or if it is just a problem with the ports. Also, I have disconnected multiple fans and turned others down to see if it was a power problem but it made no difference. I even plugged the power for the hard drive directly into the wall outlet just in case it was not getting enough power. If anyone has had experience with this problem, please help. I am a certified technician and will understand just about any explanation you may have. My complete system specs can be seen through the "My System Specs" feature this forum provides.

 

[jhansen965]

You know you just my have bad USB 3.0 ports. I haven't had a lot of experience with them but it sounds like that just might be the problem. But, are the hard drive USB 3.0 certified? If they are not then they may not be able to handle the writing speeds of 3.0. That is just a guess though.

 

[jrstokes]

They were in fact certified to use USB 3.0. That's what really scared me about the whole thing. There is absolutely no reason that it shouldn't work. And the fact that two different hard drives that I made sure were compatible with USB 3.0 did not work and had similar problems. I believe you are right though, the ports are probably bad and ASUS has done it again. I even called both technical support numbers and they told me that most likely it is bad ports. I'm going to call ASUS on Monday but their technical support is a joke so I'll probably just have to order another board then RMA the old one to have a spare around...

 

[BarryBGB]

This might be a very dumb question, but are you sure you are using a USB 3 cable?

Just a thought because a friend of mine thought he could just use a standard USB 2 cable and of course he could but did not get any 3.0 speeds.

Also, not all USB 3.0 cables are the same. I have 2 that don't work very well at all and others that do just fine.

Have you tried a USB 3.0 flash drive in the ports?

 

[Golden]

Hi,

I've seen this behaviour before on a friends Gigabyte motherboard sporting Etron drivers. I haven't yet tried all the fixes suggested below, as he was happy to use the USB2.0 ports instead:

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...s-case-dissapearing-usb3-external-drives.html

Are you on the latest drivers/BIOS?

Regards,
Golden

 

[BarryBGB]

I believe his board has the ASMedia drivers. As does my Sabertooth X79.
So far, I have not seen this problem on my USB 3 ports.

 

[Golden]

Correct and the ASMedia drivers sound more reliable (assuming its a driver issue) - the Etron ones are a real pain in the bum. Luckily my older Gigabyte board uses the NEC drivers.........so no problems so far.

Hopefully a BIOS/driver update might fix the issue.

regards,
Golden

 

[BarryBGB]

Are the NEC drivers USB 3.0?

So far I have had good luck with the ASMedia drivers. I haven't tried an external HD enclosure as yet but have used a low cost USB 3 to SATA device to run any external drive and it works just fine. Just a bit sloppy looking and really only for temporary usage.
I am looking for a real enclosure but will definetely will stay away from the WD Mybook after all the negative reviews I have read.

 

[Golden]

Yep, NEC drivers are USB3.0

GIGABYTE - Motherboard - Socket 1156 - GA-P55A-UD3R (rev. 1.0)

I have a 500GB My Passport 0740 USB3 external HDD and it just works like a charm - absolutely no problems whatsoever.

 

[BarryBGB]

Golden, you might be one of the lucky ones that has just the right hardware and drivers.

For JRSTOKES,

I just saw a Amazon review with some partial fixes for problems with USB 3.0 hubs.
Amazon.com: testmaster's review of D-Link 4-Port SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Hub (DUB-...

The fellow goes into several details of things to try.

 

[jrstokes]

This might be a very dumb question, but are you sure you are using a USB 3 cable?

Just a thought because a friend of mine thought he could just use a standard USB 2 cable and of course he could but did not get any 3.0 speeds.

Also, not all USB 3.0 cables are the same. I have 2 that don't work very well at all and others that do just fine.

Have you tried a USB 3.0 flash drive in the ports?

BarryBGB, I did in fact make sure that the cable was both what it should be and that it was not damaged or loose. I am a certified PC Technician and would not make the rookie mistake of buying a 2.0 ONLY hard drive. I verified that the hard drives were USB 3.0 CERTIFIED. I even called both companies who manufactured the hard drives and verified through them that it should work.

This MOBO does use the ASMedia Drivers but I doubt this is the cause of the problem. I tried installing the drivers both from the CD and from the ASUS web site; still had the same problem. I have not tried a USB 3.0 flash drive but that is a great idea. I will definitely look into that. Thank you for the suggestion. If this still fails to give me any insight as to what could be going on, I am going to purchase a 9 series AMD MOBO and RMA this 880G MOBO.

 

[BarryBGB]

Yeah, I thought that sounded kinda dumb.

Back in March I purchased a USB 3 to Sata 3 adapter and it is great. Even when I use it in a USB 2 port it is still faster than my other USB 2 to Sata 2 adapters and docking stations. Even works with my 3TB drives.
Newegg.com - VANTEC CB-SATAU3-6 NexStar SATA 6Gbps to USB 3.0 Adapter - 2.5"/3.5"/5.25"/SSDs

I have 2 external enclosures that are way to slow for my tastes and never use them anymore. They are both USB2 with Sata 2 internal interface.

I found a USB 3 to Sata 3 enclosure that is out of stock at the moment and may get that one to use with my Sata 3 2TB drive when I can find it. Unfortunately, it only supports up to 2TB but should work with my other drives.
Newegg.com - StarTech SAT3510BU3 Aluminum / Plastic 3.5" BlackSuperSpeed USB 3.0 SATA Hard Drive Enclosure w/ Fan

I prefer to choose my own drive for the enclosure so I know what is going into it.

You should be able to find a good USB 3 flash drive. I have a couple that were pretty low in price. ie. $20 for a 16GB. I think they are cheaper now.

 

[jrstokes]

Honestly, I think I'm just gonna go with a RAID setup. It's faster, more efficient and I won't even notice if one of the hard drives falters. Besides, externals take up desk space and I don't have very much of that at the moment. Thanks to all for their help on this matter. If anyone else has experience with this problem, please step forward with any info you may have. Thanks...

 

[smarteyeball]

Golden, you might be one of the lucky ones that has just the right hardware and drivers.

I've got an Asus board and a laptop which both use NEC USB 3.0 - no problems with my USB 3.0 devices.

I don't have any ASMedia chipset based hubs so I can't comment on their reliability.

Honestly, I think I'm just gonna go with a RAID setup. It's faster, more efficient and I won't even notice if one of the hard drives falters.

That's a decent temporary work around.


Unfortunately all signs do indeed tend to point towards a faulty hub.

I presume you've already enabled/checked the USB 3.0 controller setting in the BIOS?

 

[jrstokes]

Honestly, I think I'm just gonna go with a RAID setup. It's faster, more efficient and I won't even notice if one of the hard drives falters.

That's a decent temporary work around.


Unfortunately all signs do indeed tend to point towards a faulty hub.

I presume you've already enabled/checked the USB 3.0 controller setting in the BIOS?

Yea, I've checked everything in the BIOS and it's all normal. I even reset to default just in case then went through it all again just to see if anything was changed. I noticed a tweak that had to be made with a VGA setting but nothing else. All the USB related settings were good to go. All set to Auto, On, Hi-Speed, etc.

 

[smarteyeball]

If the hubs showing up in device manager, the drivers install fine, both HDD's work in USB 2.0 and it's only crashing when transferring data via the USB 3.0 - it really does sound like the hub is foobared.

If it were just drivers, then pretty much all Asmedia chipset users would be having similar issues.

As much of a pita it is, I'd RMA the thing.

 

[jrstokes]

If the hubs showing up in device manager, the drivers install fine, both HDD's work in USB 2.0 and it's only crashing when transferring data via the USB 3.0 - it really does sound like the hub is foobared.

If it were just drivers, then pretty much all Asmedia chipset users would be having similar issues.

As much of a pita it is, I'd RMA the thing.

Oh I already called ASUS and they gave me a huge run-around about RMAing the thing. I swear, if their techs were any more incompetent they wouldn't even be able to take your name and serial number. The guy on the phone at first had no idea what a USB 3.0 external hard drive was. It was like he never heard of anything like it before. At first he was confused asking me if the Sata cable was connected to my motherboard and I was like, Oh my god, just shoot me now.

Tech support is always a LAST LAST resort for me and I hate RMAing things but, when I upgrade to a nine series board that has more PCI 1x slots and USB 3.0 ports that WORK I'll be happy. Hopefully they won't send me back the board with a letter that says it works just fine.

 

[smarteyeball]

Oh I already called ASUS and they gave me a huge run-around about RMAing the thing. I swear, if their techs were any more incompetent they wouldn't even be able to take your name and serial number. The guy on the phone at first had no idea what a USB 3.0 external hard drive was. It was like he never heard of anything like it before. At first he was confused asking me if the Sata cable was connected to my motherboard and I was like, Oh my god, just shoot me now.

lol, I feel your pain mate. Been there, tore hair out...

Hopefully they won't send me back the board with a letter that says it works just fine.

Ditto. I hate RMAing as well. Any chance of initiating the RMA through the place of purchase instead of dealing with Asus directly?

As for the 'no fault found' - that is always a worry. Unfortunately that part is out of your hands. (That's if they even bother to test the board).

 

[jrstokes]

Oh I already called ASUS and they gave me a huge run-around about RMAing the thing. I swear, if their techs were any more incompetent they wouldn't even be able to take your name and serial number. The guy on the phone at first had no idea what a USB 3.0 external hard drive was. It was like he never heard of anything like it before. At first he was confused asking me if the Sata cable was connected to my motherboard and I was like, Oh my god, just shoot me now.

lol, I feel your pain mate. Been there, tore hair out...

Hopefully they won't send me back the board with a letter that says it works just fine.

Ditto. I hate RMAing as well. Any chance of initiating the RMA through the place of purchase instead of dealing with Asus directly?

As for the 'no fault found' - that is always a worry. Unfortunately that part is out of your hands. (That's if they even bother to test the board).

Yea, I'll never get MOBO without an extended warranty from the seller. Computer parts are just too sensitive. I had a 30-Day money back on it from NewEgg but other than that there is no other coverage other than what the manufacturer gives you. That'll teach me to not test everything I guess. Although, external HDDs are expensive and I couldn't really get one within the 30 days just to test it. It can always serve as a spare though. USB 3.0 is really just a luxury anyway. RAID is where it's at when it comes to backing up/protecting data.

 

[smarteyeball]

30 day money back is a bit rough. Most, if not all our retailers have at least a one year warranty where they'll handle the RMA for you.

RAID is great for backups and USB 3.0 certainly is a luxury - and a convenient one if transferring across multiple machines. Provided it works...

You'll appreciate it more when you finally get a working board.