USB 3.0 Woes...

Darkst4r · 26 Sep 2011 at 17:25

I recently got a 1tb USB 3.0 external drive by Western digital to use with my Crosshair 4 board.

After loads of messing about I still cant get it to work though.

The problem is, it just wont seem to detect when I plug it in unless I do a system restart, and even then I cant read anything off of it ie films or music.

It detects instantly and works fine in the 2.0 port.

The drive is definitely certified 3.0 and so is my mobo.

I've tried uninstalling and re-installing the NEC 3.0 drivers from Asus website but still no change.

Any ideas how I can fix this problem ?

Thanks in advance.

pastymuncher · 26 Sep 2011 at 19:10

Is the USB 3.0 port enabled in the bios?

Darkst4r · 27 Sep 2011 at 16:21

Yeah, I checked it and it's enabled. Still no solution.

rajravat · 27 Sep 2011 at 16:23

Have you checked to see if there are any bios updates or any driver updates for the usb 3 controller?

Darkst4r · 27 Sep 2011 at 17:20

Yes, I've been to the ASUS website and downloaded the latest USB 3.0 Host controller and drivers (there were two sets of USB drivers) I downloaded and installed both.

Edit : Wa wa wee wah ! It seems to have started working. As I was writing this post I thought I'd plug the drive in for one last try and "bong bing" windows recognised me plugging it in and it shows up under my drive list.

I tried playing a Bluray file off it and it only blimmin' works

So far so good, I won't hold my breath for the restart though...But I'll post back if the drivers hold up and it continues to work.

Darkst4r · 27 Sep 2011 at 17:32

Gah I knew it was too good to be true

The drivers held up after the reboot, I even played a quick .avi file to test it further with no problem.

Then I went to transfer a file over from my C drive to the External USB3 drive and it started off great, transferred at around 130mbs, then froze half way...

I cancelled the transferred, it took around 5 minutes to perform the cancel. Then I tried another transfer and I got message saying the drive was no longer in my computer.

I re-booted, my system totally crashed on the exit screen and froze, I hit the reset button on my tower and when it booted up again the drive has now vanished from My Computer, even though it's plugged in.

USB 3.0 is garbage. I may as well stick to 2.0, at least it's reliable.

Darkst4r · 27 Sep 2011 at 17:41

Hmm, after a second re-boot it's showed up again. I tried transferring several small files which worked no problems. Then tried an album with no problem and eventually a film, which also worked.

No idea why it's so temperamental. Maybe I wasn't patient enough when I assumed the previous transfer had failed before cancelling.

I guess I'll just have to trial it out and see how it goes but it seems to be working, for now at least...

Surveyor · 27 Sep 2011 at 17:49

Maybe your external drive is the problem, not the controller.

Darkst4r · 27 Sep 2011 at 17:52

Hmm, could be. No way to test it though without buying an identical one. It was brand new and works fine in 2.0 ports so I reckon it's fairly unlikely to be the drive, although I suppose it's possible.

kae2 · 27 Sep 2011 at 18:00

Could it be a potential power draw issue?

Sorry, not a particularly specific reply, but I had issues with a USB H/D that used to randomly fail and I finally tracked it down to it only failing when a second USB H/D would spin up.

Just a thought.

Ziggy4 · 27 Sep 2011 at 21:31

This it seems is a very common issue. I have experienced this myself, to much annoyance, on several occassions and also others I know trying to access HDDs through USB 3.0. There is a quick fix that won't require a reboot but still some hoops to jump through. If the drive doesn't detect when plugged in, go to Device Manager and Scan for Hardware Changes. Then disconnect and reconnect the drive and it should be seen. Basically the fault of the crappy NEC USB 3.0 controllers. There are some firmware updates available on Station-Drivers which I have applied and seem to have significantly reduced the frequency of detection problems. I also applied the latest official drivers from the Intel d/l centre.