ASUS P9X79 PRO - USB 3.0 Issues

Report · Feb 26, 2013

Hello folks. Been searching for help on this issue for awhile, and just went through a long RMA process with ASUS only to find that the issue still exists.

Basic problem -- The USB 3.0 ports on the back of the motherboard will not work in with USB3.0 devices. They work just fine with USB 2.0 devices though. The USB 3.0 ports on the front of the PC work just fine. I'm running windows 7 64 bit.

The way the problem presents. I plugin my 2 Seagate 3TB external drives and after awhile they aren't recognized any more (this is after a fresh, up to date driver install and re-setting the bios). My Kingston USB 3.0 card reader also is not recognized. I have one unknown device in the device manager. If I plug the 2x 3TB backup drives into the USB 2.0 slots, everything works just fine. If I plug USB2.0 devices into the USB 3.0 plugs - those items work fine. This is the second MB to do this. It seems to me like it is a driver issue, but there are no other USB3.0 Drivers. I am using the latest drivers from ASUS, windows doesn't have any auto-installed drivers, and I also see 2 items in my startup list called USB3.0 monitors by Renesas Electronics Corporation.

Other settings I have played with: I disabled USB3.0 Legacy support in the BIOS. I also went into windows power settings and disabled USB Selective Suspend.

This sucks. I planned on using the two Seagate USB3.0 drives for exports and I cannot get them to work while plugged into the main USB3.0 ports on the back of the Motherboard. They are formatted in MBR, so not certain if that makes a difference. They work flawlessly plugged into USB2.0 ports.

Any help would be appreciated!

Report · Feb 27, 2013

It seems that USB 3.0 is blazingly fast, but still having teething problems. Or at least that has been the case for me, and I have tested using two different USB 3.0 devices (WD Passport and SSD in Orico sled) and two separate sustems (Gigabyte X79 system and HP workstation laptop).

My Gigabyte X79 motherboard too uses Renesas 3.0 for its USB 3.0 ports (rear only in my case) and I found newer firmware and drivers for Renesas that improved things vs. the latest and greatest f/w and drivers that Gigabyte put on their www site. I do say improved things - dramatically! They are still NOT perfect. For me, when I really tax the USB 3.0 in sustained transfers (file transfers or video editing) it craters; I don't remember the specific error messages, but I do recall both the PC and laptop needed a hard reboot to restore the USB working at all. VERY frustrating. At this point, I much prefer eSATA over USB 3.0.

Jim

Report · Feb 27, 2013

Thanks Jim, at least I know now that I'm not going nuts. I've tried just about everything. To reset things I have to either reboot several times, uninstall/reinstall all the drivers, or clear and reset the bios.

What really bothers me though is that neither ASUS or Seagate seems to acknowledge this. I've had the same type of issues as well - USB 3.0 working fine, then I overtax the drive and it just tanks, craters, gives the hell up. Unfun! This is my first experience with USB3.0 and I expected things to just work.

Going to look up the new Renesas drivers in case I don't already have them. Thanks for the tip.

Report · Feb 27, 2013

....I too had USB 3 problems with my asus laptop and fixed it.

Make sure first, it is not a Windows problem, as mine was.

Navigate to USB root hub i device mgr...under properties, make sure to uncheck box that allows Windows to tirn off devices. Then, download newest drivers for the USB 3 controller directly from the company....not Asus...good luck!!

Report · Feb 27, 2013

Thanks JFPhoton. That is something I didn't do, so I'll give it a shot.

I am a little confused now. The drivers are by ASMedia correct? But the USB3.0 monitor is by Reneasas???

Under Device Manager I see ASMedia XHCI Controller. The driver provider is ASMedia Technology Inc. So the drivers are by ASUS but in their driver install they've included the monitor software by Reneasas???

Report · Feb 27, 2013

....not sure what you mean by "monitor" software. Each USB 3 port should be using a specific driver, just for the USB 3 function alone. Mine was from "Fresco Logic" and ,coincidentally, it updated itself just yesterday through the Windows 7 update process. Asus may not be up to date on that USB 3 driver and you would need to go directly to the site of the company that makes the port for them.

I do know that USB 2 has separate drivers.....USB 3 has its own on each " USB 3 Root Hub"...check that it does.

Are you sure the other USB 3 ports ARE functioning to their fullest? My experience was, using an external USB 3 dock, I was only getting 105MB/sec. sustained read with a Corsair F120 SSD plugged in it.

Once I installed the new drivers I found at Fresco Logic for their USB 3 hub, the speed went to over 220MB/sec. !!!!....( I have SATA II on that laptop).

THEN, I was getting repeated instances of the USB 3 drive going offline....or, not showing up at boot. At first, I thought it was my cell phone interfering, ( which I had read about). However, I read further and discovered that my problem was common. The suggested remedy was to go into device manager to the USB 3 root hub, and under properties tab, UNCHECK that box which lets Windows shut off USB 3 devices whenever it wants.

Voila! That has solved the problem and it has not returned. I hope "Occum's Razor" applies in your case and the solution will be simple !! Good Luck !

Report · Mar 03, 2013

JEPhoton - do you have a link to the Renesas driver download? Having a hell of a time trying to find it on their site.

Tried everything other than updating those, and USB 3.0 lasted a day and then dropped offline again.

Thanks!

Report · Mar 04, 2013

Next step may be to focus onthe seagate USB 3 drivers for whatever enclosure they are in.Or, try a different USB 3 device in those ports. Make sure no cell phone is near the pc...have read radio signals can knock some USB3 devices offline.

Report · Mar 04, 2013

It's not the drives, I tried a USB3.0 card reader too.

There is definitely an issue between the hardware, drivers, and win64 bit. Can't find drivers anywhere other than on the ASUS site. Plan to call them to see if they know where to find new USB3.0 drivers.

Report · Mar 05, 2013

.....try this link : http://www.totalphase.com/support/kb/10060/ it has 2 links there....one for Renasas USB 3 firmware and one for newest driver for Renasas USB 3 "Host Controller"

In addition........ what is

the external enclosure that you have your Seagate drive,or, drives in......have you tested the performance with HD Tune Pro on the front USB3 ports?? Does that enclosure have any firmware ,or, drivers for USB 3 that are available ???

Report · Mar 05, 2013

Thank you for the links to those drivers. Will give that a shot.

The external drives are the Seagate 3TB USB 3.0 Expansion Drives:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822178117

I believe their firmware is internal and cannot be updated.

The drives alone are not failing -- all the rear USB 3.0 Ports just give up. The other item I have

tested simultaneously is the Kingston USB 3.0 card reader. When the USB 3.0 fails and the drives

kick offline, the card reader also does not function. So I do not believe the drives are the problem.

What I've done now is plug all USB 3.0 hardware into USB2.0 ports, and everything works flawlessly.

I've plugged USB2.0 hardware into the USB 3.0 ports and that hardware works fine there too. So

essentially I now only have USB 2.0 capabilities on the rear MB ports.

I do not own HD TunePro software, but it looks like there is a free trial.

Anthony

Report · Mar 05, 2013

Tony,

The reason I got excited about USB3, is that it offers an external speed of over 220MB/sec. when using a SATA II SSD, or better. I use mine in a cheap USB3 dock, ( $29), and get that speed. Those Seagates you have are a single 7,200 rpm HDD in an enclosure....which has some type of circuit in it....in addition to the HDD. Use the free HD Tune Pro to test the read speed with each drive connected to the "good USB 3 ports" on the front. The most you can expect would be 150 to 130 Mbytes?sec. read speed.......use 2 MB block size in the settings for the test. If you are getting 40MB/sec. read speed......then the drive(s) is operating only at USB 2 speed. If the drives perform at USB3 speed...then you have PROVEN that something is wrong with the USB "Host Controller" or "Mass StorageDevice Drivers,( or, even firmware) for those rear ports.. Again, Windows MUST be ruled out first by unchecking that box I mentioned before....anywhere it appears relative to USB 3 in device manager...uncheck them ALL. Finally, the new Egg site ad for your Seagates says, "....has own internal power management..." that raises a red flag concerning whether or not the enclosure is triggering that Windows feature that shuts off "unused " USB devices whever it feels like it!.

There seems to be a lot of negative reviews concerning your Seagates on New Egg. I know that top contributor on this forum, Harm Millard, at one time actually had 100% of ALL his Seagate HDDs FAIL !!! The combo dock I use handles 3.5" AND 2.5" drives....I just plugem in and out like cartridges!!!...very convenient! If I need a fast drive for previews and media cache...in goes the SSD.....if I need a backup...in goes the 3.5" 7,200 rpm drive. Of course, I am talking about a laptop with this setup.

Keep Googling if nothing works......usually, it is something simple...not usually BIOS or Hardware related...usually,some outdated,or, faulty driver somewhere.......or, a stupid Windows issue !!

Report · Mar 06, 2013

Hi Tony,

The latest drivers for your motherboard can be found here:

http://www.asus.com/Motherboard/P9X79_PRO/#support_Download_30

I would suggest that you go through and download all the latest drivers and install them. This is a good idea anyway. Prior to this though, go in and create a restore point manually.

a big problem with Windows has always been how it installs and more importantly updates it because a lot of the time it leaves orphaned files around, doesn't update every file as it should and the whole thing with the registry is a bad idea but PC user's are stuck with it.

I've got a lot of PC tech experience, used to build them for 10 years and was involved with them from early 80's, remember DOS? There are a number of things we can try but its awkward on a forum. I'd be more than happy to talk you through stuff and try and get this resolved, unless the sockets are faulty. Can u pm me and I will give you Contact details

Report · Mar 06, 2013

also a point on the Seagate Expansion 3TB USB 3.0 Black Desktop HDD's. What manufacturers' tend to do with these caddies is put what are known as green or Eco drives in them. They tend to perform very poorly in comparison to a normal drive.

This is just a suggestion and in no circumstances do NOT do it if those drives are still under warranty or if you are not confident doing it. But I would by a NAS bay with 4 slots. also with RAID support if u can. USB 3.0 is still oretty expensive. they are about £500+ here in UK for a decent one. USB 2.0 will be cheaper and some even have e-SATA which your mobo does. But the USB 2.0 gives you around 30-45 MB/s.

Then I would remove the drives from those cases. There are several steps but they are pretty easy. Interestingly I couldn't find any info on the speed and size of cache. But this will be available from the drive itself. I did this with two Western Digital drives and fitted them into a bay. It means you can have 4 drives but they are all sharing that one connection.

One thing I did learn is that if you check page 10 of your manual for the P9X79 PRO, it says there are - 4 x USB 3.0/2.0 ports at back panel with 1 x additional VIA SuperSpeed USB hub controller (blue). It isn't really clear looking from the pics in manual which this is but I would retest the drive and try it in each of the Blue USB3.0 hubs until u find the Superspeed one because your drives specifically need that kind of port to work and there is only one of them. the drives should be compatible in a USB 2.0 but you didn't buy em for slow data transfer.

also did you use the Drive Unlocker utility (on the motherboard disk) for drives 3TB or larger this is necessary.

Report · Mar 07, 2013

All my drivers were up to date. ASUS issued a new bios, but I have the one just prior installed and the new one doesn't address anything USB3.0 related.

If I were to remove the drives from their cases, I'd just plug them in internally. They're just for storage and video project exports. I also keep the MYDocuments windows folder on them. I was thinking that may be upsetting things as well in USB 3.0 mode.

I didn't need to use the disk unlocker tool, as the drives initialized / formatted normally and were recognized. I read it was necessary in the past, but I think that issue has since been overcome.

Thanks. Will PM you.

Report · Mar 08, 2013

OK. I wouldn't suggest updating BIOS unless there is something seriously wrong with your system. It's much more reliable than it used to be but things can still go wrong and that voids the warranty.

Right, you wouldn't gain anything from taking the drives out. Although, they can sometimes perform better. I can't comment personally on Seagate but I have two WD Caviar Green which were external. I took them out and plugged them into my existing NAS case. Which,even though it is USB 2.0, speeded them up to what they should work at. The drive controllers can be an issue. Green drives aren't recommended over normal drives but I didn't want to bin 2 relatively new 2 TB drives because of a slight performance hit. They are for storage only. I had a bad experience where my mobo failed and took out 3 drives. Fortunately, I am slightly paranoid after working with computer's for so long and had fairly recent backups. Only lost a small amount of data.

I haven't installed Windows for sometime. But at least you have ruled that one out.

Just so we are on the same page, can you post your system spec so I have an idea of your other components.

Sent you pm tony. Hear from you later.

Thanks

Debbie

Report · Mar 08, 2013

Failure during updating the bios does not void the warranty. The most you have to pay for is a new bios chip or recovery. Most of the time the Bios recovery works at the end user location and you dont require RMA of the board.

Eric

ADK

Report · Mar 08, 2013

In most cases it does work and it is a lot more reliable but I have a couple of friends who it failed on and in both cases they had to pay full cost of board plus shipping. Swapping chips off boards is not seen as cost effective and rightly or wrongly its the consumer who has to foot the bill.

Report · Mar 08, 2013

Thanks everyone for all the help. GraphiteGal, I received your pm's -- yes, I am in NYC here in the states.

Called ASUS today, and they ran me through the same stuff. My biggest question to them was - do you know where to get the ASMEDIA drivers directly. They were puzzled at first and then found me this link: http://www.station-drivers.com/page/asmedia.htm

It's not even on the official ASMEDIA site, which is impossible to navigate anyway.

So ASUS told me that their most current driver for my MB was 5-6 revisions older than the one available above. I installed that and right now, the drives seem to be working in USB 3.0. I also updated the renesas driver not from the link from above, but from the same station-drivers website. Ther version found here is slightly newer: http://www.station-drivers.com/page/renesas.htm

My Read/Write speeds on the 3TB drives are now 173/163 MB/s on one drive and 181/176 MB/s on the second drive while plugged into 2 of the 4 rear ports as per the HD Tune Pro file benchmark test.

My card reader seems relatively slow reading a class 10 16GB SD card at around 20 MB/s. Still not convinced this is proper.

We'll see if this lasts. It feels like they're solid now because the drives were subjected to multiple tests and manual file transfers without crashing.

These are all the steps I took in case some other poor soul runs into this:

Disable Legacy USB 3.0 Support in BIOS

Disable USB 3.0 Selective Suspend in Windows Power Settings

Update Asmedia driver manually (link above)

Update Renesas driver manually (link above)

In device manager for everything USB 3.0 - uncheck -- "Allow computer to turn this device off to save power"

-- Also important to note is that the ASUS USB 3.0 Turbo feature no longer recognizes the USB 3.0 drives, so it can no longer be enabled as far as I can tell. I am one bios version behind, but that should not matter in this case.

Report · Mar 09, 2013

tonylives wrote:
My card reader seems relatively slow reading a class 10 16GB SD card at around 20 MB/s. Still not convinced this is proper.

Actually, that is proper. You see, SD(HC) cards that are not UHS are artificially restricted to 20 MB/s maximum by the SD Card Association. It has nothing to do with the card reader (unless the card reader itself is slower than the reference 20 MB/s). An SD card that supports UHS is required to see even read speeds surpass 20 MB/s (with a reader that supports UHS).

Report · Mar 09, 2013

Ah, thanks - I thought it may be my dated cards. Folks are reporting crazy high read/write speeds on newegg and amazon. Probably with higher spec'd cards then. Great! Then for now it appears that I have USB 3.0 working. For now.......

Report · Mar 09, 2013

Hi Tony,

I'm pleased you have been able to sort this out. the annoying thing is the approach most companies now take. You shouldn't need to chase them up, the correct up to date drivers should be on their site. sadly this isn't the case and I don't know about you but I don't think spending close to £270 is small change.

It seems to be the case that if you happen to be "lucky" and get a good board all well and good, if not hard lines. You spend your time trying to resolve issues like this.

Hope you get on ok.

From Debbie Ford

Report · Mar 09, 2013

Agreed, this is bad support for their own products. I was even more surprised when ASUS couldn't send me to the actual manufacturer's (Asmedia) website and instead sent me to a 3rd party site that is actually a little spammy with their pop-ups.

This is the most expensive PC I've ever built, so I expected everything to be premium regarding quality and support, especially the MB. I guess I didn't spend enough money. Next time I'll try an Intel MB for $1000 and see if that goes smoothly....

Report · Mar 09, 2013

Yes, It is. But you do waste so much time unnecessarily with PC's because even if you research products, get all components that supposedly play nice together - things still go awry. and getting these companies to recognise and acknowledge an issue, is like, well "Ah yes Reapers". sorry, big fan.

Report · Mar 11, 2013

If your Friends had to pay for the boards then they did not ask for the right options which there is a specific number to call for bios chip replacement or did not report the right information. If you do either one correctly then you dont have to buy a new board. Believe me, we have RMA'ed boards for years and dealt with this situation as well. However the bios recovery normally works now most of the time so this is nor really a concern.

Eric

ADK