cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Drivers & Software

aaraujo
Adept I

AMD X470 USB 3.1 Gen2 issues

I am using a StarTech.com USB312SAT3CB SATA III to USB 3.1 Gen2 (10 Mbps) adapter
https://www.startech.com/HDD/Adapter...e~USB312SAT3CB
with a Samsung SSD 850 PRO
https://www.samsung.com/semiconducto...nsumer/850pro/

The motherboards is an ASUS ROG STRIX X470-I GAMING. I am having issues getting one of the USB 3.1 red ports at the back to work with this SATA to USB 3.1 Gen2 adapter. One of the USB 3.1 red ports works perfectly fine. However the other USB 3.1 red port detects the device at USB 3.1, but the drive disappears a few seconds afterwards, and can never be used with this port. The operating system is Windows 10 64 bit. I have tried the same USB 3.1 port under Linux but the drive never appears. Again the other of the two USB 3.1 red ports works fine under Linux.

I am also having VERY VERY SLOW speed transfers between the same USB 3.1 red ports at the back, and a LG G6 smartphone. I am using an Anker USB-A to USB-C 3.1 Gen2 certified cable. The same SLOW speeds are observed while using the USB 3.0 ports at the front. I get normal speeds while using the blue USB 3.0 ports at the back. The cable is this one
https://www.anker.com/products/varia...e-3ft/A8465011

I already RMAed the motherboard twice. The first time I received the same motherboard after 2.5 months. Only to find that the same issues remained. The second time, after waiting another 3 months, I received a brand new motherboard. Same problem!

After searching the web I found this relevant information:

AMD "Zen" Processor Integrated Chipset Has USB 3.1 Issues, Could Escalate Costs | TechPowerUp 

Quote from this ASUS ROG Strix B450-I Gaming Motherboard review:

https://www.kitguru.net/components/m...ard-review/10/

USB 3.0 performance was as expected while USB 3.1 performance experienced numerous performance and compatibility issues similar to those we observed with the ASRock X470 Gaming-ITX/ac motherboard.

Effectively, there’s a bug where connected USB 3.1 devices disconnect during heavy and sustained loading. We experienced this bug using a USB 3.1 ASM1352R RAID box and ASM1351 USB 3.1 to SATA III device with the OCZ Trio 150 480GB SSD.

The only way we were able to complete an ATTO run from start to finish without interruption while using USB 3.1 was with the ASM1351 USB 3.1 to SATA III device and a Transcend SSD370S 512GB SSD.

Given the MSI B450 Tomahawk successfully completed USB 3.1 testing using the B450 chipset controller we can only assume this is a motherboard specific problem. It’s difficult to say which USB 3.1 component causes the problem, as it is unlikely to be the controller.

We expect this ASUS motherboard and the ASRock X470 Gaming-ITX/ac must have a similarity somewhere as both failed in similar ways when using USB 3.1, our best educated guess at this stage is that it is potentially a compatibility issue with USB 3.1 redriver chip.

Then I tried a different motherboard, this time an ASUS ROG STRIX X370-I GAMING. And this is what I found after comparing this one to the ASUS ROG STRIX X470-I GAMING:

ASUS ROG STRIX X370-I GAMING

Windows 10 with Microsoft USB 3.1 drivers -> Issues.
Windows 10 with AMD USB 3.1 drivers -> There are no issues!
Fedora Linux 29 -> Issues.

ASUS ROG STRIX X470-I GAMING

Windows 10 with Microsoft USB 3.1 drivers -> Issues.
Windows 10 with AMD USB 3.1 drivers -> Issues.
Fedora Linux 29 -> Issues.

This leads me to conclude that there is no proper device driver support for the USB Redriver chip which is needed to transmit the signal to the more distanced port. Only the ROG STRIX X370-I GAMING works under Windows 10 with the AMD 3.1 device drivers designed for Windows 7. None of the two boards works properly under Linux. AMD did not update the USB drivers for over than a year now.

When is AMD going to provide proper device drivers for their products? I already RMAed the motherboard twice. I also tried another couple of ASUS ROG STRIX X470-I GAMING motherboards which I purchased from amazon. Only to return them afterwards because none of them worked properly. Finally I came to the conclusion that the problem is most likely related to device drivers. So there is no point in sending the motherboards back to the manufacturer for repair.

13 Replies
cgscolin
Journeyman III

Hey!

I just wanted to reply to say I'm experiencing what I believe to be the same problem with a USB 3.1 gen 2 SSD using the USB 3.1 gen 2 front panel port on an ASUS PRIME X-470 PRO. I suspected a firmware issue but ended up sending the board in for an RMA and the replacement board has the same problem.

I feel like this hasn't been very widespread because a lot of people are not using gen 2 devices with these USB controllers yet but assuming it really is a firmware problem I'm hoping eventually someone responsible will pay attention.

I've sent another lengthy email to ASUS in the hopes that someone there might actually look into this more deeply but I'm not sure it's ASUS or it's AMD that ultimately needs to fix this.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us.

Looking at the ASUS PRIME X-470 PRO specifications web page, one can observe that the front panel USB 3.1 Gen2 header is provided by the X470 chipset. The same X470 chipset provides USB 3.1 gen2 ports on the ASUS STRIX X470-I GAMING.

My experiences with ASUS X370-I GAMING and the ASUS X470-I GAMING motherboards (see the first post above) suggest that there is no proper driver support for these devices through Microsoft Windows 10 nor Linux. AMD does not provide drivers for Windows 10. The ASUS X370-I GAMING works perfectly fine under Windows 10 with AMD drivers designed for Windows 7. At the moment there is no working solution for the X470 chipset.

I'm actually thinking it might be a firmware issue, not a driver issue, because it happens consistently on Linux and Windows and across different driver versions. I can't say for sure it isn't the drivers but that's my gut feeling at the moment.

0 Likes

The X370-I GAMING works with AMD USB 3.1 Drivers, but does not work properly with both Microsoft and Linux drivers. This fact suggests that neither Microsoft nor Linux drivers handle the device properly.  Both X370 and X470 chipsets need a USB redriver chip to transfer data across longer distances. This is the problem. The chip is there.

0 Likes
aaraujo
Adept I

I have e-mailed ASUS. ASUS said they are going to investigate these issues. I also submitted an online service request on AMD website. I am still waiting for AMD's response. Once I have more information, I intend to report here.

0 Likes

Any updates with this issue, right now I can't use the USB-C port of my ASUS ROG STRIX X470-I GAMING paired with a Ryzen 2700-X. I did all the suggested troubleshooting.

On the 11th April 2019 I received a message from an AMD employee. According to that message, they at AMD are going to attempt to reproduce this issue and investigate on their end. I did not receive any communication from AMD since then. We have to wait while they do their work.

0 Likes
ranmacanada
Adept I

Sorry for necroing this thread, but I joined the site just to comment on this very issue as I found it through duckduckgo.  I have an MSI X470 Gaming which is doing the exact same thing since day 1.  I am unable to share any of the USB ports with 2 hard drives, as one of them will constantly do the disconnect dance.  I have had to install a separate usb 3 card to have my computer usable.  Even the front ports are absolutely horrible as my range as been decreased for my wireless mouse and keyboard from 10+ feet, to no more than 3.  They must be in their own ports, as as soon as their is something in the ajoining port, whether it's the USB 2 or USB 3, one of them will do nothing but connect and disconnect.

This is a serious problem, and my system is basically useless as I can only use half the ports it comes with.

0 Likes
chamdgs
Journeyman III

Did anyone have any news from AMD or your motherboard vendors? I just got a MSI B450 Tomahawk and I'm having an issue with the USB 3.1 Gen2 USB-A port. When connecting an external drive (like an enclosure or external powered hard drive) on this port and turning on the computer, the PC fails to boot and sometimes it does not even POST. If I connect a USB Flash drive or a 802.11ac USB Wireless Adapter the issue does not happen, but during my session in Windows I will get the connect/disconnect dance intermittently on whatever is connected to this port. All my other ports are fine. Any input is appreciated and sorry for necroposting.

0 Likes

The only answer I got from MSI tech support was to send the board in for RMA and hope that they can fix it.  I said forget about that, and tossed the board and moved on.  Extremely upset, but MSI never did care about their customers.

0 Likes

Yes they told me the same, to RMA it but after seeing these reports I decided not to. In the end after heavily troubleshooting I found out that my issue was gone after reverting to BIOS V1.0, way before the release of Zen 2. If you still have the board and you're not using Zen2 I suggest you revert your BIOS back to whatever original BIOS it released with. I did not experience any problems with stability so far on my MSI B450 Tomahawk. Hope this helps.

0 Likes

ACtualyl I have exactly same issue, this never worked, and still not, so only way to get it work is back to 1.0 bios?

0 Likes

As per reddit, it appears AMD is FINALLY taking this seriously.  There is a massive post in the amd subreddit with AMD wanting more information about this bug that affects a "small number of users" haha.

0 Likes