Please suggest a motherboard with working USB 3.0 ports (at USB 3 speeds) for < £100

[holygamer]

As the title. I just bought the Gigabyte Z77-D3H for a new PC build but the USB 3.0 ports don't work at USB 3.0 speeds - The USB 3.0 hard drives are not even recognized at all. There's nothing wrong with the hard drives as I've used them on another PC with USB 2.0 ports fine.

I'll be using a core i7 2700K with the motherboard.

Problems and Troubleshooting with Gigabyte Z77-D3H Motherboard

My Freecom USB 3.0 hard drive (2TB) and Hitachi 3TB Touro USB 3.0 3.5" Desktop Hard Drive (3TB) have the following problems:

The drives don't appear when connected to any of the motherboard's USB 3.0 ports. I can sometimes hear the USB noise that signifies when you've made a connection. It goes on but the drive doesn't appear then several seconds later I hear the noise
again as if I disconnected it or like there's not enough power.

I also have a USB 3.0 card and the same thing happens with that as does a 2 port panel on the front of my case which came with my case.

All 4 USB 2.0 ports on my motherboard work with my USB 3.0 hard drives.

I also have a 4 port USB 2.0 front panel that came with my PC case. For my USB 3.0 Hard Drive's only the bottom right and bottom left port works.

Notes

I have Windows 7 64-bit with Service Pack 1

All ports on my PC are working when not connected to USB Hard Drives.

All the USB 3.0 motherboard ports work when connected to a USB 3.0 flash drive (I get around 90 MB/s transfer speed) which may suggest there may not be enough power going to the USB 3.0 ports for the USB hard drives. However in the front panel USB 3.0 slots, the flash drive only works on the left USB 3.0 slot and not in the right slot.

The USB 3.0 cables are only 1 metre long and came with my hard drives.

I've installed the Etron USB 3.0 Extensible Host Controller as well as the Intel one. I also installed the USB 3 stuff that came on another disc.

Both USB 3.0 Hard Drives work fine on my old PC when connected to USB 2.0 ports.

I tried disconnecting the USB 3.0 card and all the ports that came with my case but that made no difference.

I updated the motherboard from F16 to F18 but that made no difference.

This is the first time I've built a PC but I'm sure I connected everything and there's nothing to even connect in regard to the motherboard USB 3.0 ports as they're already a part of the motherboard!

[technodean]

I doubt your problem is the board, its more than likely to be the drive you are transferring to and from. i.e don't expect to get a transfer speed of 100mbs to a flash stick. Also personally im seeing between 60 and 110mbs transfer to a portable drive depending whether its photo's music or videos. If the drive you are copying from is only 70mbs then obviously that will be your max transfer speed.

[holygamer]

The USB 3.0 hard drives are not even recognized at all. Flash USB 3.0 hard drives work fine.

[Macadee]

Do they work in the D3H USB 2.0 ports ?

[holygamer]

Yes. I've updated my first post with all the info you may need. I think the motherboard is faulty so I'm looking for a different brand of motherboard with the same sort of features.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

What case did you get?? For all the front ports to work they need to be USB3.0 compatible.

Have you tried all of the rear USB3.0 ports?? Two of them are supplied via a Etron EJ168 controller and the others via the Z77 chipset.

Have you tried uninstalling drivers for the Etron EJ168 and seeing if the chipset supplied ports are fine?? The Gigabyte website also might have newer drivers than those on the disc:

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/pro...px?pid=4140#dl

[holygamer]

HAF 932 Advanced case. It has USB 3.0 ports on the front. I also have a USB 3.0 card and that doesn't work either. I've tried all the ports so uninstalling the Etron driver won't make a differnce as the Intel ports don't work either.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

HAF 932 Advanced case. It has USB 3.0 ports on the front. I also have a USB 3.0 card and that doesn't work either. I've tried all the ports so uninstalling the Etron driver won't make a differnce as the Intel ports don't work either.

Unless there is a conflict. If a separate USB3.0 card and two different controllers on the motherboard are not working it seems more like a software problem somewhere. Try using uninstalling the Etron drivers so you can only use the Intel chipset USB3.0 ports,then try each of the Etron drivers separately. In each case make sure the drivers for the other controllers are not installed.

I assume the 3.5" external has a separate power pack??

[holygamer]

Yes the drives have their own power supply.

I find it hard to believe that nobody here owns a motherboard with working USB 3.0 ports? If anyone here owns one, please tell me what board you use.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Yes the drives have their own power supply.

I find it hard to believe that nobody here owns a motherboard with working USB 3.0 ports? If anyone here owns one, please tell me what board you use.

People have had issues with the Etron USB3 controller:

http://forums.tweaktown.com/asrock/4...0-problem.html

http://www.sevenforums.com/drivers/2...s-anymore.html

http://forum.giga-byte.co.uk/index.php?topic=7120.0

This is why I told you try each controller separately by isolating it from the other and that way you will know if there is a conflict. I find it strange you have both controllers on the motherboard, and another controller on a separate card not working. Thats three separate controllers(two on the motherboard and another one on the card) which seem to not work.

[holygamer]

Not sure what the problem was but I formatted the hard drive and reinstalled Windows. I installed all the stuff on the motherboard CD and I installed the USB 3.0 stuff from the "Multiple Controller Driver CD". For my USB 3.0 hard drives, all motherboard USB 3.0 ports work at USB 3.0 speeds as does the USB 3 card.

However the USB 3.0 front panel that came with my HAF 932 Advanced case still doesn't work - nothing shows when plugged in. A USB 3.0 flash drives work but only when plugged into the left port. The right port doesn't work at all.

Where do you think the Multiple Controller Driver CD came from as I only see the motherboard driver disk listed in the box contents! It may have come with my USB 3.0 card which is strange as the drivers on that were required to get my USB 3.0 ports on my motherboard working yet it wasn't supplied with the motherboard!

[holygamer]

Now none of the USB 3.0 ports are working on the motherboard or Card and I haven't even installed anything that would cause that! Can someone please suggest a motherboard which has working USB 3.0 ports?