The USB 3 stack is unstable in Windows 8.1 and Windows 8. I was hoping the upgrade to Windows 8.1 would improve the stability but no.

On two different motherboard systems I have had the same experience with 64 bit Windows 8 Pro and Windows 8.1 Pro compatibility with various USB 3.0 devices and hubs including:

An AFT PRO-57U front panel card-reader/hub, various Anker, Syba multiport hubs, and these are just a few I have tried, there are many more.

Symptoms are the same.

For example: the AFT PRO-57U slots are enumerated correctly as drive letters in Windows 8.1.

Then the drives (the PRO-57U slots) disappear, then reappear, then disappear, and reappear and so on. This happens consistently and the cycle time to disappear/reappear varies from 10 seconds to 10 minutes.

The Windows Device Manager shows the devices appearing and disappearing as enumerated devices. I have tried many trial and error methods to solve this, uninstalling and reinstalling USB motherboard drivers, different cables to the AFT PRO-57U device different USB 3 ports for the devices and many more...

One of the hubs I bought specifically because it has the latest chip and firmware: Anker USB 3.0 9-Port Hub + 5V 2.1A Smart Charging Port with 12V 5A Power Adapter [VIA VL812-B2 Chipset and updated Firmware 9081] This hub FAILs to enumerate some external HDDs and other devices.

To troubleshoot I have tried many things:

• I have disabled Windows Power Options, USB Selective Suspend.
• I have disabled power options for each and every USB device in Windows Device Manager
• I have uninstalled the Asus AI Suite 3 software and the issues remain.
• I have tried BIOS settings for Legacy USB devices on and off and the issues remain.
• I have tried BIOS setting for xHCI Mode - Auto, Smart Auto, On, Disabled
• I have updated to the latest Intel chipset drivers 9.4.0.1026
• I have all the latest BIOS, drivers, firmware, devices, - anything that is involved with the USB 3 stack.
• Etc. etc. etc...

I have contacted Asus, Gigabyte Intel, AFT, Anker Syba, etc. and they are all finger pointing.

I have tried so many trial and error methods to solve the problem and I have run out of ideas.

It is clearly an unstable USB 3 stack and I am not sure who is responsible although I suspect Intel chipset drivers. 

USB 2 is fine BTW. All devices work correctly when plugged into USB 2 ports.

From what I can tell, the entire USB 3 environment is a problematic P.O.S.

If anyone has any ideas I am willing to try anything I have not already tried.

Thanks,

Michael Downs

P.S.  Here is my system information. I have all the latest BIOS, updates, drivers and etc. for all devices.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

• ASUS Maximus VI Formula w/ BIOS 1002
• Intel Core i7-4770K  BX80646I74770K      
• G.Skill Trident X 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400 Model F3-2400C10D-16GTX
• Samsung 840 Pro 256GB  SSD Seagate Constellation CS ST3000NC002 3TB 7200 RPM 64MB
• EVGA GeForce GTX 760 ACX 2GB 256-bit GDDR5  
• Corsair Carbide Series 330R Mid-tower Case
• Corsair RM850 850W 80 Plus GOLD Certified
• Cooler Master Seidon 240M - Liquid CPU Water Cooler
• Pioneer 15X BD-R SATA Blu-ray Burner BDR-2208
• AFT PRO-57U All-in-one USB 3.0 5.25" Media Card Reader

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Then there is a similar system with the exact same USB 3 issues:

Gigabyte - GA-Z77X-UP4TH

Intel i7 3770K

try this:

Help! After installing Windows 8.1, my USB device doesn't charge or it disconnects and reconnects frequently
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2013/11/08/help-after-installing-windows-8-1-my-usb-device-doesn-t-charge-or-it-disconnects-and-reconnects-frequently.aspx

and this:

Help! After installing Windows 8.1, my USB drive disappears or file transfers stop unexpectedly
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2013/11/01/help-after-installing-windows-8-1-my-usb-drive-disappears-or-file-transfers-stop-unexpectedly-r-a-post-title.aspx

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

• Edited by Win7ine 13 hours 41 minutes ago

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

• Edited by Win7ine Sunday, November 17, 2013 10:12 PM

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

• Edited by Win7ine Sunday, November 17, 2013 10:12 PM

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

• Edited by Win7ine Sunday, November 17, 2013 10:12 PM

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

• Edited by Win7ine Sunday, November 17, 2013 10:12 PM

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

• Edited by Win7ine Sunday, November 17, 2013 10:12 PM

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

• Edited by Win7ine Sunday, November 17, 2013 10:12 PM

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

• Edited by Win7ine Sunday, November 17, 2013 10:12 PM

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

• Edited by Win7ine Sunday, November 17, 2013 10:12 PM

try this:

Help! After installing Windows 8.1, my USB device doesn't charge or it disconnects and reconnects frequently
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2013/11/08/help-after-installing-windows-8-1-my-usb-device-doesn-t-charge-or-it-disconnects-and-reconnects-frequently.aspx

Help! After installing Windows 8.1, my USB drive disappears or file transfers stop unexpectedly
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2013/11/01/help-after-installing-windows-8-1-my-usb-drive-disappears-or-file-transfers-stop-unexpectedly-r-a-post-title.as

If your USB3.0 ports are Intel Chipset based you may want to modify, switch driver signing off in Windows 8(1) and install the Intel USB3.0 eXtensible Host controller drivers for Windows 7.

This will resolve all of your USB3.0 headaches in windows 8(1) as it has for many.

Hi,

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately I have not been able to find a way to install the drivers. I have disabled driver signing and attempted both through the setup.exe included in the download and manually through Windows Device Manager - both methods fail. If it worked, this would seem to be a system level solution.

I am open to suggestion.

Michael

You need to modify the inf's to be able to install the Windows 7 drivers as described here (and in many other places).Once you modify the original inf's there is a need to turn off driver signing.

Here a link to some instructions as to how to modify the inf's as there are new drivers and the inf's published may not be up to date.

• Edited by Win7ine Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:09 PM

You need to modify the inf's to be able to install the Windows 7 drivers as described here (and in many other places).Once you modify the original inf's there is a need to turn off driver signing.

Here a link to some instructions as to how to modify the inf's as there are new drivers and the inf's published may not be up to date.

• Edited by Win7ine Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:09 PM

You need to modify the inf's to be able to install the Windows 7 drivers as described here (and in many other places).Once you modify the original inf's there is a need to turn off driver signing.

Here a link to some instructions as to how to modify the inf's as there are new drivers and the inf's published may not be up to date.

• Edited by Win7ine Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:09 PM

You need to modify the inf's to be able to install the Windows 7 drivers as described here (and in many other places).Once you modify the original inf's there is a need to turn off driver signing.

Here a link to some instructions as to how to modify the inf's as there are new drivers and the inf's published may not be up to date.

• Edited by Win7ine Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:09 PM

You need to modify the inf's to be able to install the Windows 7 drivers as described here (and in many other places).Once you modify the original inf's there is a need to turn off driver signing.

Here a link to some instructions as to how to modify the inf's as there are new drivers and the inf's published may not be up to date.

• Edited by Win7ine Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:09 PM

You need to modify the inf's to be able to install the Windows 7 drivers as described here (and in many other places).Once you modify the original inf's there is a need to turn off driver signing.

Here a link to some instructions as to how to modify the inf's as there are new drivers and the inf's published may not be up to date.

• Edited by Win7ine Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:09 PM

You need to modify the inf's to be able to install the Windows 7 drivers as described here (and in many other places).Once you modify the original inf's there is a need to turn off driver signing.

Here a link to some instructions as to how to modify the inf's as there are new drivers and the inf's published may not be up to date.

• Edited by Win7ine Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:09 PM

You need to modify the inf's to be able to install the Windows 7 drivers as described here (and in many other places).Once you modify the original inf's there is a need to turn off driver signing.

Here a link to some instructions as to how to modify the inf's as there are new drivers and the inf's published may not be up to date.

• Edited by Win7ine Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:09 PM

reply to the Blog, the MS employees try to figure out the c

You need to modify the inf's to be able to install the Windows 7 drivers as described here (and in many other places).Once you modify the original inf's there is a need to turn off driver signing.

Here a link to some instructions as to how to modify the inf's as there are new drivers and the inf's published may not be up to date.

Thanks for the reply and links. I did not come across these in my many online searches.

I did indeed download the latest drivers directly from Intel and modified the INFs very carefully and disabled driver signing. The drivers did install but then after reboot, I lost connectivity to ALL usb ports. Had to restore from a drive image after booting from an optical drive.

So... I am still stuck with an unstable USB 3 stack in Windows 8 and 8.1

I will keep trying and trying.

Michael

How strange ... also not sure why you had to restore the entire machine from an image as you could have just removed the drivers in Device Manager and Windows would have reinstalled the default Microsoft drivers.

... And you don't have any usb2 ports on those machines which are usually used for keyboard and mouse?

The drivers you were trying to install are for USB 3.0 only!

All USB ports went out. So I did an image restore.

If have tried a few more things in my process of elimination to fix the USB 3 stack instability, including some new hubs. No solution yet.

At this point it seems I will have to wait for a fix from an unknown source. A new BIOS, driver or something.

I am having the same issues in Server 2012 R2 Essentials it is driving me nutz and there doesn't seem to be any solution. My computer does have a new BIOS version that came out in the beginning of the month but I haven't gotten around to installing it yet.

Hello,

I have a same experience like you. I tried many things but I didn't solve this problem, which is very, very irritating.

Specially when you watch some movie, disk lost connection and stop a player, after that you have to stop player and restart. I can't understand how Intel or MS didn't solve this great bug in the last big (700 Mb) update of Win8.1 (April 2014).

It's a shame that they support several years old USB 3.0 standard in such bad way.

In the and of my agony with USB 3.0 disks (Transcend 1 Tb and WD 750 Gb) my Synaptics touch pad stop to work. I am sorry because I can't help you with some good suggestion. I try to find too.

I wish you (we all need it with win8.1) good luck. 

Hi All,

I'm having similar issues with my desktop machine, recently upgraded to Win8.1 with all updates applied.

I have a number of USB devices, including a webcam and scanner, that when plugged in cause BSOD. The devices in question have downloadable Win8.1 drivers however these do not resolve the issue.

The behaviour is that when the device is plugged in, it works correctly for about 10 seconds then BSOD. The devices that cause the problem are USB-powered but I can't say if that is the determining factor. I have a number of externally-powered USB devices that are stable and working correctly.

The setup is ASUS P6T motherboard, Core i7 920, 12GB RAM.

Ed.

Hi Ed,

USB-powered it's not determining factor. I don't have a problems with USB 2.0 Disks and USB 3.0 stick. Only with USB 3.0 HD. But, BSOD is a little heavier issue, which I didn't have. You have to check a drivers, reinstall it.Try to run from command prompt sfc /checknow, and wait to the end of process. After that open CBS.log file and check a error states if you have alert in the end of sfc checksum.

Worm regards,

Pedja.   

Any solution yet? I've had this problem ever since upgrading to Windows 8.1. (USB 2.0 works fine, USB powers up my hard drive but doesn't recognize) Like you have tried absolutely everything.

I managed to fix it a month ago by simply uninstalling all the USB drivers and surprisingly fixed it.

But happened again mid last week. I've spent quite a few hours the past few days searching for an answer but nothing! 

Incredibly poor effort!

There was some talk at my local BestBuy Geek Squad support center that many customers reported this and other hardware not working correctly, including touchpad and video drivers. They said you have to do a clean Windows 8.1 install instead of the upgrade/update from 8 to 8.1.

But, before you are able to do a clean install I'd try downloading the DriverPack Solution DVD program from the drp.su site as a last choice for "3rd-party updated drivers" that might work, and disable Driver Signature Enforcement prior to installing/upgrading the USB drivers. You can also extract the DVD program with a utility like 7zip, instead of just burning it to DVD. But, this should be a last option as I usually advise against using 3rd party driver-updaters because of the issue of spyware and/or data-mining stuff that may get installed if you are not careful.

• Edited by JRM592 4 hours 55 minutes ago Alternative solution

Hello,

I have a same experience like you. I tried many things but I didn't solve this problem, which is very, very irritating.

Specially when you watch some movie, disk lost connection and stop a player, after that you have to stop player and restart. I can't understand how Intel or MS didn't solve this great bug in the last big (700 Mb) update of Win8.1 (April 2014).

It's a shame that they support several years old USB 3.0 standard in such bad way.

In the and of my agony with USB 3.0 disks (Transcend 1 Tb and WD 750 Gb) my Synaptics touch pad stop to work. I am sorry because I can't help you with some good suggestion. I try to find too.

I wish you (we all need it with win8.1) good luck. 

There was some talk at my local BestBuy Geek Squad support center that many customers reported this and other hardware not working correctly, including touchpad and video drivers. They said you have to do a clean Windows 8.1 install instead of the upgrade/update from 8 to 8.1.

But, before you are able to do a clean install I'd try downloading the DriverPack Solution DVD program from the drp.su site as a last choice for "3rd-party updated drivers" that might work, and disable Driver Signature Enforcement prior to installing/upgrading the USB drivers. You can also extract the DVD program with a utility like 7zip, instead of just burning it to DVD. But, this should be a last option as I usually advise against using 3rd party driver-updaters because of the issue of spyware and/or data-mining stuff that may get installed if you are not careful.

• Edited by JRM592 Sunday, May 25, 2014 5:50 AM Alternative solution

There was some talk at my local BestBuy Geek Squad support center that many customers reported this and other hardware not working correctly, including touchpad and video drivers. They said you have to do a clean Windows 8.1 install instead of the upgrade/update from 8 to 8.1.

But, before you are able to do a clean install I'd try downloading the DriverPack Solution DVD program from the drp.su site as a last choice for "3rd-party updated drivers" that might work, and disable Driver Signature Enforcement prior to installing/upgrading the USB drivers. You can also extract the DVD program with a utility like 7zip, instead of just burning it to DVD. But, this should be a last option as I usually advise against using 3rd party driver-updaters because of the issue of spyware and/or data-mining stuff that may get installed if you are not careful.

• Edited by JRM592 Sunday, May 25, 2014 5:50 AM Alternative solution

There was some talk at my local BestBuy Geek Squad support center that many customers reported this and other hardware not working correctly, including touchpad and video drivers. They said you have to do a clean Windows 8.1 install instead of the upgrade/update from 8 to 8.1.

But, before you are able to do a clean install I'd try downloading the DriverPack Solution DVD program from the drp.su site as a last choice for "3rd-party updated drivers" that might work, and disable Driver Signature Enforcement prior to installing/upgrading the USB drivers. You can also extract the DVD program with a utility like 7zip, instead of just burning it to DVD. But, this should be a last option as I usually advise against using 3rd party driver-updaters because of the issue of spyware and/or data-mining stuff that may get installed if you are not careful.

• Edited by JRM592 Sunday, May 25, 2014 5:50 AM Alternative solution

There was some talk at my local BestBuy Geek Squad support center that many customers reported this and other hardware not working correctly, including touchpad and video drivers. They said you have to do a clean Windows 8.1 install instead of the upgrade/update from 8 to 8.1.

But, before you are able to do a clean install I'd try downloading the DriverPack Solution DVD program from the drp.su site as a last choice for "3rd-party updated drivers" that might work, and disable Driver Signature Enforcement prior to installing/upgrading the USB drivers. You can also extract the DVD program with a utility like 7zip, instead of just burning it to DVD. But, this should be a last option as I usually advise against using 3rd party driver-updaters because of the issue of spyware and/or data-mining stuff that may get installed if you are not careful.

• Edited by JRM592 Sunday, May 25, 2014 5:50 AM Alternative solution

There was some talk at my local BestBuy Geek Squad support center that many customers reported this and other hardware not working correctly, including touchpad and video drivers. They said you have to do a clean Windows 8.1 install instead of the upgrade/update from 8 to 8.1.

But, before you are able to do a clean install I'd try downloading the DriverPack Solution DVD program from the drp.su site as a last choice for "3rd-party updated drivers" that might work, and disable Driver Signature Enforcement prior to installing/upgrading the USB drivers. You can also extract the DVD program with a utility like 7zip, instead of just burning it to DVD. But, this should be a last option as I usually advise against using 3rd party driver-updaters because of the issue of spyware and/or data-mining stuff that may get installed if you are not careful.

• Edited by JRM592 Sunday, May 25, 2014 5:50 AM Alternative solution

There was some talk at my local BestBuy Geek Squad support center that many customers reported this and other hardware not working correctly, including touchpad and video drivers. They said you have to do a clean Windows 8.1 install instead of the upgrade/update from 8 to 8.1.

But, before you are able to do a clean install I'd try downloading the DriverPack Solution DVD program from the drp.su site as a last choice for "3rd-party updated drivers" that might work, and disable Driver Signature Enforcement prior to installing/upgrading the USB drivers. You can also extract the DVD program with a utility like 7zip, instead of just burning it to DVD. But, this should be a last option as I usually advise against using 3rd party driver-updaters because of the issue of spyware and/or data-mining stuff that may get installed if you are not careful.

• Edited by JRM592 Sunday, May 25, 2014 5:50 AM Alternative solution

I solved problem with touchpad, I was guilty (I disable it).

But I still have problems with USB 3.0 disks.

Thanks JRM592.

I have similar problem. HP 17--CPU
    Intel Core i7 3630QM @ 2.40GHz    57 C
    Ivy Bridge 22nm Technology
RAM
    16.0GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 798MHz (10-10-10-28)
Motherboard
    Hewlett-Packard 181F (U3E1)
Graphics
    Generic PnP Monitor (1920x1080@60Hz)
    Intel HD Graphics 4000 (HP)
    2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M (HP)    45 C
Storage
    698GB Hitachi HTS7275 (RAID)
    8GB SAMSUNG MZMPC03 (RAID)
Optical Drives
    hp BD ROM BC-5550H

USB 3 ports just suddenly stopped working. They apparently have power--lights appear on thumb drives.

I've done all the disabling, unstalling, downloading new drivers etc.

What is your OS ahardcastle?

Is it Win 8.1 update 1 x64, or something else?

I have this problems only with external USB 3.0 HDD, not with USB 3.0 sticks or any disk in USB 2.0 standard.

I tried to solve this problem, communicated with MS technical support, and I did all they suggest me. But, I didn't succeeded to solve this problem. MS as I know didn't made any patch for this and how knows when will it does.

Only which we can do is to wait, maybe Win 9.0!

Good luck to all Win 8.1 users!

I just built a new system with an ASRock Z97 chipset board and a Haswell Celeron CPU.  I installed Windows 8.1 from April 2014 Update media and now I find that I can't use my trusty Iomega eGo portable HDD, a drive that has been used on many different systems (Windows 7, OS X) for the past two years without a single hitch on any them until now.  That linked MS blog post makes it sound like the problems they were specifically acknowledging were fixed in 8.1 April 2014 Update, so I don't know what to think.  I have Windows 8.1 Update on an older system at work with an SIIG USB3 PCIe add-in card and I don't recall any external HDD problems with either this Iomega drive or a different Seagate model I use.  Based on all of the research I've done so far, it appears that these problems are specific to Intel's USB3 implementation on Windows 8.x?

Hey, I hope this helps you out a bit... I have had the same issue on my Asus K55A notebook with Win8.1 Pro x64 from the beginning! Thru my extensive research I found something interesting and the possible cause to all this! What I found was that by design the xHCI Host Controller has virtual HS 2.0 Ports linked to the 3.0 Ports... Enabling compatibility with 2.0 devices ok... What happens is that the xHCI stack is unstable just like you say... The ONLY WAY I was able to fix the problem was by unlocking the UEFI/BIOS to allow me full access to USB Configurations... I had to disable 2 of the HS ports under the xHCI Controller since I have only 2x 3.0 ports... This allowed 3.0 devices to be enumerated correctly under the xHCI stack and 2.0 devices now were enumerated under the EHCI 2.0 stack... That's what worked in my case... I'm still digging around for more info about this issue because I find it so odd that no one discovered this when designing xHCI stacks and drivers at MS for Win8/8.1 x64... I hope I shed some light on this issue... Good luck and keep us posted!

Hey, I hope this helps you out a bit... I have had the same issue on my Asus K55A notebook with Win8.1 Pro x64 from the beginning! Thru my extensive research I found something interesting and the possible cause to all this! What I found was that by design the xHCI Host Controller has virtual HS 2.0 Ports linked to the 3.0 Ports... Enabling compatibility with 2.0 devices ok... What happens is that the xHCI stack is unstable just like you say... The ONLY WAY I was able to fix the problem was by unlocking the UEFI/BIOS to allow me full access to USB Configurations... I had to disable 2 of the HS ports under the xHCI Controller since I have only 2x 3.0 ports... This allowed 3.0 devices to be enumerated correctly under the xHCI stack and 2.0 devices now were enumerated under the EHCI 2.0 stack... That's what worked in my case... I'm still digging around for more info about this issue because I find it so odd that no one discovered this when designing xHCI stacks and drivers at MS for Win8/8.1 x64... I hope I shed some light on this issue... Good luck and keep us posted!

• Proposed as answer by roquen 16 hours 7 minutes ago

Hey, I hope this helps you out a bit... I have had the same issue on my Asus K55A notebook with Win8.1 Pro x64 from the beginning! Thru my extensive research I found something interesting and the possible cause to all this! What I found was that by design the xHCI Host Controller has virtual HS 2.0 Ports linked to the 3.0 Ports... Enabling compatibility with 2.0 devices ok... What happens is that the xHCI stack is unstable just like you say... The ONLY WAY I was able to fix the problem was by unlocking the UEFI/BIOS to allow me full access to USB Configurations... I had to disable 2 of the HS ports under the xHCI Controller since I have only 2x 3.0 ports... This allowed 3.0 devices to be enumerated correctly under the xHCI stack and 2.0 devices now were enumerated under the EHCI 2.0 stack... That's what worked in my case... I'm still digging around for more info about this issue because I find it so odd that no one discovered this when designing xHCI stacks and drivers at MS for Win8/8.1 x64... I hope I shed some light on this issue... Good luck and keep us posted!

• Proposed as answer by roquen Sunday, July 27, 2014 6:44 PM

Hey, I hope this helps you out a bit... I have had the same issue on my Asus K55A notebook with Win8.1 Pro x64 from the beginning! Thru my extensive research I found something interesting and the possible cause to all this! What I found was that by design the xHCI Host Controller has virtual HS 2.0 Ports linked to the 3.0 Ports... Enabling compatibility with 2.0 devices ok... What happens is that the xHCI stack is unstable just like you say... The ONLY WAY I was able to fix the problem was by unlocking the UEFI/BIOS to allow me full access to USB Configurations... I had to disable 2 of the HS ports under the xHCI Controller since I have only 2x 3.0 ports... This allowed 3.0 devices to be enumerated correctly under the xHCI stack and 2.0 devices now were enumerated under the EHCI 2.0 stack... That's what worked in my case... I'm still digging around for more info about this issue because I find it so odd that no one discovered this when designing xHCI stacks and drivers at MS for Win8/8.1 x64... I hope I shed some light on this issue... Good luck and keep us posted!

• Proposed as answer by roquen Sunday, July 27, 2014 6:44 PM

Hey, I hope this helps you out a bit... I have had the same issue on my Asus K55A notebook with Win8.1 Pro x64 from the beginning! Thru my extensive research I found something interesting and the possible cause to all this! What I found was that by design the xHCI Host Controller has virtual HS 2.0 Ports linked to the 3.0 Ports... Enabling compatibility with 2.0 devices ok... What happens is that the xHCI stack is unstable just like you say... The ONLY WAY I was able to fix the problem was by unlocking the UEFI/BIOS to allow me full access to USB Configurations... I had to disable 2 of the HS ports under the xHCI Controller since I have only 2x 3.0 ports... This allowed 3.0 devices to be enumerated correctly under the xHCI stack and 2.0 devices now were enumerated under the EHCI 2.0 stack... That's what worked in my case... I'm still digging around for more info about this issue because I find it so odd that no one discovered this when designing xHCI stacks and drivers at MS for Win8/8.1 x64... I hope I shed some light on this issue... Good luck and keep us posted!

Hi, Sebastian. I have the same problem but i'm getting crazy trying to solve it. Can you help me to unlock the UEFI to access full USB config? and give me some suggestions on how to solve the problem?

My mail is roquen(at)gamail(dot)com

Thanks in advance!

Hey, I hope this helps you out a bit... I have had the same issue on my Asus K55A notebook with Win8.1 Pro x64 from the beginning! Thru my extensive research I found something interesting and the possible cause to all this! What I found was that by design the xHCI Host Controller has virtual HS 2.0 Ports linked to the 3.0 Ports... Enabling compatibility with 2.0 devices ok... What happens is that the xHCI stack is unstable just like you say... The ONLY WAY I was able to fix the problem was by unlocking the UEFI/BIOS to allow me full access to USB Configurations... I had to disable 2 of the HS ports under the xHCI Controller since I have only 2x 3.0 ports... This allowed 3.0 devices to be enumerated correctly under the xHCI stack and 2.0 devices now were enumerated under the EHCI 2.0 stack... That's what worked in my case... I'm still digging around for more info about this issue because I find it so odd that no one discovered this when designing xHCI stacks and drivers at MS for Win8/8.1 x64... I hope I shed some light on this issue... Good luck and keep us posted!

Hi All,

Update on status - USB 3.0 instability is still an issue on my systems as described in the first message in this thread.

I have tried all such UEFI permutations and USB 3.0 is still a huge #USB3FAIL

Agreed.  In my particular case, the issue appears to be that the model of Iomega eGo portable HDD I have is running in UAS mode (USB Attached SCSI) and there doesn't appear to be any setting change that can make it work reliably.  Those blog posts linked above are specifically *not* for UAS, only for devices doing BOT (Bulk Only Transport).   I have yet to find any blog post about the fact that UAS is broken in Windows 8.x.

• Edited by PedjaK 22 hours 49 minutes ago

Update on status - USB 3.0 instability is still an issue on my systems as described in the first message in this thread.

Sounds like the problem that I had with my (powered) USB 2.0 hub and my Surface after an update early this year (otherwise I am sure I would have been aware of this thread before now.)  W8.1 decided that my hub was no longer a recognized device.  That took out everything that I had attached to it, including my wireless mouse and keyboard receiver (so that's why I have been reporting this incident in threads about no mouse and no keyboard.)  But my solution to that problem may be more general.  I used Device Manager to remove all USB hubs and controllers, then detached everything, powered off everything, rebooted still with nothing attached, waited for the OS to get ready and then started attaching things the way I wanted them.  That has worked, twice, for both Surface Pro and Surface RT.  Another thing I discovered is that incongruously my powered hub "device" was being allowed to turn off "to save power".  WTH?  I don't know if that contributed to my problem symptoms but that has been changed too.

FYI

• Edited by PedjaK Friday, December 12, 2014 1:01 PM

Hello,

I have one question about Update 3 for Win 8.1 x64 from Nov. 2014. Did it solve a problem with USB 3.0 external HDD. My new Transcend 2 Tb USB 3.0 work ok, but when I want to play films, or larger video clips they lost connectivity for 2s or 3s and after that continue to play (in some parts of the film). I feel like that I am in 1999. or 2000. with Pentium II. It's really disappointing.