Alienware 14, 17, 18 - USB 2.0 & 3.0 devices not working

Sweet fix but mine are working just fine .

 

There's a newer driver from Intel but I haven't installed it yet nor do the release notes even seem to indicate what if anything is different.

 

I installed the new Intel Extensible 3.0 update on my new AW14 after I noticed I didnt have them and certain devices (External WDD Drives weren't working). When the machine rebooted, none of my devices are now recognized.(mouse, usb sticks, printer) nothing. I removed software and tried a few times. Even tried removing intel extensible all together and seeing if Windows 7 could install a generic driver and no luck.

I also edited all my power settings in device manager as suggested in the forum.

Not sure what to do now, nothing works.

I'm on newest BIOS A06. I even just tried the newest version that rickdeckard just posted and that doesn't work either. Very frustrated.

One thing I notice now is every time my machine boots I get iusb3mon.exe needs permission to run which is a program from C:/Prog Files x86/Intel/Intel 3.0 eXtensible/Application/

I tried running it and nothing happens, tried running as administrator and same thing.

 

When you look at all of the USB stuff in Device Manager does everything seem to be in order, or do some or all of the USB devices show a problem status?

This may seem like an odd question, but are you running on battery or AC power? I ask because the 18 sometimes loses all USB recognition when running on battery. It's like the ports go completely dead. When that happens, none of the USB hardware in Device Manager presents problem codes and it seems everything is OK even though the ports are dead. Connecting the AC adapter, turning the system off completely (not sleeping or hibernating) and doing a cold boot restores function.

 

Thanks for the quick reply Fox.

If I have the extensible software installed, everything in Device Manager is normal (no un-recognized devices). When I uninstall it and reboot, everything comes up as generic usb hub but unrecognized and when I search online for new drivers it can't find any.

This is with AC plugged in the entire time and reboots every time I install/uninstall Intel USB 3.0 software.

When I do have the software installed and attempt to plug in my USB mouse or any other device, windows immediately plays a strange system sound(not the normal windows/plug in "found device" sound.)
I will see the mouse appear in device manager but it is not recognizing the drivers or something and appears in the unrecognized drop down. I've tried all 3 ports with similar results. I've removed/readded the mouse drivers as well, however, NTFS formatted usb keys and other accessories do the same thing so I didn't think it was an issue with my usb devices.

My system didn't come with the extensible usb software installed, so this problem only started occuring once I installed it. I had it totally uninstalled now and have went in device manager and "uninstalled" all the drivers for all the devices in the USB section.

Not sure what my next move will be.

 

New update: With or without the intel extensible software I now see TWO "Unknown Devices" listed in Device Manager under Other Deivces. If I right click and select properties it is listed as "Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller"

No matter what I do, it says unable to install drivers. Uninstall/Disable/Enable/Scan for Changes... restart, nothing works. Checking google this appears to be a problem with Windows 7 for a long time.

 

Ok, if you have installed the USB specific drivers from Intel, and the usb 3.0 extensible stuff isn't showing up

Install the motherboard chipset drivers (Intel® Chipset Device Software), either from Dell or Intel's site...that would correct the issue

 

I tried all the things suggested without luck. The only thing that worked for me was rolling back to a restore point before any of the changes were made. All USB devices work now. I uninstalled and reinstalled newest extensible drivers and all is good now, mouse, usb keys, printer all working.

Only thing that wont install is my WD MyPassport 2TB drive that works on every other computer in my house. I even tried installing the WD drivers, it recognizes what it is but cant get it passed the unrecognized status in device manager. This is probably the only USB 3 device out of the bunch not sure if that makes a difference.

I hope this stuff gets sorted out.

 

I see, that affected the first stepping of Haswell motheboards, my laptop has stepping 2 which is probably why I never noticed this issue. I know my previous ASUS G750JX has stepping 1 and it was horrible with USB devices



well let me do a test, here is my copying a 4.95GB file to my external 4TB Buffalo USB 3.0 HDD



Here is my system.......

Alienware 18 (full specs in sig)
BIOS: A09 FTW
OS: Windows 7 Professional SP1 (Alienware Edition)
Chipset Driver: Intel Lynx Point HM87 Driver 9.4.0.1017
USB Driver: Intel USB 3.0 eXtensible Host Controller Driver 2.0.0.102
IRST Controller Driver only (no app): IRST 12.0.7.1002
Intel Management Engine Interface: IMEI 9.0.2.1323

Mind you, no caching software is enabled (I mean RAPID for Samsung Magician is NOT enabled so this shouldn't be fake)

Mind you, on Windows 8.1 Update 1, that speed you see drops to 123 MB/S. Another reason to never use that crappy OS

Can you check your stepping via CPU-Z?

 

LOL, there is certainly no shortage of good reasons to prefer Windows 7. It's a shame when a business has a chance to do something better with their principal product and doesn't... they've tried three times to make Windows 8 not be a pile of crap... and we all know what three strikes means. Here's hoping Windows 9 isn't worse. I'm not going to hold my breath though. I'm expecting the Redmond Gestapo to blow us away with a more "secure" OS that has even more draconian lock-downs on Secure Boot and Driver Signature Enforcement that make the OS even more of a worthless turd. And, all the OEMs will admire the emperor's imaginary robe... they will bow down and say, "Holy is our lord in Redmond; the one who knows what's best for us, and redeems us from the hell-fire prepared for the digital harlot whose name is Apple."

 

Windows 8.1 has nothing to do with the transfer being 123MB/S. The 123MB/S is actually accurate. 477MB/S would be an SSD at least, an extremely high end one at that.

The reason the transfer was so fast was because the file was cached in your Windows 7 partition. Windows 8 does the same thing. This caching is independent from RAPID and is on default in W7/8.

 

I guess you're right on that one

 

When you try to transfer a file that isn't cached on your windows 7 partition, you'll notice the speed to be very similar to what you were seeing on windows 8.