G73JW USB 3.0 issues

Same for me. I must admit that I have given up trying to transfer very large files (> 1 GB) over that irritating usb 3 port.

 

If there is anyone out there that has a fully functional USB 3.0 port on a G73JW... if so, can you post the following:
Windows Version + Service Pack
Version of the installed USB 3.0 driver (Was the patch applied or not?) + the driver download source (ASUS, Fresco or other)
The maker, model, capacity and format of the file system of the drive you're using (FAT32/NTFS/Other). (Is the drive using the USB 3.0 port as the only source of power or does the drive have a secondary power source?)

Thanks...

 

BUMP!

Wow, so far it appears that there isn't anyone who frequents this forum that has a G73JW with a fully functional USB 3.0 port?. If so, please post the info I requested in my previous post.

Thanks again...

 

BUMP!... Again

I hate to be a pain, but it's been over two weeks. Am I alone out here?

 

My G53Sw also has this problem

 

I'm so furious! I finally got my USB 3.0 port working, and it worked for about a month. I was using the Fresco 3.57.3 driver, no patch, on a G53SW-XA1, and getting consistent speeds around 40-60MB/s with a Seagate FA 1TB drive (no external power, if you're not familiar with it).

I never really had an issue at all with this drive on Linux, just with Windows. This is important to note, because as of this morning, the USB3 port stopped working. The drive is powered, and USB 2.0 devices functional completely normally. I mounted my HTC EVO 3D in both Linux and Win7 as a control test, and it connected and worked normally in both instances. However, my external HDD will only mount on the USB 2.0 ports on BOTH OSes now! If I mount it to the USB 3.0 port, the power light comes on, and nothing else happens. Nothing at all. Also, the inside of the port itself looks...odd. The "seam" down the middle doesn't look lined up properly, like it's been deformed. I'm not quite sure how that's the case, and I haven't ever really looked at it to know if it's always been like that, but I DO know that no cord has ever been pulled roughly from the port, and nothing has happened to the unit that would likely cause such a deformity. I have to wonder if there is not some material defect in the design of the port itself that is resulting in a poor connection, or in degradation of the port and its functionality over time/with use? This really needs to be addressed, as I basically have been playing most of my Steam games from the external HDD, and now I can't do that... basically rendering the drive completely useless to me.

 

I have a G53JW and have the same issue--random disconnects. I've had varying levels of success. My USB 3.0 flash drive works but doesn't transfer quickly. My USB 3.0 drive enclosure works but randomly disconects sometimes. Speeds seem to be pretty good but the disconnects are a deal killer. I just bought a WD My Passport drive for more backup and that one disconnects a few seconds after I try to transfer anything (doesn't have to be a big file). I updated my Fresco drivers to 3.5.97 and have the latest BIOS and no love. I've decided it's just the hardware because I tried the same My Passport drive on my Lenovo work laptop with USB 3.0 ports and got really great speeds. I won't be buying an Asus again--between the flimsy keyboard that can't keep up with my typing, the USB 3.0 problem, and the fact that the power receptacle soldered to the motherboard broke THREE times in the first year, I'm moving on to other brands. In the meantime if anyone figures out a solution to this irksome USB problem please post it!

 

You can try version 3.4.6. I have been using that for over 3 months and never had any discounting problem. I don't keep my external hard disk connected all the time, but i have successful transferred over 3TB without any problem so far.
ASUSTeK Computer Inc. -Support- Drivers and Download USB3.0

 

Have anyone another solution?

 

Is still USB 3.0 problematic even with the latest Fresco drivers? Any G53JW users here?

 

Hi!
I've had this problem ever since buying the G73JW. Bought an iOmega 1.5 TB portable drive. It will only work on USB 2.
Recently bought a Seagate 1 TB USB 3.0 drive for a friend. It worked perfectly straight out of the box. I was able to copy about 400 GB of stuff to it at around 100 MB/sec.
The same day that I bought the Seagate (December 30, 2013) I also bought a Western Digital My Passport 2 TB USB 3.0 portable drive. It disconnects and reconnects constantly when plugged in to the USB 3 socket but works on USB 2 (only around 20 MB/sec, of course).
I'm wary of flashing the BIOS, but haven't tried the BIOS EHCI thing yet.
Thinking of just taking the WD back where I bought it and getting two Seagate 1 TB drives. I just don't have time to muck around trying all sorts of different possible solutions. It appears the USB controller can't provide enough power for portable drives larger than 1 TB.

 

You can check Asus's website to see if they have any updated drivers for the USB 3.0 port.

I would not worry about flashing the BIOS etc to get your USB 2.0 drive to work properly in the 3.0 port because you're not going to get faster speeds anyway. The fastest you ever can go is the top speed of the slowest part. So when you put a 2.0 drive into a 3.0 port you're only going to get 2.0 speeds since thats what the drive is limited it.

 

The bios won't really have much to do with the usb3 functionality. I would check the usb3 drivers are up to date too.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm not trying to use a 2.0 drive on a 3.0 port. I'm trying to use a 3.0 drive on a 3.0 port. I know it works perfectly, as long as the portable drive is no "bigger" than 1 TB. Meantime, the 3.0 drive will only work on a 2.0 port.
Also checked the ASUS site, and their "updated" driver for the Fresco Logic USB controller was considerably older than the one I'm using, downloaded from the Fresco site. It looks like the easiest solution is to just swap the 2 TB WD My Passport for two new drives of 1 TB each.

 

Have you tried a Powered Hub, it really does sound like its a power issue using the larger external drives. USB 3.0 Powered hubs supply that extra power? I use an Anker 4 Port it will handle up to 3 external drives Putting a 4th one on will cause disconnects on any of the 4 ports

 

Download the latest Fresco Logic USB 3.0 controller driver, and save it to your dekstop.
Fresco Logic USB 3.0 v3.5.100.0 driver

Remove existing driver from Control Panel -> Uninstall a program, locate Fresco Logic and remove the driver.

Restart your PC.

Install the new driver.

Restart your PC.

Verify the symptom.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply with those suggestions. I did all of the above, but sadly, it hasn't fixed the problem. The WD drive keeps stopping and starting. I was able to copy a video file of 280 MB, before it powered off, but it's not possible to play it back, because the drive will disconnect after a few seconds.

As it's two weeks since I bought the WD My Passport, I can't really wait any longer before being able to take it back for a refund or swap. I'll be probably swapping it for a couple of Seagate 1 TB USB 3.0 portables, which I know will work perfectly.

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to reply. I haven't tried a powered hub, but I'll look into it and see if the retailer where I got the WD has any. I suspect that could be a large part of the problem, but does a 2 TB USB 3.0 drive draw that much more power than a 1 TB USB 3.0 drive? As you'll see from the posts below, I tried updating the drivers with a proper uninstall > reboot > install new driver > reboot > try WD on USB 3.0 but no go!

 

Yes since they must use more platters. 2tb drives will at least have 3 platters in it where 1tb drives will usually be 2.

 

How long is your USB 3.0 cable on the drive?

 

19 inches. Is that important? It's the cable that came with the drive.

 

Thanks to everyone who took the time to make suggestions.
I've solved the problem by returning the Western Digital 2 TB My Passport to the place I bought it from and swapping it for two Seagate 1 TB "Backup Plus" drives, which work perfectly on the USB 3.0 socket on my three-year-old ASUS G73JW. Average transfer speed is around 100 MB/second. On USB 2.0 it's around 20 MB/second.
It's two weeks today since I bought the WD, so I had a limited time in which to return it. Just don't have time to muck around trying any more workarounds.

 

If you need to run it directly off the port that was the best idea.

Keep an eye out for the new 2.5" 9.5mm 2TB drives coming out, they will run off a single port of power too with your own enclosure.

 

Sometimes, it can be cable issue, this is why I've asked.
Or perhaps weak USB 3.0 signal in the system itself.

 

I thought I had the problem fixed on my G73JW-3DE. It certainly looked promising for a while there. What I did was update to the latest Intel Chipset driver (v9.4.0.1027) and the latest Fresco USB 3.0 Controller driver (v3.5.100.0). I also installed the latest Intel RST driver (v12.9.0.1001) although I'm not sure if that was really necessary. I tested with CrystalDiskMark 3.0.3 x64 portable which ran great for four tests but my USB 3.0 drive then disconnected/reconnected itself during the fifth test (Random Read 4K):



This might be worth trying out for yourselves, as "your mileage may vary" (and you might fare better than I did).

P.S. A bunch of other drivers that I also updated on my G73JW can be found in this forum thread.

 

Could be a bad USB 3.0 signal inside of the system.

 

Have you tried the test on another system?

 

It looks like I may finally have USB 3.0 working stably on my G73JW-3DE. I had first tried updating to the latest firmware for my WD "My Passport" USB 3.0 portable hard drive, but the disconnection/re-connection issues were still happening when I ran CrystalDiskMark. So I followed the advice of others from other forums to downgrade the drivers for "Fresco USB 3.0 Controller" and "Fresco USB 3.0 Root Hub" to v3.0.100.58 with a driver installer from here. I ran a 5-count cycle of the full suite of CrystalDiskMark tests against my USB 3.0 drive with a 4 GB test file, and this time, the benchmarking test suite completed successfully without any errors, since the connection/disconnection errors were no longer occurring. Hooray!



To recap, downgrading to the Fresco USB 3.0 v3.0.100.58 driver fixed the disconnecting/reconnecting problem that was happening on my G73JW-3DE running Windows 8.x. My theory is that the USB 3.0 hardware that was built into the G73JW mainboards is not fully compliant with the USB 3.0 specifications. The older Fresco drivers were probably coded to work consistent with the way those earlier, non-compliant USB 3.0 controllers were designed. The newer Fresco USB 3.0 drivers are probably coded to be compliant with the newer USB 3.0 hardware controllers which are fully compliant with the final specifications, and so will not work with the older non-compliant USB 3.0 hardware controllers, such as the one built into the G73JW mainboards. I could be wrong, but that is my theory as to why the older version drivers work better than the more recent version drivers.

 

That should help others, thanks for sharing.

 

Any update on the issue? Is this a driver-related problem or a power issue because of G series? What about Toshiba 2.5" USB 3.0 drives? I'll give it an insight.

 

Have you tried tonedeaf's work around or is that not your problem?