GA-Z87X-UD5H - USB Ports Not Working

[crazylegsmurphy]

Hello,

Two days ago I purchased this motherboard and at first everything seemed to be working. However, today it seems that the two top USB ports, and the two on the front aren't working at all.

When I plug in some devices (External HD, Logitech Headset) there seems to be power going to them, but they fail to be recognized by Windows. If I plug in my mouse, iPad, iPhone, Keyboard, or Flash Drives, nothing happens at all.

I emailed technical support, but I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to troubleshooting this. Either they're dead and I need the board replaced ASAP (for work), or there is an easy fix.

Some notes:

- The keyboard / Mouse isn't recognized in the BIOS so it's unlikely this is a driver issue.
- I am running both Windows 8.1 and OS X on this machine, and the USB ports do not work in either OS.
- I have tried resetting the BIOS, using the backup BIOS set to default settings, and flashing the secondary BIOS to the newest version
- Windows seems to see there are ports installed, but no devices are recognized.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I will give this until Monday at which time I will just return it for a replacement (I'm still under Amazon 30 day return).

Regards,

CLM

GA-Z87X-UD5H
i7-4770k
16Gb Corsair Ram
Cooler Master v700 power supply
GTX 780 SC

[crazylegsmurphy]

I didn't hear back from Gigabyte technical support, no one even bothered to respond here, nor did anyone at Gigabyte bother to reply to my Facebook message.

However, I contacted Amazon and was talking to a live person within two minutes. They're sending a replacement which should arrive tomorrow. It bothers me a lot that I have to dismantle my cooling and CPU, but let's hope the new motherboard is issue free.

If not...then this USB issue may be more widespread than Gigabyte is acknowledging, in which case I'll be asking for a free upgrade once the problem has been acknowledged and solved.

For anyone who is reading this, it would appear that Gigabyte is more like one of those "old school" computer component manufacturers where they're slow to respond, hard to get hold of, and make it unnecessarily difficult for customers with issues. My suggestion is skip the RMA process, and deal with places like Amazon where they're more modern in their customer service.

I've been reading about how people with defective motherboards are being forced to wait weeks while they're repaired, or sent refurbished replacements. For $200+ a defective product should be replaced ASAP with as little downtime as possible. Perhaps I'm spoiled now, but after dealing with places like Apple and Amazon, the idea of waiting around for days while someone responds, then waiting around while someone tests, fixes, ships defective products back, just irks me.

Anyway, I'll update this when the new one arrives.

[mvmorris]

I have this same motherboard and the USB 3.0 ports are not working.  Did your replacement motherboard fix your issue?

[crazylegsmurphy]

I have this same motherboard and the USB 3.0 ports are not working.  Did your replacement motherboard fix your issue?

Here is the semi-short version of the story.

I contacted Amazon again and let them know this was a known issue. I provided evidence of this using the feedback from Gigabyte support, and various other forums.

Amazon, being none too happy with this, pulled the item temporarily from the website while they investigate the issue. After a few days, it went back up for sale, but I could not get a straight answer whether the motherboards were REV 2, or the older REV 1 versions.

At first I opted to exchange these defective motherboards with an ASUS brand, but because of my requirements I ended up taking a chance and changing my order to the TH (Thunderbolt) model instead, hoping that it would have the REV 2. It did, and so since then I have not had any issues with the motherboard.

Now, before we assume everything is ok. I have not turned off, or unplugged this PC since I first booted it up. That is usually when the USB ports failed because from what I can gather, it seems that unplugging the power puts the USB ports into a "stuck" state indefinitely. I'm sure sure that is true, but I can't call this "fixed" until I attempt this.

So, in the end, if it weren't for the fact that I am building a Hackintosh, and there is a lack of support for the ASUS motherboards, I would have dropped Gigabyte for good.

Lets just hope that this revision has fixed the issue. My advice is to go with another brand if possible. If you're stuck with Gigabyte, then contact them and request and advanced RMA replacement. You'll have to pay to ship your defective board back (which I think is ridiculous), but at least the chances of it working will be better.