GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 USB 3 Problem

[ttcole1254]

Hello,

Recently I got the Gigabyte board GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3. I updated the BIOS to the newest revision, and recently purchased a new Western Digital 3 terabyte external USB 3 hard drive to complement the 1 terabyte and 500 gig drives in the system. Everything works well with it, except that it will refuse to POST with the USB 3 device plugged in. I see the gigabyte bios logo, but it does not beep or respond from that point on. If I unplug the hard drive, it will beep and continue normally. Once windows starts, I can plug it back in and it'll work. I don't want to have to do that on every bootup though as I use it for backups of my internal hard drive. I've tried messing with the USB controller settings in the BIOS, but I can't seem to figure it out. If anyone has any clue what to do, it would be greatly appreciated.

Oh also, if the hard drive is plugged into a USB 2 port on boot, it will POST, but takes considerably longer to do so. I assume it's just waiting for the drive to spin up.

Thanks!
Tyler C

[autotech]

Just a suggestion but have you changed your boot order to boot from  Operating System drive and not removable device?

[ttcole1254]

I just double checked and yes the OS drive is first in the list and removable is not listed in the boot lineup. Now here's something weird.. I left the machine in its "frozen" state for about half an hour just to see what it would do, and when I came back it was booted into Windows. So I can only assume it's waiting on the device or something even though it's not in the boot order at all.

If I plug in the drive while inside the BIOS configuration, it will lock up and force a reboot by hitting the reset switch.

UPDATE: Alright so I timed the bootup process with the external USB 3 hard drive plugged in, and this is what I got

POST (Beep): 16 minutes 35 seconds
Boot to First Boot Device: 27 minutes 41 seconds

The hard drive shows no activity whatsoever during this process, so I'm really out of ideas.. After it does this is does behave just fine in Windows or in the bios.

[NLW]

Hi there,

Did you try to switch of the “USB Storage Function” under “Integrated Peripherals” in the BIOS.
See page 48 of your manual...

With this function set, You can for example use a USB storage device for updating the BIOS.
But with large USB Storage devices (yours 3TB) the system boots very slow.
When you switch off this function it boots faster to Windows, but Windows itself loads slower.

[ttcole1254]

I don't seem to have such an option anywhere.. I'm running the U1b Bios released on 7/10/2012, and not the one referenced in the manual. The only option I have which may be it is something called "Legacy USB Support." The only other USB options are to simply turn off the controller..

Edit: Oops.. Just looked and there's a BIOS update to U1C.. should I try that?

[NLW]

Hi again,

Sorry, don’t know the difference between the two BIOS versions.
Was the U1d also an UEFI BIOS? U1c is UEFI and still in Beta!

And, if it ain’t broke don’t fix it..  right? 

Legancy USB Support is for use of keyboard/mouse in MS-Dos mode.
It Shouldn’t have any effect on the USB Storage device.

But.... You can try, it will not damage anything… Let us Know…

[ttcole1254]

I'm not really sure to be honest.. didn't even know there was a U1d.. Do you know if you can downgrade the BIOS back to U1b if I try to flash U1C and the problem isn't resolved? I don't know how I'd feel running a Beta BIOS.. And alright I'll let ya know, thanks

[NLW]

Hi,
I have further examined your problem..
 
I have also (I think) a UEFI system is, and there is no ‘USB Storage function’ in my BIOS. Newer versions??

But i have two setting for Boot order. Did you have double checked these settings?
Boot Option Priorities and Hard drive BBS Priorities.
Please check again?

BIOS updates are Always risky.
If it is not necessarily, I don't update...
And I think it’s not helping you either..

[ttcole1254]

Thanks for all your help guys. I checked the boot settings, and in the Boot Option Priorities, the first drive is my Western Digital internal drive, and the second is my card reader for some reason. Under Hard Drive BBS Priorities, I have my Western Digital internal drive, the card reader, and my Seagate 500 gig in third. I haven't touched the BIOS version yet. Let me try removing every entry but one on the list and see what it does. It may be adding the WD higher in the list by itself.

[ttcole1254]

I think I might just live with it on USB 2.0 from now on.. It's not that big of a deal.. if it starts bothering me I'll look into a solution but for right now it's fine on USB 2. Don't really care about a speed boost since it's just backups, and I could care less how long they take.

[Gloup_Gloup]

Hello all,

Just add infos about USB3 in this motherboard:

Manual:
http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_ga-z68ma-d2h-b3_v1.3_e.pdf

Chipset:

    Up to 12 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (4 on the back panel, 8 via the USB brackets connected to the internal USB headers)

Etron EJ168 chip:

    Up to 2 USB 3.0/2.0 ports on the back panel

Have you  install Etron USB 3.0 Driver?

To ttcole1254,
What is the revision of your motherboard:
Because he exist:
GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 (rev. 1.3)
and
GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 (rev. 1.0)
For how to check, go to page 3 of manual....

What is your OS exactly?
By exemple : Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit Service Pack 1. Have you a SP with Windows?

What is your exact model of CPU?

It seems to me that you have already make a flash BIOS?
Do you use Q-Flash or @ BIOS?

At the QFlash homescreen disable the Keep DMI Data option before proceeding.

And after reboot , return in BIOS and choose [Load Optimized Defaults].

In BIOS, check with a manual too, :

Have you choose in BIOS  set [xHCI Mode] to [Enable]?

What is the mode you choose : IDE, xHCI or RAID?

Are you in situation with RAID disk?
Are you in situation with Overclocking?

About UEFI Bios - U1C
(Note) Some GIGABYTE utilities are not supported under UEFI BIOS architecture.
Please remove Smart6, Dynamic Energy Saver, Smart TPM, and Touch BIOS utilities before updating the BIOS.

About drivers:
Give us a total list of drivers installed on your system.

[anonim]

Hello all,

I have some troubles with my usb3 hub or disks. I can't find a way to use them in high speed USB. the front panel won't even recognise them and my hub is not recognise as a high speed usb device... then if i connect my hard drive on the hub, it works ok but in USB2 while it doesn't work at all on the front panel. If i connect a usb2 device on the front panel, it's ok...