Z68MA-D2H-B3 USB 3X Power Not Working

[sonicmerlin]

Despite installing the USB On/Off driver, I am unable to charge devices at 3x power over any of my USB ports (well I haven't tried *every* port, but the 3X power should work for all of them, right?  I've tried both front ports and a couple back ones). Specifically I'm trying to charge a Samsung Droid Charge and an HP Touchpad. I manage the 500 mA charging rates typical of USB 2.0. Even when I attach them to the USB 3.0 ports they don't seem to go above that threshold (I measure mA with the app Battery Monitor Widget Pro.  I observe around +300 mA, which makes sense given the phone normally uses about 200 mA while not plugged in).

Did I install the drivers incorrectly somehow? I downloaded motherboard_utility_onoffchargesetup.exe, and upon installing it ran ONOFFChargeSetup.B11.1102.1.exe

But there wasn't even anything to install. I got the option to "Modify", "Repair", or "Uninstall", suggesting to me the feature was already installed. So why don't my devices extract more than 500 mA from the motherboard, even from the USB 3.0 slots?

Is there a hidden option to enable it in the BIOS?  I'm really at a loss here.

I have a Z68MA-D2H-B3 Rev. 1 Motherboard, with the F9 Firmware.  Running a Core i5 2500K at stock frequency and stock fan.  A Radeon 6950 (with 1 GB of RAM), and a 96 GB Kingston V100+ SSD Master Drive, with 2 500 GB slave HDDs.  Also 16 GB of PC3-12800 Patriot RAM (4 SODIMMs), and a 600 W power supply.

[Rolo42]

Increasing available current doesn't make the devices draw more current.  USB spec limits current draw to 500mA and no device should ever draw more than that.

[sonicmerlin]

Wait what?  What in the world are you talking about?  The whole point of USB 3x power is that drawn current is increased.  It's directly demonstrated with an iPhone and iPad in gigabyte's own videos.  The feature enables quick charge at 1.5 A from any usb 2 port.  Given my devices draw as much as that from the wall charger, obviously something isn't working.

Why did you even reply to my question when you don't know what the USB 3x power feature is?  Could anyone else please answer?  I would very much appreciate it.

[Rolo42]

The whole point of USB 3x power is that drawn current is increased.

I don't have an iPod, so I can't comment on that but I am an electronics engineer and I can tell you that increasing available power does not force the load to draw all available power.

As illustrated here: http://www.gigabyte.com/microsite/239/3x-usb-power.html

Sorry for trying to help...

[TeMpL]

ony one port (1 onboard port connector) is marked RED = 3x power... attach front usb cable to it.

[brainstewn]

ony one port (1 onboard port connector) is marked RED = 3x power... attach front usb cable to it.

On my MA-990FXA-UD3 the manual is confusing.  It circles the F_USB3.0 connector and discussess the On/Off charge and then discusses the S4/S5 mode and further clarifies that only F_USB1 header can support On/Off Charge function.  The F_USB1 header is next to the F_USB3.0 header.  I routed the PC Cases extra USB Ports to the F_USB1 header.  Furthmore, I read that you should have your device plugged in before installing the ON/Off driver.  Perhaps, not having the iphone correctly connected before installing the driver causes BSOD related to the Applecharger.sys?

[genghisquan]

Increasing available current doesn't make the devices draw more current.  USB spec limits current draw to 500mA and no device should ever draw more than that.

Yes. Just because the 3X Power is present in the USB port, that doesn't mean the phone and tablet is drawing out all of that amperage.
I don't think it's the motherboard's or driver's fault. It could just be the charge limitation of the phone and tablet.