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SOLVED Killer slow USB file transfer speeds...

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Dark Shade

Registered
Joined
Feb 2, 2012
Location
Vancouver Island, BC, Canada
Hey all,

I am getting brutally slow USB transferring speeds (in the range of ~343kbps)... After doing this, my whole computers file transfers slow to a crawl, regardless of whether they are to the same drive, usb, or a different drive in the same comp. Also when trying to open device manager, I found it took around a minute or so... I tried to eradicate this issue (among others) by formatting the whole comp and doing a complete reinstall, but it's still here... problem is it only comes when it feels like it... some of my drives work flawlessly. Yet when I hit a drive that doesn't work, I have to completely shut down and then power back on my comp. I read what threads I could find (here and googled), and many suggested to look in the device manager. I have a ton of usb entries, but I am not really sure how to use this info... Anyone have any ideas?

Oh, these are the devices:
Etron usb 3.0 extensible host controller
Etron usb 3.0 extensible root hub
Generic USB Hub
Generic USB Hub
Intel 6 series/c200 series chipset family usb enhanced host controller - 1c26
Intel 6 series/c200 series chipset family usb enhanced host controller - 1c2d
USB Composite Device
USB Composite Device
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

Thanks,
Shade
 
I'm wondering if one of the chipsets is going bad or possibly one of the USB hubs is causing some sort of power drain/short or something like that.
 
Hey all,

I am getting brutally slow USB transferring speeds (in the range of ~343kbps)... After doing this, my whole computers file transfers slow to a crawl, regardless of whether they are to the same drive, usb, or a different drive in the same comp. Also when trying to open device manager, I found it took around a minute or so... I tried to eradicate this issue (among others) by formatting the whole comp and doing a complete reinstall, but it's still here... problem is it only comes when it feels like it... some of my drives work flawlessly. Yet when I hit a drive that doesn't work, I have to completely shut down and then power back on my comp. I read what threads I could find (here and googled), and many suggested to look in the device manager. I have a ton of usb entries, but I am not really sure how to use this info... Anyone have any ideas?

Oh, these are the devices:
Etron usb 3.0 extensible host controller
Etron usb 3.0 extensible root hub
Generic USB Hub
Generic USB Hub
Intel 6 series/c200 series chipset family usb enhanced host controller - 1c26
Intel 6 series/c200 series chipset family usb enhanced host controller - 1c2d
USB Composite Device
USB Composite Device
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

Thanks,
Shade

Have you tried installing the latest USB drivers from the Gigabyte motherboard website? Also, is it always the same USB device that causes the trouble?
 
I've seen this with hard drives - it's like it's moving bytes through a tiny straw - so slow!

A few possibles:

hardware:
chips dodgy/bad - possibly just overheating on the Southbridge. Can you direct a little extra fan on it, just for testing?

BIOS:
needs to be updated
settings wrong

OS:
power saving features are constantly trying to shut off the USB device to save energy

Hardware: We have no way to test whether they're OK or not. If they work at all, they're probably fine.

BIOS:
load your optimal settings for performance (usually by pressing f9 on an AMI BIOS), then shut off any power saving features in the BIOS.

Also, check if your BIOS has a feature to enable or disable DMA transfers. If you have it (probably in your Southbridge options), then ENABLE it.

Press f10 to save those settings and exit. Follow that exact sequence, because a lot of BIOS's nowadays will turn power savings features ON, when you load the optimal performance features, and you want them all OFF - so f9 first, then check your power saving features and disable them, and finally, f10 to save it all and exit.

Note that you do NOT want a "balanced" profile, or anything short of full bore optimal performance profile. The first thing they want to shut off is USB hubs, generally.

Now go into your power options for the OS, and disable those, and save those settings.

And retest.

If that helps, then you know the culprit is the power saving features, and you're good to go. If it doesn't help, then it's time to get an update for your BIOS, if one is available for your mobo.

When you've finished the update, repeat the above for the BIOS settings, and save that.

And retest.

I had this happen with two hard drives on the same system. Oddly enough, they were the exact same model and size, and generally they "flew" through transfers - but this time it was taking HOURS to move less than 300 MB.

DMA option was shut off in the BIOS. :mad:

Good luck!
 
Thank you all for the replies. I have fixed it by... updating the drivers... I hate not thinking of the obvious :p This seems to be working fine now, but if it does go screwy again, I will try Adak's suggestions.

Thanks again,
Shade
 
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