# SERIOUS problem with USB ports on ASUS Crosshair VI Hero



## Rafcio (Oct 5, 2012)

Hi,
I'm wondering if somebody has the same issue that I started experiencing with my newly built system.
The motherboard (ASUS Crosshair VI Hero) has a serious issue with USB ports. It has already been replaced and the same issue is with the second one, so it's not that a particular one was broken. ALL (2.0 and 3.0) USB ports on the back plane drop (disappear from the OS) while running a backup to an external USB 3.0 drive. I also lose the manageability, because USB mouse and keyboard are connected to USB 2.0 port. A reboot (warm boot) is required to restore USB ports functionality. There are tons of errors in the event log when that happens, like event id 157, 140, 51. I also keep having event id 153 while imaging partitions to an external USB 3.0 drive (different one than for backups), however USB ports don't disappear during that. All of those external USB drives were working just fine attached to my old system. This is the newest version of Windows 10 (1703 Creators Edition) while the old system was running version 1607.
I wonder if this may be a design issue. There are obviously at least 2 different controllers involved (2.0 and 3.0), so it's strange that all of the USB ports suddenly disappear. If it was just USB 3.0 ports, then it could be a controller or driver issue (no blue screen here), but if the load on one USB 3.0 port makes also USB 2.0 ports disappear, then I'm wondering if I need to get a different motherboard and forget about ASUS?
This is consistent and like I've said happening on the second motherboard. I've returned the original motherboard that I've bought exactly because of this issue thinking it may be a broken one. This is not to mention that I have Windows activation issues because of the new motherboard.


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

Where did you get your copy of Windows from?


----------



## Rafcio (Oct 5, 2012)

Microsoft. Built by Media Creation Tool.


----------



## Rafcio (Oct 5, 2012)

I'd like to add that I've verified that ALL USB ports disappear, not only those on the back plane. I can access the system using remote control (TeamViewer) and explore when I no longer can use the local keyboard and mouse. To me it looks like a "feature" of Windows 10 version 1703. Nothing that is USB connected works until the system is rebooted. It could be that Windows doesn't have a good handle of the fairly new AMD processor and chipset on the motherboard.
This is so critical problem that I'm wondering if I should return all that AMD stuff and buy Intel instead. Not only I can't back up my data, also the images of the system partition are corrupt (fail MD5 checksum), thus unusable for any restores.


----------



## Masterchiefxx17 (Feb 27, 2010)

It shouldn't be that the Windows isn't playing nice with the AMD drivers, they've been out long enough to fix most of the bigger bugs.

I'm wondering if the CPU may be faulty here. Could you see about an RMA request on it?


----------



## jcgriff2 (Sep 30, 2007)

Rafcio said:


> ...All of those external USB drives were working just fine attached to my old system. ...


Just curious - even though you built a new system, some of the parts are from your old system?


----------



## Rafcio (Oct 5, 2012)

Answer #1. I'm almost positive the AMD USB hardware/software implementation is at fault, not the CPU. And this is the second motherboard with exactly the same problem, so RMA is pointless here. Today I have installed PCI-E USB 3.0 controller based on Fresco Logic chipset that I've used in my old PC. I've connected my external USB 3.0 drives to that controller and the full backup has finished successfully. Yay!!! USB ports didn't disappear like it was a norm so far. The drivers for USB controllers are actually from Microsoft, even though the hardware is AMD or Fresco Logic. Actually, it's one file - USBXHCI.SYS version 10.0.15063.296.

Answer #2. All internal components were brand new and brand name. The external USB drives were previously used with my old system and I had no issues with them. That was until today. See answer #1.


----------

