Dell XPS USB 3.0 Issues

I've seen this happen for years with no "one thing" being the cause. I have run into folk that think it's a driver or the maker but let me share I have ZERO PROBLEMS with this today.

However I know to look at the various control panels to remove, uncheck power saver settings, change the drive to not spin down (if that's what I want) and a few other things.

Sadly, I've never found it to be one thing. One time it was the same old USB power issue. That is, using a wall wart to power the drive fixed it.

Then again, I run into folk that want Dell to fix it so the wall wart is not required.
Bob

I have the same Dell as you. Delievered on 26 Apr.

My problems have been periodic. Since I don't have any 3.0 devices, I just use them as "extra" ports.

I purchased an 8GB USB thumbdrive to image my disc as the manual said so, but turns out that I needed a 9GB thumbdrive. So, I decided to use it as a Readyboost drive. I'd say about half the time the drive works as intended because the port won't read it even though the device manager says it is working properly.

The other port I used as for a wireless dongle for the logitech keyboard and mouse. Again, periodic workings. Especially when the computer would go to sleep, it wouldn't work.

Rebooting seems to work most of the time to get the ports working properly.

Again, nothing specific I can point to. I have the latest driver version though I don't know if it is A02 as labeled on the dell support page.

I haven't been able to comment on the forum because I don't know my community name from many moons ago and nobody has sent it to me. Sigh.

This issue has been driving me batty since I got the laptop. I have a USB 3 Passport Essential SE external hard drive. Every time I plug it into the USB 3 port, I get the message "this device could perform faster if you plug it into a superspeed USB 3 port" (or words to that effect). It happens with both USB 3 ports and the drive works fine if I plug it into another USB 3 computer in our IT department. I've updated the drivers, as per Dell's suggestions and have updated the firmware on the hard drive.

They want me to reformat the hard drive back to factory specs, but needless to say I'm reluctant to do that and I flatly don't think that will work. Given that the warranty runs out this month, I'd appreciate any suggestions. The Dell rep on the phone claims the hardware works and that it's a software issue.

Thanks,

Bob

Yep, same problem here and the really bad news is they are selling these things through their outlet store which means people are returning them, Dell either hasn't the time or inclination to thoroughly test them to duplicate what happens on the consumer side and thus they just put them back up for sale.

That really sucks.

I've gotten all the messages, "this drive would work faster...etc." and have had drives plugged in that worked for a couple of days before suddenly becoming inaccessible. The system will show it still connected and might even show the root of the drive with a list of folders but trying to access anything in one of those folders and it appears empty. These drives, both 3.0 and 2.0, work fine on my old ACER notebook. I've also had both a hard-wired usb mouse in the 2.0 port begin to act flaky and a logitech wireless mouse in that port act flaky. Rebooting solves the problem for a while but the problem always reoccurs.

I've got yet another e-mail and call in to Dell to speak to a technician and I've spent more time on the phone talking to India this week than I ever imagined I would.

This is ridiculous.

I have a week old Vostro 3750, I5, 1GB nvidia graphics, work great, coolest running laptop I have ever seen. I have spent hours with tech support, have sent 4 emails and filled a a request form to return the computer. They have checked drivers and setting and I have done a clean install of win7 and the problem still exists. When I start the computer the usb 3 ports work for several minutes then shut off and even a mouse won't work on them. I can plug them into the usb 2 ports and they work fine but the 3.0 ports will not work until I reboot the computer. There has been no response to my emails or return request so I called again this morning and was told it is probably faulty usb ports and they want to send a technician out to replace them. I told them I have requested to return it and really don't want to deal with them anymore. The usb 3.0 issue seems to be a common problem, at least on the XPS and Vostro machines. I have placed several posts on the Dell Laptop forum and just got an email that the first one has been deleted due to objectionable language. Here is the post:
"I too have this problem. I bought a 2TB USB 3.0 Seagate hard drive about 6 weeks ago and have been using it on an old desktop. I got my Vostro 3740 on July 27 and fell in love with it immediately. Then on Saturday July 30 moved the hard drive to the new laptop. Within 3 minutes the light went out on it and it quit working. I don't have anything else that is usb 3.0 but my mouse also would not work on the 3.0 port. I rebooted and everything worked fine for several minutes. Disconnected the drive and put it on the usb 2.0 port and it worked fine. Called tech support and they insisted it is a software problem. I have spent several hours and the last call they told me I needed to reinstall windows. They asked if I had any important files and wanted to do it right then. I have a small 50GB partition on the drive to keep all my files so that was not a problem. As it was after midnight I hung up, did a clean install of windows and then stayed up until nearly 4 AM to get the drivers. Guess What? The usb 3 ports still cut off. Sometimes they last for maybe as much as an hour but if I start using the hard drive they cut off. I have sent 4 emails and finally filled out a request to return form and have gotten no response. I called today and a superviser said it sounds like faulty ports and a service tech could come and replace them. Since 1994 I have had 3 Gateway desktops, a Lenovo, an HP and a Toshiba laptop and other than the 2 Dell laptops and the Dell desktop have NEVER ONCE called tech support. I love everything about this laptop except the terrible support you get when there is a problem. If they had agreed that it was a hardware problem I would not be returning it. But all the crap you go through is wrong. I got laid off last year and took early retirement so do not have a lot of money for extras like this and I wanted the antiglare screen, 2nd gen processor and nvidia graphics card and that costs a lot more money in anything other than the Vostro. Guess you really do get what you pay for." ________________________________________________________

<table dir="LTR" border="1" cellspacing="1" cellpadding="0" width="496"><tbody><tr><td valign="MIDDLE">I have experienced a similar problem with USB 3 port on my Dell Vostro 3750. Sometimes it will work and most of the time it will not work even to the extent of locking the computer and you can't reboot without removing the external device from the USB 3 port. I called Dell and they replaced the motherboard and the daughter boards to no avail. When we remove the USB 3 device from the device driver section in control panel and then reinstall the device it will work for awhile and then stop working. It is intermittent at best. Dell wants you to send it into them so they can look at it and test it. This is even though I have a NBD in home warranty.
I purchased an after market PCX USB 3 adaptor card - a Transcend Model TS-PNU3. I plugged this card into the PSX port on my laptop and I didn;t even need to run the driver software as it used the existing Renesas driver software already loaded from dell. I can now find my USB 3 devices connected to this card (2 USB 3 Ports) and I can read and write to them. It is also very fast, it shows between 82 to 97Mbs transfers. I tried it for several days and it is working perfectly. Obviously it is not a software problem or an Operating system problem like Dell technician suggested. It is just an incompatibility with the implemented USB 3 chip on the motherboard and the USB 3 device driver. Dell needs to address this desgin issue and either replace the defective laptops or come up with a proper driver that consistently works with the USB 3 chip on the motherboard. It's Dell's problem. The work around does work but I paid for an internal USB 3 port and should not have to buy an external card to do the function I already paid for in this laptop. I will be calling Dell and see what they say. Unfortunately, you just get to someone in India or wherever and as nice as they are, they have not been give proper direction as how to resolve this issue
I should also point out that sometimes even if you put a USB 2 device in the laptop USB 3 port it may not work or may work for awhile and then stop working. Once again Dell needs to recognize this problem and make some kind of statement acknowledging the problem. If a Dell rep reads this or the other forum post please reply. the other forum 45 pages on this subject is a dell forum and is at :
<a href="http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19353745.aspx?PageIndex=44"><font color="#0000ff" size="3"><font color="#0000ff" size="3"><span lang="">http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/laptop/f/3518/t/19353745.aspx?PageIndex=44</font></font><font color="#0000ff" size="3"><font color="#0000ff" size="3"></font></font></a>
I hope its ok to post this link.

Depending on who makes the mtrbd. for Dell can supply a USB 3.0 chipset as part of the make-up. In no uncertain terms there are various makers. These are Asus and Intel to name a few but Intel seems to have some issues. While what makes one work or not is entirely on the what is supplied to Dell. If in fact this is a chipset problem, then looking at the supplied chipset and then visit the maker could shed light on the issue. I supply the below link that offers some insight into the topic.

I purchased 13.3" Dell Vostro131 two days ago, it came with too many problems.
1. Touch pad response is very bad- it does not come with scroll bars,
2. I tried to connect USB 2.0 device to the USB3.0 ports it doesn't respond- I need to check USB 3 responds.
I called dell support center in India on several occasions with no response.
3. Overall finish is dull and repulsive.
4. It does not come with a DVD/CD drive.
5. size is similar to my 14" HP laptop.
6. Display quality is very poor
7. Sound quality is poor
I am not satisfied with the machine.

I have similar problems as reported here. When copying files to the drive, the copy process suddenly stops and freezes. Windows cannot be shut down and the system has to be powered off. Currently I have email conversation with DELL support. They told me the usual things, install the newest driver, newest bios, even try it with older driver versions. All of that didn't help yet and also the same problems occur with a different USB3.0 hard drive (both from Western Digital, but I don't think the hard drive manufacturer is the problem). With USB 2 the drive works perfectly without any problems. Also an external eSATA-Drive works perfectly without problems so it's really the USB 3 driver or maybe the whole hardware part is designed bad. I hope there will be a solution and will post if it works again.

I have a Dell XPS 420, and recently purchased three 1T USB3.0 external harddrives. Previously I installed a 2-port internal card for USB 3.0. Any one USC 3.0 works great, but two do not work. (I tried interchanging, various cables, and those are not the problem.) In fact, a second USB harddrive plugged into a USB 2.0 port does not work. On the other hand, multiple USB 2.0 harddrives work great simulateously. I am thinking of sticking to USB 2.0 harddrives, and forget using the higher speed harddrives. Is it possible that there is inadequant power for multiple USB 3.0 harddrives? Any other bright ideas? Thanks to all for any suggestion. Ron

If I plug in a USB 3.0 hub into my new XPS L702X the laptop tries to start than shuts down. If I plug in a USB 3.0 harddrive the computer will start fine. If I plug the USB 3.0 hub in after the computer starts, everything works fine (hub and devices plugged into hub). I've tried two different USB 3.0 hubs with the same results. Since the computer does not even start, this can not be a driver issue. Since everything works fine after the computer starts it can not be a hardware issue. This must be a BIOS issue, but I have the latest BIOS. Any suggestions??

I have the exact same laptop, and like everyone else i have experienced the same issues. It didn't happen very often at first, but it was extremely annoying. I tried updating the chipset drivers with each of the 2 new realeases and neither fixed the problem, after the second chipset update i applied just a couple days ago it actually got worse. I ended up calling dell and they basically uninstalled and reinstalled the chipsets again and ran Dell Support center software to do a bunch of system checks, didn't work, and actually my 2.0 port stopped working then as well. The sent out a repair guy to swap out the motherboard, daughter boards, and ports. When the repair guy brought it back i hooked up a thumb drive to the 2.0 port and it still did not work. we tried updating the chipset drivers again with the lates release from dell, 10-13-11, to no avail.

Here is the possible fix, it is really simple and I hope it works for others.

Shutdown your computer and remove anything connected through the usb ports. Restart and on the startup screen hit F2 for setup. go to advanced tab, then drop down to miscellaneous devices, disable external usb ports. then hit F10 to save and exit. Once your computer restarts go to device manager (click on start icon, right click on computer, select Manage) select device manager and in the roll out menu to the right expand Universal Serial Bus Controllers. there should be two lines with weird icons to the left instead of the typical usb connector icon. right click on each one one at a time and enable them. once enabled i restarted my computer and everything has been working fine sense.

I am not sure if this is the fix or if it actually was a hard ware issue, so i am curious if someone who is having the issue but has not had any hardware replaced can try it and see if it works. Please try this before reformatting the drive. They tried to get me to do that too.

dell XPS L702X, intel Core i7 2.2GHz, 8GB Ram, 80GB SSD 400GB SATA Drive.

Same problem here.
I am jumping through all of Dell's hoops but to no avail
The date is Jan 20th 2012, lets fix this thing Dell!