Subj : USB 3 Issue? To : Ky Moffet From : Barry Martin Date : Mon Jan 20 2020 08:19:00 Hi Ky! > Mike and Ky (and anyone else!): KM> Anyone! speak up! :D Or here preferably type! > > Friend says Kingston flash drives 16GB or above are nothing but trouble > > and commonly lock up the system. Nowadays I stick to Sandisk so have > > avoided this problem. > MP> I have been having luck lately (knock on wood!) with Corsair > MP> Voyagers. > Thanks for the tip. So seems best to stay with name-brand, though the > yellow ADATA thumbdrives were here junk while the blues ones worked fine > -- appeared to be the same except for the colour of the housing. KM> ADATA have a dreadful rep, as I've mentioned before. I expect KM> they're strictly rebadging seconds (not manufacturing their own KM> chips) so what you get depends on the source... and they may KM> differentiate source by color. That might explain why 'all' blues worked and 'all' of the yellows didn't. I was also thinking it was a slightly odd name for an electronics company: 'a-' is a Latin prefix for 'without/lack of'..... KM> Far as I know, the only vertical chip manufacturers are Micron, KM> Sandisk (now part of WD), and maybe Samsung, and even then KM> there's lots of chip swapping depending on who has surplus or KM> deficit. Also... KM> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_flash_drive#Counterfeit_products KM> ====== KM> Counterfeit products KM> Counterfeit USB flash drives are sometimes sold with claims of KM> having higher capacities than they actually have. These are KM> typically low capacity USB drives which are modified so that they KM> emulate larger capacity drives (for example, a 2 GB drive being KM> marketed as a 64 GB drive). When plugged into a computer, they KM> report themselves as being the larger capacity they were sold as, KM> but when data is written to them, either the write fails, the KM> drive freezes up, or it overwrites existing data. Software tools KM> exist to check and detect fake USB drives,[46][47] and in some KM> cases it is possible to repair these devices to remove the false KM> capacity information and use its real storage limit.[48] KM> ================ Hmmmm! I'm recalling a failed thumbdrive (thought not which brand) where a recovery tool indicated the data went beyond the sector count - something like that. KM> I got a pair of cheapo USB hubs from some outfit in ages past, KM> and when they arrived, one was black, the other silver. One KM> didn't work due to loose parts rattling around inside. When I KM> reported that, they asked me which color was broken (and sent a KM> replacement of the other color) so that's how they were keeping KM> track. Per the innards, different manufacturer, but the cases KM> were the same other than color. That's a major verification of the keep-track-by-colour guess! > As for the problems when plugging in something to the port, had that > this morning when I plugged in a dongle for the cordless keyboard and > mouse into a different computer: caused it to reboot. Have plugged the > dongle in to it and several other computers without problem. > Possibility of static electricity as lower humidity. In general I do > the 'static electricity tap' so should have been equalized. > ..Suggestions? Ideas? KM> Shouldn't be static with USB stuff, because it self-grounds. KM> (Same with SATA.) Also, judging by the shocks I've seen this KM> stuff survive unfazed, it's not really all that sensitive. My KM> New! Improved!! mainboard (Asus P9X79LE, about 5 years old) has a KM> function to protect itself from static or overvoltage, which I KM> expect is probably fairly standard now. OK, good. I don't recall hearing a zap but couldn't absolutely say no. Will continue to ground-before-insert just as a good practice. KM> I've lived with low low LOW humidity for so long that I have a KM> habit of slapping the wall with the back of my hand before KM> touching the light switch or the faucet (cuz otherwise I get a KM> nasty surprise) and no such issue here from that. Do occasionally KM> get a jolt when I go to pull a dongle and have been walking KM> around first. (Time to spray Downey on the carpet again. Works KM> wonders for static, tho tends to collect dirt.) Yes, winters here in eastern Iowa tend to be Zap Season and I've learned to lightly smack before touching. KM> This is interesting, tho applies to Windows: KM> https://www.hellpc.net/fix-usb-flash-drive-freezes-computer-when-p KM> lugged-in-iss KM> e/ KM> https://tl.net/forum/tech-support/426915-computer-freezing-and-usb KM> -ports-not-wo KM> king KM> Response in comments: KM> ========= KM> Make sure you have all drives plugged into the Intel ports, these KM> are the white or black SATA ports and USB 2.0 ports. Disable the KM> Marvell SATA ports and Etron USB ports in the BIOS. Will check that one out: "Marvell" doesn't sound quite right but does sound close to one (maybe a pair) port on the motherboard. "Etron" doesn't sound familiar. (Why am I thinking Eltron Port, song writer to "Good Bye Yellow Bricked Load" and "Crocodile Clip"??) KM> Random lock ups (meaning it could happen on idle or load) were a KM> common problem during the initial months of the Sandybridge KM> release, related to PLL and power saving features. Disabling C1E, KM> C3, C6, EIST and CPU PLL Overvoltage solved it for some people so KM> you may want to try that. ========== OK, thanks! No overclocking/overvoltage tweaks done here -- I can get in enough trouble as is! -- but quite possible the manufacturer's default values 'turned up the control' a bit to make the motherboard's specs look better. ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... To write with a broken pencil is pointless. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .