USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

javadme · 2016-11-12 16:07:43

Hello,
I bought a USB 3.0 flash drive and tested the speed with

hdparm

. It worked fine, I got around 100-120 Mb/s speeds. But after putting a Windows VM on it I realized it was working quite slow, so I tested again. This time only USB 2.0 speeds, about 30 Mb/s. I searched online extensively, the only thing which made sense in my situation was that some folks used the USB 3,0 drive in USB 2.0 poert then connected to a USB 3.0 port, tha same issue arised:

https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=176699

I have tried reformatting, to no avail.

Here is the output of

 dmesg | grep usb

[    1.877198] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[    1.877214] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[    1.877251] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[    1.882342] usb: port power management may be unreliable
[    2.206856] usb 1-1: new high-speed USB device number 2 using xhci_hcd
[    2.460149] usb 1-3: new high-speed USB device number 3 using xhci_hcd
[    2.727405] usb 1-4: new full-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
[    3.803835] usbcore: registered new interface driver btusb
[    3.811454] usb-storage 1-1:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[    3.818386] scsi host0: usb-storage 1-1:1.0
[    3.818587] usbcore: registered new interface driver usb-storage
[    3.821790] usbcore: registered new interface driver uas
[    3.860687] input: HP Webcam as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-3/1-3:1.0/input/input9
[    3.860809] usbcore: registered new interface driver uvcvideo

And

 lsusb -t

/:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/6p, 5000M
/:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/7p, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=usb-storage, 480M
    |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
    |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
    |__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 1, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
    |__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M

Please help.

Last edited by javadme (2016-11-12 16:08:39)

Lone_Wolf · 2016-11-12 16:19:44

This looks suspicious

[    1.882342] usb: port power management may be unreliable

lsusb -t does show your system has atleast 1 USB3 port on bus 3 .
Maybe some of your ports are locked at USB2 , have you tried other ports ?

javadme · 2016-11-12 16:33:35

Lone_Wolf wrote:

This looks suspicious
[    1.882342] usb: port power management may be unreliable
lsusb -t does show your system has atleast 1 USB3 port on bus 3 .
Maybe some of your ports are locked at USB2 , have you tried other ports ?

Unfortunately my laptop has 1 USB 2.0 and one USB 3.0 port. When connected to the USB 2.0 port

[ 1157.350047] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 6
[ 1162.342371] usb 1-2: new high-speed USB device number 7 using xhci_hcd
[ 1162.486463] usb-storage 1-2:1.0: USB Mass Storage device detected
[ 1162.487909] scsi host0: usb-storage 1-2:1.0

As I said it was working at USB 3 speeds yesterday.

Thanks.

Lone_Wolf · 2016-11-12 16:42:27

Understood,it is connected through a USB3 port .

A known issue with USB-powered drives is they fallback to lower speeds if the power they receive is to low to operate .

please post lsusb -v .

javadme · 2016-11-12 16:55:28

Sure, I think this would be the relevant section

Bus 001 Device 005: ID 05dc:a83a Lexar Media, Inc. 
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.10
  bDeviceClass            0 
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x05dc Lexar Media, Inc.
  idProduct          0xa83a 
  bcdDevice           11.00
  iManufacturer           1 Lexar
  iProduct                2 USB Flash Drive
  iSerial                 3 AA43B94YCYSGTNZZ10M3
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           32
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          0 
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass         8 Mass Storage
      bInterfaceSubClass      6 SCSI
      bInterfaceProtocol     80 Bulk-Only
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x01  EP 1 OUT
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
Binary Object Store Descriptor:
  bLength                 5
  bDescriptorType        15
  wTotalLength           22
  bNumDeviceCaps          2
  USB 2.0 Extension Device Capability:
    bLength                 7
    bDescriptorType        16
    bDevCapabilityType      2
    bmAttributes   0x00000006
      BESL Link Power Management (LPM) Supported
  SuperSpeed USB Device Capability:
    bLength                10
    bDescriptorType        16
    bDevCapabilityType      3
    bmAttributes         0x00
    wSpeedsSupported   0x000c
      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)
      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)
    bFunctionalitySupport   2
      Lowest fully-functional device speed is High Speed (480Mbps)
    bU1DevExitLat           4 micro seconds
    bU2DevExitLat           4 micro seconds
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)

This looks really weird:

      Device can operate at High Speed (480Mbps)
      Device can operate at SuperSpeed (5Gbps)

Why the device is connected as USB2 then

/:  Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/6p, 5000M
/:  Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/7p, 480M
    |__ Port 1: Dev 5, If 0, Class=Mass Storage, Driver=usb-storage, 480M
    |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 0, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
    |__ Port 3: Dev 3, If 1, Class=Video, Driver=uvcvideo, 480M
    |__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 1, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M
    |__ Port 4: Dev 4, If 0, Class=Wireless, Driver=btusb, 12M

   MaxPower              500mA

This should be more than enough for normal operation right?

Last edited by javadme (2016-11-12 17:00:27)

R00KIE · 2016-11-12 17:04:50

Lexar flash drive ... I have one S25 16GB and I also see that behavior a lot. It is very hard to get it to work as a usb3 device when connected directly to my laptop's usb3 ports, but if I connect it to a usb3 hub connected to the same usb3 ports or a pcie usb3 expansion card on my desktop it works well.

I suspect that either the chipset, in my laptop's case Intel, is either picky about the peripherals or theses flash drives in particular are very close to some usb3 specification limit and somehow usb2 speeds are used as a fallback.

javadme · 2016-11-12 17:16:30

R00KIE wrote:

Lexar flash drive ... I have one S25 16GB and I also see that behavior a lot. It is very hard to get it to work as a usb3 device when connected directly to my laptop's usb3 ports, but if I connect it to a usb3 hub connected to the same usb3 ports or a pcie usb3 expansion card on my desktop it works well.
I suspect that either the chipset, in my laptop's case Intel, is either picky about the peripherals or theses flash drives in particular are very close to some usb3 specification limit and somehow usb2 speeds are used as a fallback.

So, I'll try the drive on another pc, and post the results, to see if its about the USB drive or my system. I don't have a usb3 hub though.
BTW my device is HP STREAM 11 4GB RAM version.

Thanks.

Last edited by javadme (2016-11-12 17:32:02)

javadme · 2016-11-15 06:47:22

It seems the problem is with my Arch setup, the USB drive works as expected on another Windows machine with 150 Mb/s read speeds.
This is so annoying.

olive · 2016-11-15 09:53:22

Some Bios/UEFI (such as mine on a P8B75-M LX PLUS motherboard) downgrade USB3 to USB2 by default if the OS does not have a USB3 driver (I don't know what is the exact rule like everything that tries to be "smart"). I have reconfigured my UEFI to be sure USB3 is always USB3 (the option is Intel xHCI mode that must be set to "enabled" instead of Auto or Smart Auto). Maybe, you should check the Bios options. Probably powering off and the on the machine might solve the problem too.

Last edited by olive (2016-11-15 09:55:35)

R00KIE · 2016-11-15 14:04:26

javadme wrote:

works as expected on another Windows machine

That only tells you that the flash drive does not have a problem. At least in my case I can tell you that the problem is not windows vs linux as the same happens if I'm running win10 _on the same machine_, in my case a laptop.

javadme · 2016-11-16 05:19:05

olive wrote:

Some Bios/UEFI (such as mine on a P8B75-M LX PLUS motherboard) downgrade USB3 to USB2 by default if the OS does not have a USB3 driver (I don't know what is the exact rule like everything that tries to be "smart"). I have reconfigured my UEFI to be sure USB3 is always USB3 (the option is Intel xHCI mode that must be set to "enabled" instead of Auto or Smart Auto). Maybe, you should check the Bios options. Probably powering off and the on the machine might solve the problem too.

My laptop has a pretty simplistic firmware user interface, I can only control boot devices and Legacy mode and a few other not related stuff like ScureBoot and TPM. I have tried rebooting with the flash drive plugged in, not plugged in... Doesn't seem to work. Also, I believe I have the necessary drivers installed, because

 lsusb -t

yields

 Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci_hcd/6p, 5000M
....
....

Last edited by javadme (2016-11-16 05:28:03)

javadme · 2016-11-16 05:24:49

R00KIE wrote:

javadme wrote:
works as expected on another Windows machine
That only tells you that the flash drive does not have a problem. At least in my case I can tell you that the problem is not windows vs linux as the same happens if I'm running win10 _on the same machine_, in my case a laptop.

The interesting point is the first time I plugged the drive in and ran a test, it had transfer speeds over 100Mb/s. The next day though.. you know the story
It is really weird and frustrating,cause my laptop only has 32Gb of internal storage, I was planning to extend that with a USB3 drive, now I'm stuck with crappy speeds.

I'll keep diggin, maybe recompile the kernel or try live booting another os and trying the port.

R00KIE · 2016-11-16 09:53:41

Try a different usb3 port, maybe one where the flash drive fits more snugly. Every once in a while I do manage to get that specific flash drive to work at usb3 speeds but I haven't been able to figure out which incantation makes that possible.

Arch Linux

#1 2016-11-12 16:07:43

USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#2 2016-11-12 16:19:44

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#3 2016-11-12 16:33:35

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#4 2016-11-12 16:42:27

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#5 2016-11-12 16:55:28

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#6 2016-11-12 17:04:50

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#7 2016-11-12 17:16:30

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#8 2016-11-15 06:47:22

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#9 2016-11-15 09:53:22

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#10 2016-11-15 14:04:26

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#11 2016-11-16 05:19:05

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#12 2016-11-16 05:24:49

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

#13 2016-11-16 09:53:41

Re: USB 3.0 port recognizes a USB 3.0 flash drive as USB 2.0

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