Aero 14 USB Port Not Recognized by Windows

[mt_xing]

Hi all. I'm having what I can only describe as a very strange issue with one of the three USB ports on my Gigabyte Aero 14 laptop. Of my three USB ports, only two of them are working properly, with the last one only providing power. I've tried going into Device Manager and uninstalling all my USB drivers before rebooting, but nothing changes. Device manager still only lists two "USB Root Hub" devices. Going into the BIOS shows only two USB XHCI controllers being recognized. It's as if the third USB port does not exist at all.

 

Except, and here's where it gets really weird, when I plug in an external hard drive to that third port (and only an external hard drive), Windows will still recognize the drive, despite device manager still only showing two USB root hubs. No other USB device works - flash drives, mice, keyboards, fingerprint readers, etc. Only external hard drives work on that port.

 

I'm thoroughly baffled. I've seen the opposite happen before, where a port doesn't provide enough power to drive external drives, so everything except drives will work, but as far as I can tell, Windows just flat out refuses to acknowledge the fact that this port exists, except hard drives still work. The only thing different about the port that isn't working is that it's on the opposite side of the laptop from the other two, but opening up the back panel shows that all three ports are directly connected to the motherboard, so I'm not sure how relevant that is.

 

This sounds kind of similar to this old topic from a few years back, but there didn't seem to be a satisfactory resolution on it: 

 

 

Any ideas?

 

Specs: Aero 14-W7. i7-7700HQ, GTX 1060, 16GB RAM, Windows 10 Home x64. It's the one on this page: https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Laptop/AERO-14--i7-7700HQ#kf 

Edited January 12, 2020 by mt_xing

[SlayerOfHellWyrm]

5 hours ago, mt_xing said:

Hi all. I'm having what I can only describe as a very strange issue with one of the three USB ports on my Gigabyte Aero 14 laptop. Of my three USB ports, only two of them are working properly, with the last one only providing power. I've tried going into Device Manager and uninstalling all my USB drivers before rebooting, but nothing changes. Device manager still only lists two "USB Root Hub" devices. Going into the BIOS shows only two USB XHCI controllers being recognized. It's as if the third USB port does not exist at all.

 

Except, and here's where it gets really weird, when I plug in an external hard drive to that third port (and only an external hard drive), Windows will still recognize the drive, despite device manager still only showing two USB root hubs. No other USB device works - flash drives, mice, keyboards, fingerprint readers, etc. Only external hard drives work on that port.

 

I'm thoroughly baffled. I've seen the opposite happen before, where a port doesn't provide enough power to drive external drives, so everything except drives will work, but as far as I can tell, Windows just flat out refuses to acknowledge the fact that this port exists, except hard drives still work. The only thing different about the port that isn't working is that it's on the opposite side of the laptop from the other two, but opening up the back panel shows that all three ports are directly connected to the motherboard, so I'm not sure how relevant that is.

 

This sounds kind of similar to this old topic from a few years back, but there didn't seem to be a satisfactory resolution on it: 

 

 

Any ideas?

 

Specs: Aero 14-W7. i7-7700HQ, GTX 1060, 16GB RAM, Windows 10 Home x64. It's the one on this page: https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Laptop/AERO-14--i7-7700HQ#kf 

So, USB Hubs in Windows don't equal the number of ports... Each hub, can actually have up to 4 ports. My own system shows as having 5 hubs, but I have 3 front panel USB, 6 rear ports, and 3 internal. This is 5 hubs, but 12 ports.
 

From here, I can see the USB port across is a 3.0 port, and it's basically opposite the 3.0 USB which supports "USB charge", which would be BCS 1.2. The other USB on the right, near the power, is another 3.0 port, and then you have nearest the front, a Type-C 3.1 Gen 2 port. They label this only as 3.1 in the manual, but since they label the others are 3.0 instead of 3.1 Gen 1, I assume it's a Gen 2 port. Have you checked to see if the USB charging is shut off? While it's for the port across, it can cause some quirks with USB controllers.


Port specs/layout source: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/aero14-manual-v3-all.pdf

Edit: Also install all the latest drivers here please: https://www.gigabyte.com/ca/Laptop/AERO-14--GTX-1060/support#support-dl-driver

Edited January 13, 2020 by SlayerOfHellWyrm
Added link for drivers.

[mt_xing]

On 1/12/2020 at 9:59 PM, SlayerOfHellWyrm said:

Have you checked to see if the USB charging is shut off?

I've tried going into Device Manager and unchecking the box labeled "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power" for all the USB root hubs, but that didn't change anything. Were you referring to something else?

[SlayerOfHellWyrm]

Yes, this will be a BIOS level setting.

[mt_xing]

On 1/14/2020 at 7:50 PM, SlayerOfHellWyrm said:

Yes, this will be a BIOS level setting.

The only setting in my BIOS that I could find related to USB was one labeled "Legacy USB Support" which I've tried toggling from enabled to disabled to no avail.

[guy1234]

I have EXACTLY this issue.  I couldn't believe it when you said the USB port only worked with an external hard drive. I rushed over plugged in a external drive and hey presto you were right.  Please can you update the thread if you resolved this issue?

[mt_xing]

On 4/1/2020 at 11:53 AM, guy1234 said:

I have EXACTLY this issue.  I couldn't believe it when you said the USB port only worked with an external hard drive. I rushed over plugged in a external drive and hey presto you were right.  Please can you update the thread if you resolved this issue?

Unfortunately not. I've just been living with one less USB port for now.

[guy1234]

On 4/2/2020 at 11:34 AM, mt_xing said:

Unfortunately not. I've just been living with one less USB port for now.

I went to Gigabyte and after two weeks of emails this is what I got.  An ask for money to look at this issue...

 

 

Quote

For out of warranty service there will be a $90.00 (non-refundable) fee for labor/diagnostics plus $30.00 for shipping. Please note this does not include parts, we will quote for parts once the laptop is received and examined. Complete and signed attached credit card form to proceed with out of warranty repair service. If the part is only the keyboard it self and nothing else the cost will be $200 for the part alone.

Edward Customer Service Center

Warranty | RMA |Parts 17358 Railroad St., City of Industry CA 91748