USB Slowdown
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I recently reformatted my computer after a failure with an old Seagate 7200.11 1TB. Lately, though, I have been noticing problems with my USB ports. Whenever I connect my iPhone 3G, it is very hard for iTunes to recognize it and the popup tells me that the iPhone isn’t plugged in to a high-speed port, even though all my USB ports should be 2.0. This has raised even bigger concerns about my other devices connected via USB.
My motherboard is an Asus P5Q-E. The CPU is an Intel Q6600. My initial thought is that an upgrade to my mobo’s BIOS or other utilities might fix the problem, but I’m wary of undertaking such a feat without knowing for sure what the problem is, because I’ve heard updating the BIOS can be dangerous. If a BIOS update is necessary, what sorts of precautions should I take?
—Taylor Sabbag
The Doctor suspects the solution may be much simpler than you think. You’re probably plugging your iPhone into your PC’s front-panel USB connectors, as most of us do. Front-panel connectors tend to be flakier than your motherboard’s onboard USB ports, because they’re connected by cables rather than directly attached and many low-cost vendors use similarly low-cost cables. Our guess is that when you replaced your hard drive, you dislodged the front-panel USB connector from the motherboard. Power down and unplug your computer, then reseat the front-panel USB connectors on the motherboard. If it is a problem with the rear ports, the issue could be OS support (you are running at least Windows XP with SP1, right? SP1 added USB 2.0 support.) Besides making sure that you have at least SP1 installed (SP3 is recommended), you should also download and install the latest chipset drivers from either Asus.com or directly from Intel.com for the P45 chipset, which is used in that motherboard.
Finally, while the Doctor understands your fear of BIOS updates, it’s quite painless and generally quite reliable these days. A BIOS update is unlikely to fix your problem, though.
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SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION Are flames shooting out of the back of your rig? First, grab a fire extinguisher and douse the flames. Once the pyrotechnic display has fizzled, email the doctor at doctor@maximumpc.com for advice on how to solve your technological woes. |
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