Weird USB Phenomenon

[Saffron]

I have an ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 motherboard running Windows 7, and lately both the USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 have been acting funny.

I've had this computer for 3 years and never had any issues until now. Keep in mind that I have cleaned and installed fresh drivers. What is happening is I will plug in my 32GB USB 3.0 into the respective USB 3.0 port, and half the time it will perform beautifully and half the time it will barely transfer at 20MB/s. If I try it in another 3.0 port it will perform the way is supposed to, usually around 150-190MB/s. Now, the thing that trips me out is when I plug in my 8GB USB 2.0 into a 2.0 -- or a 3.0 -- it will sometimes transfer well above 100MB/s, maxing out at 188MB/s. I didn't think that was possible. Other times when I use my 32GB USB 3.0 Windows will throw me an error saying that "this device can perform faster" message, but it will still transfer close to 200MB/s.

What the heck is going on with my USB!?

 

[cholley]

i would suggest running the kaspersky rescue disk, with the drives you use plugged in.

it could be USB-centric malware that looks to transport itself via USB connections

 

[Ketchup]

Here are some things that I have observed:

Asmedia chips can be a little finicky like that. Sometimes they work perfectly, other times not so much. Use the Intel USB 3.0 connections are see if they are more reliable.

Also remember that Windows can be caching data, so it reports speeds at the beginning of the copy that are much faster than what it is actually transferring at. I usually get the actual rate when it is closer to the end.