USB 3.0 Ports Nonfunctional in Windows 8

austinglaser

Honorable
May 30, 2013
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10,510
I'm using a Toshiba Satellite L875-S7308, running Windows 8 64 bit. This particular laptop has 2 USB 3.0 ports and one USB 2.0 port -- the USB 2.0 port seems to be working perfectly. However, the USB 3 ports do not even recognize any devices which are plugged in -- I've tried mice, flash drives, external hard drives (which are supposed to be USB 3 compatible) and a whole host of other things. The ports are powered (verified with a multimeter). I need at least one USB 3 port to connect with an external gigabit ethernet card.

My first assumption is a driver conflict -- this laptop is part of a scientific experiment and has some software to allow it to communicate with an Arduino microcontroller, as well as several cameras and servo motors. However, I'm hesitant to try something like a clean reinstall -- I wasn't the person who set up the machine, so it would be difficult to add back in the highly specific (in some cases custom written) software that is on this machine.
 

austinglaser

Honorable
May 30, 2013
3
0
10,510


I tried, but there seems to only be a windows 7 driver, since windows 8 is supposed to have native support
 

austinglaser

Honorable
May 30, 2013
3
0
10,510


Same driver I saw before, so it's not working.

I checked the USB3 controller in the BIOS, and it was in fact enabled. I was interested by the statement that 'when disabled, internal USB3 ports will function as USB2 ports.' Upon disabling the setup, the ports are now working (as advertised, as USB2) -- however, to communicate with the card I need USB3 speeds...