asrock usb 3.0 card

[prawny12009]

I have recently bought a 2 port asrock usb3.0 card to go into a pc that I am building up for my grandfather an e7500, g41m-s3, 8gb corsair ram to replace his old pc (conroe 865pe,3gb ddr400, e5400, hd4650 1gb).

The issue I have is that whenever I plug anything in i get screen flickering as if there is some kind of feedback from the usb slot, It does not seem to affect the digital signal only analog.

I tried it on the g41m-s3 with the dsub out and got interference whether connected to the monitor or the tv, so I fitted the card to another computre that had dvi output, when connected via dvi-hdmi cable the flickering was not visable but with a dvi to d-sub the screen again flickered.

I then dug out my old pci radeon9250 (emergency graphics incase graphics die/testing) and connected that up in the g41m-s3 board, this did not seem to suffer from interfrence over d-sub or dvi.

Does the interference suggest a faulty usb 3 card? or did the 9250 escape because it is on pci not pcie bus (I assume onboard graphics on on pcie bus too)?

On a side note the g41m-s3 also has some very poor ram voltage control, often overvolting ram a fair bit when set to auto and values changed when using differnt fsb speeds, Because this is going to a person unfamiliar with messing around with bios etc I had to try three different sets of ram and two different fsb cpu (choice of e8400 and e7500) before I had a combo that would be failsafe voltage wise if the bios some how reset.

[- wardog -]

Are you using the latest Nec/Renesas driver(s) provided on the Download page for this card, ver20341?

Is the MB's latest BIOS installed?

If you've installed the ASRock XFast USB utility, uninstall it, reboot, and retry. This util has been known to cause issues.

And FWIW I'm reading ASRock states on the products page "Interface: PCI Express 2.0 x1 - Note: *We recommend using this USB 3.0 card in PCI-E 2.0 slot."

ASRock > Products > USB 3.0 Card

[parsec]

I've experienced interference of a different sort when using the USB 3.0 ports on my ASRock mother boards, and others too. My wireless mouse will not function correctly with a USB 3.0 flash drive connected to a USB 3.0 port. That also varies depending upon the USB flash drive I'm using, some are worse than others. Using them in a USB 2.0 port causes no problems with the mouse. IMO, this issue does not indicate a defective USB 3.0 card, but perhaps a design issue which allows the interference to occur.

It seems strange to me that USB 3.0 causes this, even when no cables are used. The analog signal is clearly being interfered with. Can you move the card to a PCIe slot farther from the video card? Or why not just use the DVI or HDMI connections?

[prawny12009]

updating the drivers from the asrock site does seem to have improved the situation, I find it difficult to understand how pcie 1x usb card could have that effect on the screen using analog but not digital, ever more so why updating drivers would cure what I was convinced would be hardware issue.

Thanks for the help on this.

I have heard of the wifi/2.4ghz interference which may also prove problematic as my grandfather keeps a 1tb hdd connected at all times for backups but so far i have not noticed it, I am planning on buying a decent usb3 caddy for him and a seperate external powered hub maybe 4 port

The motherboard is running onboard video at the moment my own pc (which i also tested this card in) is the one running dvi that too is onboard, I will be getting a discrete graphics card for my grandfather though but I am torn as to whether to get the gpu first or spring for a ssd first si I can get the pc all set up and let him wait a few weeks for the gpu.

[- wardog -]

I have a feeling the "interference' you are/were seeing might be related to this particular card drawing its power from the slot. Circuit/frequency feedback maybe?

While there are a very few that power this way, the vast majority req a power lead from the psu.

[prawny12009]

I think you are right, I got round to buying a primary hdd for this pc today and just reaoded windows 7 pro but after installing the drivers the interference is just as bad as before.

It must have been wishful thinking on my part to begin with , the card is either faulty or as you say is causing feedback through the slot thanks to being slot powered (even still it should not cause interference with the analog video signal).

It doesn't seem to matter what is plugged in be it a mouse hdd or usb stick the flickering is still there, I do not inderstand though why it disappears if i use a digital output, is analog more prone to signal interference?

Eitherway It is now going back for a refund, I am pretty sure the card has issues be it a fault or design flaw.