In article , says...

AlDrake wrote:
On 5/30/2014 3:07 AM, Paul wrote:
AlDrake wrote:
On 5/29/2014 8:10 PM, Paul wrote:
AlDrake wrote:
Can anyone shed some light on windows 7 tool that alerts connecting
to a USB3 can achieve faster access. I get this sometimes even when I
am connecting a USB3 device but win7 doesn't agree. Can this utility
be accessed to check connections? So far the only way I can tell is
viewing the speed of files being transferred.

Al.

A tool for displaying that info would be UVCView
from Microsoft. The older version used to be
relatively easy to get. The newer version required
downloading some SDK DVD and picking it out of there.
I doubt you would enjoy that utility, because the
"output isn't in English". It's a developer tool.

The scheme works something like this.

1) USB devices have a configuration space. Early in PNP,
the config space is fetched. In the space is a field
that says "my max speed is USB3" or "my max speed is USB2".

2) At the same time, the low level stuff starts negotiation.
On the USB3 connector on the back of your computer, there
are two sets of pins. If both sets of pins "touch", the
negotiation procedure notes that the USB3 set are the
fastest one. And the hardware plumbing uses those pins.

So let's review how it can fail.

1) Plug a USB3 into a USB2 plug. Config says "I'm USB3".
Negotiation leads to a USB2 connection (as only those
pins are touching on a USB2 connector on the back of
your computer). The USB2 connector only has the four pins,
not all nine pins.

The OS says "This device could go faster" if and only if
at least one USB3 connector is available on the back of
the computer, and the speed mismatch has been noted.

If the computer had only USB2 ports, and you plug in a USB3
device, there is no complaint there, because there is no
potential for improvement (by warning the user to move the
device to another port).


I've got a flashdrive similar codition. I assume case was shorting out
when inserted. I took a pair of pliers and carefully peeled off the fake
plastic casing to leave just the guts of it. Wrapped a little black tape
over it to keep it somewhat safe and it's worked fine ever since.