Hi

It does seem frustrating when there are clearly issues and nothing from Intel to when or how these will be address.

However personally I'm currently having zero problems with this board, it's been a complete joy to set up, couldn't have been easier, and the Intel motherboard before that was the same.  I avoid the likes of Asus and Gigabyte because these seem to target the over-clockers with go faster heat-sinks and complicated BIOS's etc which I'd rather not be spending my money on, and I have had problems with Asus and Gigabyte in the past.

The only issue I have is lack of working HDD Password settings, however other boards have seen a BIOS update for this so it should only be a matter of time.

As mentioned elsewhere there does seem to be an issue with pin 10 of the connector for the USB 3 on the bigger brother of this board, so the same probably applies to this one.  Pin 10 from my research is usually used to indicate the type of USB socket, but isn't required for standard USB 3 sockets it seems, so is being removed from newer boards, my guess is this is pin is being shorted by most USB motherboard connectors which appears to be causing the problems.  It might be easy enough to remove the pin with some needle nose pliers (or snip the wire if these are exposed on the connector) in a DIY repair, however as Intel has admitted a problem it should be easy enough to get a replacement. It does look like a BIOS/driver fix will not fix this issue, given Intel are issuing a new board with the pin removed.

Regards

Phil

I'm having exactly the same issue.

DZ77BH-55K mother board with updated BIOS (0070).

Windows (Home Premium 64 bit) do not detect any USB (neither 2.0 nor 3.0) device connected to the front panel; while it looks like the device actually gets power (the light on a USB memory stick goes on, at least for some seconds).

The case is an Antec Three Hundred Two, which has got two USB 3.0 sockets on the front.

All the USB ports on the rear panel work fine.

Updated all the USB drivers to the last version available, with no effect.

The device manager does not show anything wrong ...

... but, me too, I've noticed the "Power surge on hub port" errors if I simply disable the "Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller" and then enable it again, without actually attaching any device to the USB ports (!?)

At this point I don't think it could be an hardware issue with the cabling from the mother board connector to the front panel, but really something in the BIOS.

If I understand well, the two front panel USB 3.0 ports are the ones controlled by the Renesas controller and not by the Intel one.

You wrote that it is most likely a hardware issue but SomeCrazyComputerGuy has the same chassis like me, a fractal design r3 and a bios update fixed it for him.

I have the same case with my DH77EB and I had the exact same issue with a power surge error until I upgraded to the latest firmware for my motherboard. The firmware release notes included a entry for "updated USB 3 pin-outs" and was dated 4-26-2012.

Not the same board but similar. So a bios update would probably fix it for me too. There is already a front panel USB fix in the latest bios for my board but that is a different fix, according to Intel tech support:

Furthermore, the Fixed issue with front USB port

was that you got a yellow bang on device manager and the USB 3.0 port was running as if it were a USB 2.0,

therefore, the issue does not relate to the problem the motherboard was presenting.

Seems that that's not the pin-out fix. So when they release a pin-out fix for my board it might solve the issue. That's how i am thinking.

This is how it looks like in Device Manager for me if it matters.

I adopted a kind of drastic solution, but it worked.

I simply cut out the pin 10 from the USB 3.0 front header on my DZ77BH-55K mother board.

Now the two USB 3.0 ports on the front panel of the case work fine!

I don't get any more power surge errors, the devices are detected and data transfer through them works too.

Andrea

Hi

Super news, thanks for trying this and reporting back. How did you snip the pin?

So we have DIY route, better than dismantling and sending the board back, which I wouldn't be surprised if all Intel starts doing is snipping the pin and sending the same board back.

Regards

Phil

Gents before cutting please first try the latest driver

It fixed the same issue's for our mobo:

DZ68BC Front Case USB 3.0 Not working Properly

Gents problem finally solved, use driver version 2.1.36.0

http://www.bodegom.nl/setup2.1.36.0.exe

Arthur Bodegom

The Netherlands

Please let me know if it worked for you

Hi

Thank you for the info however I think with the newest crop of boards the problem is different, specifically with messages regarding the hub and a power surge.

Intel has published a notice for at least one of their Z77 boards that a pin is being removed from the USB socket on the motherboard.  If this were fixable via a driver update why physically modify the design and notify partners?

One user has removed the pin and without needing new drivers has a functioning Renesys USB ports.

Hopefully someone with this specific problem can try the new drivers and let us know if it does fix it, however all indicators point to Pin 10 being an issue on these newer boards due to a wiring problem.

Regards

Phil

I finally got the time to test the Intel USB 3.0 Bracket that i got with my mobo:

and it worked fine.

I don't see any difference between the cable on that and the cable going from my front panel to the USB 3 header. They look the same except the front panel cable is blue. Both has 20 holes in it. So i don't get why front panel is not working properly.

Hi

I think it is how pin 10 is terminated internally in the connector.  Some connectors are doing something different with pin 10 than Intel imagined.

Regards

Phil

I believe that Andrea has the most viable solution: Surgically remove Pin #10 from the front panel USB3 connector.

While looking for componants for my next build, I stumbled into a Product Change Notification for the mother board I had just purchased, which seems to carry along with it this very same plague! Within the notification, Intel admits to a problem for which it intends on releasing refabricated mother boards, minus the #10 USB3 pin, but not until the buggy ones, already in the pipeline for distribution, have been depleted.

Rather than repeat myself, please read the posts here regarding the newly released: INTEL  DZ77RE-75K

Thanks

I chatted with Intel tech support again and i asked about your board and pointed them to the pdf file you linked. She told me the reason they are removing pin 10 is not a issue / design flaw, its just an improvement they are doing to that board. I told her someone in the forums snipped pin 10 and solved the issue but she told me that if i do the same it can happen that it will not solve my issue but it will void warranty. So i will not snip anything. She also told me this is not a known issue and i should contact Intel by phone.

I bought an internal USB 3.0 extensions cable that i will use to connect the Intel bracket to motherboard. So i will use that instead. And hopefully there will be a solution to the front port issue in the future.

Interesting!

Sounds rather evasive, especially since the Product Change Notification sheet for DZ77RE-75 specifially states that the removal of Pin 10 from the Front Panel USB 3.0 connector is to: "resolve a front panel false over current message."

If not Intel, who do you call!?

Thanks

New USB 3.0 drivers availble at the link below. See if this fix your problem and report your findings here ! I am surprise Intel try to rectify this issue rather concentrating on the UEFI issue that is more serious (consider a person cannot even boot into windows)

Download Center