USB-3 ports work, USB-2 ports don't? One tip

[Stray_dog]

I booted a couple versions of Slacko, Tahr & Lucid on my mom's laptop (an Asus Q301L) & it has one USB 3 port & a couple ports that are USB 2. In Windows, all USB ports worked. In Puppy, the USB 2 ports had power - I could charge a phone on them for example. But external drives, flash drives, etc were not recognized. The USB 3 worked fine, so it wasn't a problem for me, but I got curious.

In BIOS, under USB configuration, try setting XHCI pre boot mode to disabled, save changes & exit, then boot Puppy again. Solved! All usb ports now work.

Thought I'd leave this tip, in case someone else could find it useful.

[mikewalsh]

Here's a fairly straight-forward, easy-to-understand explanation:-

"xHCI Mode = Disabled - The on-board USB 3.0 port function like a 2.0 port

xHCI Mode = Enabled - The on-board USB 3.0 port function like a 3.0 port

xHCI Mode = Auto - The on-board USB 3.0 port function like a 2.0 port before OS USB 3.0 driver load. If you reboot the OS, the on-board USB 3.0 port again function like a 2.0 port during this reboot BIOS phase before OS USB 3.0 driver load.

xHCI Mode = Smart Auto - The on-board USB 3.0 port function like a 2.0 port before OS USB 3.0 driver load. If you reboot the OS, during this reboot BIOS phase, BIOS is "Smart" enough to avoid downgrade the USB 3.0 port back to 2.0 functionality before OS USB 3.0 driver load. So Smart Auto is faster than Auto on 2nd boot onward, but Enabled is fastest once you are sure the OS has the USB 3.0 driver installed, because it avoid the switching. Making the on-board USB 3.0 port function like a 2.0 port is mainly to support OS installation or to support OS that does not have build-in USB 3.0 driver, so that the USB keyboard would still work if the user plug-in a USB keyboard or any other USB devices into the USB 3.0 ports before the OS is installed with the USB 3.0 driver come with the motherboard."

.....from here:-

https://superuser.com/questions/480045/ ... 834b4334b1

Mike.

[Stray_dog]

That's great. I just had the chance to do some cleanup on my stepfather's laptop, whis is also from Asus but a different model. What I would call it's bios - it calls itself Aptio Setup Utility I think - had these 4 options to choose from. The older Asus with the older Aptio utility just had two choices - enabled or disabled.

I haven't had time to try all four choices to see if/how they affect booting, but when I get the chance, I will find out.