Plugable USB 3 docking station problem w/Asus card OK with J-Tech Hub

I purchased and installed a Plugable USB 3 SATA docking station. I upgraded the firmware plugged into USB 2. The device is NOT recognized when hooked directly to an Asus U3S6 SATA/USB3 controller with the current “Asus” drivers. The green light comes on, the drive spins up, the green light goes out. The docking station is working when plugged into a J-Tech USB 3 hub that is plugged into a different port on the Asus card. I have tried swapping the Asus ports and there is no change in behavior. Please advise me how to proceed. Thank-you. Stuart

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for your patience. This is an interesting one, since it’s working through the USB 3 hub, but not direct!

I’m suspecting a firmware or driver issue with the USB 3.0 host controller, which the hub is able to mask. If that’s the case, it’s good because the host controller firmware and drivers are upgradable (separately - driver comes in a different package from firmware).

The U3S6 uses an NEC/Renesas USB 3.0 chipset (the same as in our http://plugable.com/products/pci3-usb…). NEC/Renesas have fixed a lot of issues and made a lot of improvements since USB 3.0 products first launched, and those updates are continuing.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any official ASUS updates, but there is some discussion on the ASUS U3S6 forum on how to do it: http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx?i…

Our recommendation would be to continue to use through the USB 3.0 hub, until/if an update of the host’s firmware and drivers can be done.

Hope this background helps. Let us know if you see a specific way we can help more, and let us know any outcomes here.

Thank you!
Bernie