Windows 7 (and 8) startup and shutdown issues... USB3 related?

[kiddingguy]

I have installed a new CPU cooler - Zalman CNPS12X.

I also did a reinstall of my system, "since it was that time of year".

However, now I am experiencing issues when booting and shutting down Windows. I have figured it out this only happens when a USB3 external (Western Digital) HDD is attached (when these aren't connected everything is running like charm).

I have installed the SES drivers as well as the USB 3.0 drivers (Win 7 64-bit) for my Asus mobo from tha Asus site. Still without success.

I even installed Windows 8 - since there is native USB3 support - but also here: same problems.

It used to work with my old - and kinda EOL - CPU cooler attached to my mobo with Windows 7 64-bit installed.

Can the (USB3) connectors be damaged on my mobo - and thus behavior like this - during my swap of the new CPU cooler?

Or is it hardware/software/drivers related? And if so, what can be done?

[kiddingguy]

Any suggestions?

[Elliot B.]

Any suggestions?

Try connecting it to a different system and see if there are similar issues.

[DKAngel]

look up the chipset of ur usb3, its most likely nec and see if there is firmware updates to it, i did it to my asus board

[Crisp]

Are you using an SSD as your main drive? I had a problem of boot up when I had a USB stick plugged in. Turned out the SSD needed its firmware updating.

[kiddingguy]

I'll try connecting to another machine.

I don't think it's SSD or SSD FW related because it used to work on the same machine (only with a different CPU cooler)

[kiddingguy]

I have found it.

It's a faulty WD USB3 drive. When not connecting this one, it all goes well.

I hope I can recover the data on it, but I guess that will Norton Ghost tell me soon...

[LUTZIFER]

My computer doesn't startup/shutdown as fast as it did before I added a Western Digital external USB3 drive.

[goretsky Supervisor]

Hello,

I have found that sometimes disconnecting an external drive via the "Safely Remove Media..." icon in the system tray notification area before shutting the system down allows for a quicker shut down.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky