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8GB Flash Voyager - locks USB at post


lylehm

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Hi,

I have a recent (purchased 7/2009) 8GB Flash Voyager. If it's plugged into a USB port on my system during power on, the system freezes during the post process.

I've tested two scenarios:

 

1. Plugged into the USB passthrough on my internal card reader (which is plugged into a MB USB header):

Post locks as soon as power is supplied to the USB bus. The mouse LED never lights.

 

2. Plugged into the USB2 hub built into my monitor (which is connected to a MB rear USB port):

When power is supplied to the USB bus, the mouse LED illuminates. The LED on the Voyager blinks repeatedly, then stops. The mouse LED remains on, but post never resumes.

 

When I use 2 other vendor's smaller, less impressive, USB sticks (alone or simultaneously), the system passes post with no problem and is able to boot from said drives. One of the other USB drives is formatted in FAT. The Voyager and the other drive are formatted HFS+. If the Voyager is plugged in after the system boots, it works normally.

 

Anyone have any clues?

 

MB is a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD5

 

Thanks!

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Try using the USB device without the card reader or hub on the monitor. Let me know what happens.

 

Hi RAM GUY,

 

Thanks for the reply. I disconnected all my USB peripherals (except the USB ports integrated into my case and connected to the MB header). POST still stops at the moment USB typically lights my mouse (when it's connected).

 

Over the weekend, I'll remove ALL USB related equipment from the Gigabyte MB and try again (headers and all).

 

I just plugged the Voyager into an old Dell XPS Gen3 and cold started. The unit booted with the flash drive connected. Although I little early to say, I'm wondering if the Voyager and the Gigabyte just don't get along at POST.

 

Regards,

Lylehm

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Hi Ram Guy,

I haven't gotten to gut my system as yet. But hope to soon. Also, I've updated to the beta F9E BIOS for my GA-EX58-UD5 logic board. Although USB issues aren't noted in the release notes, I still have my fingers crossed.

When I get some time to really troubleshoot, I may also disable "USB Legacy Support" in the BIOS to see if that makes a difference.

To answer your other questions...

1. When the flash drive is connected during POST, the system ALWAYS locks the moment the USB becomes active.

2. If the Flash Voyager is connected after POST, it works perfectly (although I'm not running Windows).

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Toggling the USB Storage mode in BIOS sets the system to not detect USB storage devices during POST. That resolves the issue of the Voyager locking the system during POST. Of course, it also keeps me from using the Voyager as a boot device or boot loader (which I could do with the other brand USB flash drives).

The BIOS update had no effect on this behavior.

I may have to resign myself to the fact that this device is for storage only (in my scenario) and go buy another that can boot with my system. No biggie. Of course, if you have any other thoughts...

Thanks for all your help!

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Thanks Ram Guy. It really seems to be an incompatibility between my UD5 logic board and the Voyager. It's hard to justify the effort of an exchange if the odds are good that the problem will continue.

Also, it seems odd to claim on the warranty when the product isn't really defective.

I think a different model is going to be a better strategy. Which Corsair USB Flash drive is best suited as a bootable device for a non-Windows OS?

Don't worry about the Voyager, it will still be put to good use.

Regards,

Lyle M.

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Thanks again Ram Guy!

 

I found this thread that is almost assuredly related:

 

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f69/ex58-ud5-bios-crash-sandisk-cruzer-usb-stick-29904/

(sorry there's another mfg's name in there - hopefully it doesn't get censored out)

 

If you're curious, feel free to check out my post therein. Chances are good that this is a problem specific to the BIOS on my model main board. After I updated my BIOS, all of my flash drives caused the lock at POST, not just the Voyager.

I'm assuming the Voyager (aside from being 8GB vs. 4GB) has some difference from my other flash drives that made it more "incompatible" with my system. I'd love to pin that down if possible.

 

At this time, it appears that there is nothing wrong with the Voyager - no apologies needed!

 

Regards.

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  • 2 months later...

Turns out the problem related to the formatting of any USB media inserted at boot. FAT volumes had no issues. The Mac's HFS+ file system caused the lock early in POST. The Voyager was always HFS+, so it always had the issue. My other USB media kept changing and appeared to intermittently have the problem.

Cheers,

Lyle

----------------

UPDATE: HFS+ by itself works fine. The POST hang/freeze occurs when I have a bootloader installed.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Ram Guy,

Actually, my goal is to boot a non-Windows OS from that HFS+ formatted Voyager. With the latest F9P beta bios, I just did. Schweet.

Ironically, I just sold this system. The next build will use the next rev of the same board - hopefully with the same USB boot success.

My next build includes a Corsair HX850 PSU and will likely end up with Corsair RAM. Aside from being excellent products, the level of support makes the buying decision easy.

Thanks for all your assistance.

-Lyle

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