Two Aura & USB 3.1 Gen 2 Bugs on STRIX Z370-E

[-Alex-]

I've come here to report two issues regarding the STRIX Z370-E Gaming - only reporting them together because perhaps they're related.

I preface this by saying I'm running the latest BIOS/UEFI at default settings, and Windows 10 LTSB fully updated.

The nature of these issues are of the hard-to-explain sort, so bear with me.


ISSUE 1: USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Red) Ports Do Not Work Properly

Upon boot, it appears that devices connected to the USB Gen 2 ports do power-on. However, this effect is temporary and they shut-off once the ASUS splash screen into Windows shows. I cannot get these devices to work during actual use of the system, they only temporarily flash-on at boot and that's it.

As I said, my BIOS are unmodified, but I still checked the USB settings. All USBs are enabled. Thus, disablement is not the issue.



ISSUE 2: Attempting To Disable USB Charging Disables ASUS Aura RGB Strip In The Motherboard

To be clear, by USB charging I mean that I wanted to stop my devices from having power flowing to them when the PC is in the "off" state. I posted to reddit about it and I forget what setting they said it was, but I do remember that I had to set it to "S4/S5" or "S5" and I tried both.

The only result was that it failed to do what he said it would, but for some reason it completely shut-off the RGB strip inside the motherboard instead. Naturally since none of that was the result I had hoped for, I reverted the changes back to default.



So that's the issues explained. I may make a video to better illustrate the points later.

Like I said, I figured I'd report both together because I feel like they might be related. I have a feeling like perhaps something in the motherboard or the BIOS/UEFI programming is crossed or in the wrong order. I mean, why would disabling USB Charging not only fail to achieve the intended result, but ALSO cause the RGB strip to be disabled instead? It's as if the BIOS thinks the RGB strip IS the USB or something and disabled the wrong thing. I dunno...

I've seen some other threads regarding USB 3.1 Gen 2 not working as well as issues with the Aura strip on this particular board as well. I feel like maybe ASUS should take a look at their programming in the BIOS for these, especially any code that handles both the USB ports and the RGB strip together.

Thanks.

[cl-Adrian]

-Alex- wrote:
I've come here to report two issues regarding the STRIX Z370-E Gaming - only reporting them together because perhaps they're related.

I preface this by saying I'm running the latest BIOS/UEFI at default settings, and Windows 10 LTSB fully updated.

The nature of these issues are of the hard-to-explain sort, so bear with me.


ISSUE 1: USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Red) Ports Do Not Work Properly

Upon boot, it appears that devices connected to the USB Gen 2 ports do power-on. However, this effect is temporary and they shut-off once the ASUS splash screen into Windows shows. I cannot get these devices to work during actual use of the system, they only temporarily flash-on at boot and that's it.

As I said, my BIOS are unmodified, but I still checked the USB settings. All USBs are enabled. Thus, disablement is not the issue.



ISSUE 2: Attempting To Disable USB Charging Disables ASUS Aura RGB Strip In The Motherboard

To be clear, by USB charging I mean that I wanted to stop my devices from having power flowing to them when the PC is in the "off" state. I posted to reddit about it and I forget what setting they said it was, but I do remember that I had to set it to "S4/S5" or "S5" and I tried both.

The only result was that it failed to do what he said it would, but for some reason it completely shut-off the RGB strip inside the motherboard instead. Naturally since none of that was the result I had hoped for, I reverted the changes back to default.



So that's the issues explained. I may make a video to better illustrate the points later.

Like I said, I figured I'd report both together because I feel like they might be related. I have a feeling like perhaps something in the motherboard or the BIOS/UEFI programming is crossed or in the wrong order. I mean, why would disabling USB Charging not only fail to achieve the intended result, but ALSO cause the RGB strip to be disabled instead? It's as if the BIOS thinks the RGB strip IS the USB or something and disabled the wrong thing. I dunno...

I've seen some other threads regarding USB 3.1 Gen 2 not working as well as issues with the Aura strip on this particular board as well. I feel like maybe ASUS should take a look at their programming in the BIOS for these, especially any code that handles both the USB ports and the RGB strip together.

Thanks.

Can you send me your full specification,

Whats your BIOS Version:


​My email is cl-adrian@asus.com.:

[-Alex-]

Sorry for the late reply, I immediately went to bed after posting as I figured it'd take longer for a response than it actually did.

Hmm, I didn't figure specification beyond the motherboard model, and the fact that the OS and BIOS being latest would be relevant, but alright.

Here's a little Imgur album in case you'd like a bit of visual representation - I'll note it's my first-ever build and I just kinda threw it together (and the room is kind-of a mess right now, yeah): https://imgur.com/a/cqBUmdF

Here's a full rundown:

HARDWARE:
Motherboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z370-E GAMING
CPU: Intel i7 8700k
GPU: ASUS GTX 1060 6GB
Memory: Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB (2x8) @ 3200Mhz
Storage: 256GB Samsung 970 Evo
Power Supply: EVGA Supernova G+ 750W
Cooler: Deepcool Captain 240 EX White
Case: Phanteks P400S White
Fans: 2x Deepcool Fans (CPU cooler) and 1x Phanteks Case Fan (came with case)
Extra Case Fans 3x Corsair Masterfan 120 Air Balance (if you count the GPU and PSU fans, this thing has a grand total of 9 fans in it...)

PERIPHERALS:
1x Acer - ET241Y Abmir Monitor (1080P IPS Overclocked to 70Hz)
1x Rottay RGB Keyboard
1x Razer Lancehead Tournament Edition White Mouse
1x Creative Pebble White Speakers
1x Razer Goliathus Chroma Extend Mousepad
1x OPPO HA-2 AMP+DAC to AKG K7XX Headphones
1x Logitech C930e Webcam
1x Audio Technica AT2020 USB+ Microphone
1x Amazon Basics USB-C to USB-A Hub
1x Xbox 360 Wireless Dongle + Controller
2x Extra Mice

SOFTWARE:
BIOS/UEFI: Version 1002 (latest)
OS: Windows 10 LTSB x64 (fully updated)
GPU Driver: 399.24 (latest)
Other Drivers - All Drivers From The MOBO Product Support Page Installed
All drivers and software for products I simply know would require extra installation (EG: ASUS Aura, Corsair iCUE, Cooler Master RGB Controller, Razer Synapse, ASUS GPU Tweak II) are installed.
System is scanned periodically with Driver Booster Pro and driver installs or updates applied accordingly when needed.

But yeah you see those two mice to either side of my monitor? Those should be lighting up (I only put them there for visual reasons - I mean I just had them laying around, may as well use them for something) but they're not. And yes, I did attempt plugging directly into the red USB port and not through the USB-C to A hub, to no avail. What's odd is that things plugged into the USB 3.1 ports feel as if they're getting power (warm, or sometimes even charging indicator lights), but they simply will not interface with the system at all.

This is all putting aside my wanting to ensure that USB powers off when the system is off - that's the other less signficant issue but I'd still like to fix it if possible.


Thank you.

[Praz]

-Alex- wrote:


ISSUE 2: Attempting To Disable USB Charging Disables ASUS Aura RGB Strip In The Motherboard

To be clear, by USB charging I mean that I wanted to stop my devices from having power flowing to them when the PC is in the "off" state. I posted to reddit about it and I forget what setting they said it was, but I do remember that I had to set it to "S4/S5" or "S5" and I tried both.

The only result was that it failed to do what he said it would, but for some reason it completely shut-off the RGB strip inside the motherboard instead. Naturally since none of that was the result I had hoped for, I reverted the changes back to default.

Hello

S4/S5 and S5 settings are for the ErP configuration state. ErP mandates that less than 1W of power be used when a device is turned off. Disabling LED lighting is required when these settings are enabled and is expected behavior.

[-Alex-]

Praz wrote:
Hello

S4/S5 and S5 settings are for the ErP configuration state. ErP mandates that less than 1W of power be used when a device is turned off. Disabling LED lighting is required when these settings are enabled and is expected behavior.

I assume that you mean that only "Aura on Shutdown" would be affected - but that was not the case. The LEDs were disabled at all times, including while the computer is fully active with all devices on.

Furthermore, it did not stop power flowing to USB devices on shutdown anyway. The reason I wanted to enable that was because I didn't want devices such as my microphone and camera to continue receiving power after the computer is shut-off - however their LEDs were still illuminated after shut-down even when S4/S5 or S5 was enabled. Changing the setting ONLY caused the RGB strip to no longer work, it did nothing else.

Basically - those settings did none of the things I thought it would and all of the things I didn't want it to. It didn't disable USB power on shutdown, and it broke the internal LED strip.

I figure this is not the intended result that is supposed to happen.

Upon returning to default settings, the LED strip was fixed.

USBs did not care about the setting either way. They functioned the same whether it was set to "Disabled" "S4/S5" or "S5", no difference.

Lets not forget that the USB 3.1 (red) ports are broken for me and apparently many others using the latest BIOS as well.

I just wonder if these issues might all be related somehow.

EDIT: I'D ALSO LIKE TO NOTE THAT THE 1.06.29 AURA DRIVERS DIDN'T WORK FOR ME EITHER.

I forgot to mention this - I had to downgrade to Aura 1.06.17 to control the RGB strip in the motherboard. On the latest (1.06.29) version, trying to save any changes would result in just being returned to default (pressing "save" after making changes would result in the control panel going back to it's default state and doing nothing to the strip). In other words, changes could not be saved.

Aura 1.06.17 appears to work just fine though. Only Aura 1.06.29 seems broken for me. That said, the 1.06.29 version DOES say "Tailored for Patriot and HyperX RAM" which, does that mean that people who DON'T have those things are supposed to avoid using it? Might want to write that in bold red text on the download page then so that there's no misunderstanding. Lots of people will just download the latest version, even if the latest version doesn't have any changes relevant to them.

I believe I've also read about other Aura users having that same problem with the Z370-E and the latest Aura version.

Thought maybe that's worth mentioning too. Just trying to give you as much info as possible to narrow down the issue. I just want to figure out what the core of this wonkiness with my motherboard is, and if it's just me or also others having these problems on this same model of motherboard. If it were just me that'd be one thing, but given how many duplicates of people with my same problems there are, I start to suspect that something isn't quite right in the BIOS/UEFI programming or something.

Thanks.

[Praz]

-Alex- wrote:
Furthermore, it did not stop power flowing to USB devices on shutdown anyway. The reason I wanted to enable that was because I didn't want devices such as my microphone and camera to continue receiving power after the computer is shut-off - however their LEDs were still illuminated after shut-down even when S4/S5 or S5 was enabled. Changing the setting ONLY caused the RGB strip to no longer work, it did nothing else.

Hello


Enable ErP S4/S5 and the USB ports will no longer powered in the shutdown states.

[-Alex-]

Praz wrote:
Hello


Enable ErP S4/S5 and the USB ports will no longer powered in the shutdown states.

I just attempted this once again, and the USBs are still powered at shutdown. I could record myself doing it if you don't believe me.

But this issue bothers me a lot less than the fact that my USB 3.1 / Gen 2 ports don't appear to work at all (aside from supplying power sometimes). So I place solving that as top priority over this specific little nagging issue.