BIOS USB settings for Solus/ GA-990FX-GAMING

Drewfus

I have a system with a Gigabyte GA -990FX-GAMING mobo I have recently installed Solus 4 on.
During installation I had to plug and replug my KB and mouse into different ports to get them recognized to finish install process. I got it installed, and have spent a few days customizing it and installing stuff I needed.
All was going well until I tried installing my usb accessories like my camera and Xbox controller. I can't seem to find the right bios settings to get all my usb ports working, and I need to basically use ALL of them on the MOBO as the USB header that should feed my case front 3.0 usb ports is damaged.
I have tried every possible combo in the BIOS (I think I have at least...) and can't seem to get 4 of the USB's in the back working in Solus, though all worked flawlessly when I ran Solus as a VM inside of Windows 10.

PLEASE anyone with any ideas/tricks to get these working please chime in because this may be a deal breaker for me running Solus if I can't fix it.

here is my system info
Host: solusbox Kernel: 4.20.16-112.current x86_64 bits: 64
Desktop: Budgie 10.5 Distro: Solus 4.0
Machine:
Type: Desktop System: Gigabyte product: N/A v: N/A serial: <filter>
Mobo: Gigabyte model: GA-990FX-GAMING v: x.x serial: <filter>
UEFI: American Megatrends v: F2 date: 04/06/2016
CPU:
Topology: 8-Core model: AMD FX-8370 bits: 64 type: MCP L2 cache: 2048 KiB
Speed: 2292 MHz min/max: 1400/4100 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 3045 2: 2406
3: 1702 4: 2010 5: 1889 6: 1777 7: 1406 8: 1402
Graphics:
Device-1: AMD Hawaii PRO [Radeon R9 290/390] driver: amdgpu v: kernel
Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.3 driver: amdgpu,ati
unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,radeon,vesa resolution: 3840x2160_30Hz
OpenGL: renderer: AMD Radeon R9 390 Series (HAWAII DRM 3.27.0
4.20.16-112.current LLVM 7.0.0)
v: 4.5 Mesa 19.0.0
Audio:
Device-1: AMD Hawaii HDMI Audio [Radeon R9 290/290X / 390/390X]
driver: snd_hda_intel
Device-2: C-Media CMI8788 [Oxygen HD Audio] driver: snd_virtuoso
Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.20.16-112.current
Network:
Device-1: Qualcomm Atheros Killer E220x Gigabit Ethernet driver: alx
IF: enp6s0 state: up speed: 1000 Mbps duplex: full mac: <filter>
Drives:

Drewfus

Nothing in 5 days... still have same problem. Cant game, as xbox 360 receiver is not happy in a usb hub

[deleted]

Are you sure it isn't a hardware issue?

Drewfus

Not a hardware issue. All ports worked under previous OS (win10prox64) and even with solus as a virtual machine under windoze.
Since install I have tried all different settings and have at best gotten 2x3.1 and 1x3 USB ports to works. I have to run mouse, kB, camera via a hub on one and external drive and Xbox 360 receiver on their own ports or they don’t work/work well. Seems like a big compromise when the MB has like 5 other USB ports.

[deleted]

Drewfus Have you tried another Linux OS eg. via a live USB?

Drewfus

[deleted] Kali, Solus, Manjaro and TAILS all have same issue when loaded as live OS . USB legacy ports all pass .5v but no data/OS recognition.

Drewfus

not yet. I have a few live OS disks/usb I'll see whats up booting like that. Didn't have a problem with any live OS's on disk or usb before the Solus install, so that can be telling. I'll give it a try when I get home

Drewfus

With CD based live versions of Solus and Tails I still have no legacy USB access. I didn't try usb with a live distros because I need all 3 active USB for KB Mouse and external drive

Drewfus

So my USB issue is either hardware related, which I doubt as they all worked right up to moment of Solus install, or more likely BIOS, right? So back to OP, what BIOS settings are you all using on Gigabyte Mobos as far as UEFI, handoff, legacy support. and so on. Sucks to have to choose between gaming (plugging in my xbox360 receiver) or access to my media files (plugging in external drive)

dbarron

I know this isn't helpful with your current situtation, but is advise that might help in the future.
Get a system with a metric ton of connectors (USB). I have like 8 on my back plane, and 4 in front. I think two on each are USB 3 and the rest are USB 2.
I've actually never had a USB connector that works in one OS and not in another, so I don't really have any other suggestions, but at least if you have a lot, chances are some will work (lol).

Drewfus

dbarron my Mobo has 8 in back and 2 front ports (those 2 don't work because my mobo usb header got damaged) and I am just trying to get all of them in back to work!

Drewfus

USB ports that do not work will still pass .5v for charging power etc, they just don't pass data/aren't seen by the OS

dbarron

I see. Well at least you basically had plenty. I wish you luck, I don't believe if they were functional in other OS, that any bios modifications should be necessary. Though Windows has a reputation (probably deserved) of drivers that work around iffy hardware. Another possible solution would be a USB hub device, they're cheap and I bought one for my server. I'd attach the slow devices to it and put the drive on another port if you did that.

Drewfus

dbarron I do use a hub for KB, cam, thumb drives. and the like. I have a minimum of 3 devices that want dedicated ports to work well/at all, and have only 3 ports to play with now, so I have to plug/unplug my external drive and game controller receiver whenever I want to use them

dbarron

Hey, you're ahead of me at every turn. Lol.

Drewfus

during install of Soulus my KB and mouse "disappeared " as they were in legacy ports, so to even complete install I had to unplug all other USB devices and find the USB ports that were still "active", those being the 3 usb 3 flavored ones that continue to work. No change I have tried in BIOS so far has enabled the rest of them.

[deleted]

Is your power supply capable of providing enough current for all the devices? In other words, does the situation get worse if you plug in more peripherals?

Drewfus

[deleted] 850 watt Corsair with 4 x.5v rails running only one low draw video card

Drewfus

850 watt Corsair with 4 x.5v rails running only one low draw video card

arkhenius

Hmmm, does not sound like a Solus issue, as these stuff are either hardware related (which concerns the Linux kernel as that handles the hardware) or BIOS related. We would know for sure if you could use a live CD/USB to test it under another distribution. That is a fairly mature motherboard so I assume the latest kernel update would not fix it either... Unfortunate part is, it is difficult to suggest anything BIOS related without having access to a motherboard that has the same BIOS. I am stumped, sorry 🙁

Drewfus

arkhenius did the live distro and had same issue, this is BIOS related for sure. I have latest BIOS and kernel installed