[HH] FW: FW: Good Quality Usb 3.0 Cable?

Mon Feb 17 08:52:49 EST 2014

From: Judy Cone [mailto:jlc at mcci.com] 
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2014 8:07 AM
To: 'Phil C.'; testing at mcci.com
Subject: RE: [HH] FW: Good Quality Usb 3.0 Cable?

Hi Phil,

If you go to http://www.usb.org/kcompliance/view you can select product
classes and see those that have passed the compliance testing.  I think this
might help you find a certified cable and some devices.  Let me know if this
doesn't help.

Best regards,

Judy Cone
Operations

607-277-1029 X105
jlc at mcci.com
www.mcci.com <http://www.mcci.com/> 

MCCI Corporation
3520 Krums Corners Road
Ithaca, NY  14850

From: Phil C. [mailto:charlestek at rcn.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 9:23 PM
To: testing at mcci.com
Subject: FW: [HH] FW: Good Quality Usb 3.0 Cable?

Is there a public list of Usb-IF SuperSpeed certified cables (or devices for
that matter).

It is crazy that USB-IF doesn't publish this publically.

Thanks,

Phil

From: Phil C. [mailto:charlestek at rcn.com] 
Sent: Friday, February 14, 2014 9:22 PM
To: 'Phil C.'; 'hardwarehacking at blu.org'
Subject: RE: [HH] FW: Good Quality Usb 3.0 Cable?

I picked up a Nippon Labs Usb 3.0 A Male to B Male three foot cable from
Newegg.

Connected the usb 3.0 drive enclosure to the W530 thinkpad usb 3.0 port,
Drive was recognized but showed a Portable Device "unknown device" in the
device manager,
and a "device error" on the device list in the Metro UI

Connected the old original usb 3.0 cable and the device shows up as a full
speed usb 3.0 device in the Metro UI

Just installed some windows updates.

Now the old cable produces an oscillating detection/undetection of the drive
in a loop.

The Nippon Labs cable now seems to work.

The Thinkpad bios has a setting for auto detect of Usb 3.0, but switching to
manual usb 3.0 only does not help.

Am running Windows 8.1 which has a brand new Microsoft driver Usb 3.0 stack
to replace the intel one used in Windows 7
Using someone else's inf hack to install the intel drivers for Win 7
resulted in the OS drive getting corrupted.

USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum Usb.org)has a USB compliance certification
testing program:
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110301005115/en/USB-IF-Announces-Wav
e-Certified-SuperSpeed-USB-Consumer

http://www.usb.org/developers/compliance/ssusb_testing/
http://www.usb.org/developers/compliance/cable/

If a manufacturer passes the test they can label their device "SuperSpeed
USB certified"

However the list of certified integrators is only available to registered
manufacturers, not the public

The best I could do is try a google search of "superspeed usb-if 3.0 cable
certified"
and find that StarTech and Belkin SuperSpeed cables are certified

From: hardwarehacking-bounces+charlestek=rcn.com at blu.org
[mailto:hardwarehacking-bounces+charlestek=rcn.com at blu.org] On Behalf Of
Phil C.
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 6:42 PM
To: hardwarehacking at blu.org
Subject: [HH] FW: Good Quality Usb 3.0 Cable?

From: Phil C. [mailto:charlestek at rcn.com] 
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 5:27 PM
To: 'Tom Metro'
Subject: RE: [HH] Good Quality Usb 3.0 Cable?

The differences are summarized here:
http://www.usb.org/developers/presentations/pres1108/SuperSpeed_USB_DevCon_C
able_and_Connnector_Ling.pdf
see pages 6-9

Of course this "should be perfected".  However, quality of materials used in
the connectors... plating, insulator, etc. etc.
probably varies a good bit.

I am using the cable that came with the Usb 3.0 3.5" hard drive enclosure
for Sata Drives.  This was one of the first ones on the market a few years
ago, so I suspect that the mechanical specs of the connector were not done
anywhere near the tolerance they should be, or it is just a crappy job.
The connector is definitely too long and does not mate solidly.

Here's more Usb 3.0 questions you were afraid to ask:

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/archive/2012/06/27/how-to-determine-whet
her-a-usb-3-0-device-is-operating-at-superspeed.aspx#_Use_USBView_to

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/windowshardware/USBView-sample-application-e3
241039

http://plugable.com/2012/12/01/windows-8-and-intel-usb-3-0-host-controllers

 <http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/highlights/sftwr-prod/usb3ehcd>
http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/highlights/sftwr-prod/usb3ehcd
 <http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/usb3/sb/CS-033977.htm>
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/usb3/sb/CS-033977.htm

<http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn423379(v=vs.85).
aspx>
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/dn423379(v=vs.85).a
spx
 <http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/> http://blogs.msdn.com/b/usbcoreblog/

-----Original Message-----
From: Tom Metro [mailto:tmetro+hhacking at gmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, February 10, 2014 4:11 PM
To: Phil C.
Cc: hardwarehacking at blu.org
Subject: Re: [HH] Good Quality Usb 3.0 Cable?

Phil C. wrote:
> The Usb 3.0 cable that
> came with it makes poor contact with the Usb 3.0 jack in my Lenovo W530.
> 
> The cable connector seems to have up and down lateral movement in the 
> laptop jack, so it is clear it does not fit well and at times causes 
> the device to be detected then undetected.

Are USB 3.0 connectors mechanically different from 2.0 connectors? (From the
pictures the "B" connectors do appear to be different.)

If they're the same, shouldn't this be well perfected tech? If you have a
cable that's not working well, I would just attribute that to bad luck and
try the next low-cost, conveniently obtained alternative.

Sadly cables are one of the items that retailers love to mark-up, often by
several hundred percent. Best price is always found mail order, but then
you're stuck buying a bunch in bulk to offset the shipping costs.

As of yet I only own a USB 3.0 flash drive and thus haven't purchased any
3.0 cabling but I often buy cables from:

<http://www.outletpc.com/cables-computer-cables-usb-cables-usb-3-0-a-to-b.ht
ml>
http://www.outletpc.com/cables-computer-cables-usb-cables-usb-3-0-a-to-b.htm
l

If price isn't an issue, pick something from a reputable brand at Micro
Center or You-Do-It and try it out, knowing you can return it if it doesn't
fit snugly.

-Tom
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