Asus PRIME B550M-A motherboard - U32G1_1 & U32G1_2 not working (front panel USB ports)

[SJW]

Hello,

I built an Asus PRIME B550M-A motherboard and AMD Ryzen 5 5600x CPU into my Hewlett Packard Pavilion 500 case because the HP motherboard didn't support Windows 11.

Everything works fine and fast, except for the two front panel USB ports. They are connected tot the USB 3 header of the motherboard but they look dead.

I already did the following to find a possible cause of the issue:

- upgraded BIOS to most recent version (3607);

- checked if all USB ports are enabled within BIOS. Noticed that U32G1_1 & U32G1_2 are both displayed and enabled. Side note: noticed U32G1_3 is not displayed in BIOS but seems to work fine so just a side note;

- installed most recent chipset drivers;

- tested with Windows 11 Pro and with Ubuntu 24.04;

- later today I will test a new USB 3 cable with 2 USB front panel ports. I ordered it from Amazon just to test if the current cable and front panel ports could be the cause of the issue.  I don't expect the new cable plus ports will solve the issue though, because the cable and USB ports are - to my knowledge - just passive physical connections.

Questions:

1) does anyone recognize my issue and knows the solution or additional tests?

2) does anyone know if the dead USB 3 header is an issue with the former and current BIOS version of the B550M-A motherboard?

Thanks in advance!

SJW

[SJW · Accepted solution]

Good news and bad news after testing a new cheap USB 3 cable with two front panel USB ports.

The good news is my Asus PRIME B550M-A motherboard seems to be ok! With the new USB 3 cable and ports, the USB 3 header of the motherboard worked fine.

The bad news is I bought the USB 3 cable just for testing purposes, it doesn't fit within my Hewlett Packard Pavilion 500 desktop...I will need to buy an original HP part and will start looking for it...now.

Kind regards,

SJW

[Jiaszzz_ASUS]

Hello @SJW 

We apologize for the delayed response due to the recent local holiday, and I'm glad you were able to pinpoint the problem.
According to the user manual for the PRIME B550M-A, the supported front panel ports are as follows:

Since we are unable to further verify the specifications of the desktop case ports, we recommend checking whether the USB headers are correctly connected, trying other cables, or considering cross-testing with a different case if needed.

Thank you.

[SJW]

Hello @Jiaszzz_ASUS ,

Thanks for your response.

I ordered a new HP front panel unit (consisting of 2 USB ports, audio ports and a card reader). It's P/N 713240-003. With this new unit the USB ports still don't function.

Though I always thought the USB part of this unit is just a physical connection without any chips in it, I guess HP managed to make them proprietary or something...the cheaper USB 3.0 cable worked, so the motherboard seems to be fine.

For now I connected a USB hub to the back of the computer.

Thanks again, kind regards,

SJW

[Jiaszzz_ASUS]

Hello @SJW 

We are glad to hear that your ASUS motherboard is functioning properly.
If you encounter any further difficulties or have any concerns, please feel free to update again or PM me anytime.

Thank you.