Are USB 3 ports really completely compatible with USB 2 devices?


n2ubp

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Are USB 3 ports completely compatible with USB 2 devices?

For flash drives and external hard drives this seems to be true with my ASROCK z790 Lightning motherboard with 32GB of memory and i5-12600K cpu.

The USB 3 ports do not seem to work properly with USB 2 devices like SDR (software defined radio), (buffer overruns) or my ICOM IC-7100 Amateur (Ham) transceiver running Winlink applications (connection recognized in device manager as COM 3 and COM 4 but radio can not be accessed by Winlink or VARA applications).
If I plug these devices into true USB 2 ports they work perfectly.
Just trying to understand how truly backward compatible USB 3 ports are with USB 2 devices or perhaps there are some driver or configuration changes needed to be made.
The ICOM IC-7100 radio USB interface uses Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge drivers.
I've seen this happen with Windows 11 and Windows 10 computers.
Thanks,
Steve
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 11 Pro
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Home built
    CPU
    12th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-12600K 3.70 GHz
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    Asrock z790 PG Lightning
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    Nvidia GTX 750
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They should be backwards compatible, but it may be a driver thing with your devices.

I use the Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge extensively and it works fine in USB3 ports for me.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win 11 Pro 23H2
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    Self build
    CPU
    Ryzen 5800X
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte x570 Aorus Elite Wifi
    Memory
    32 GB GSkill Trident Neo with pretty LED lights
    Graphics Card(s)
    ASUS TUF GAMING RTX 3070 Ti
    Sound Card
    On board Realtek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    2 x Samsung 32 inch curved - one 4K, one 1080p
    Screen Resolution
    4K, 1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    1 TB Samsung 980 Pro Nvme, 1 TB Samsung 970 EVO Nvme, 2 x Samsung 970 2TB SSD SATA
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    EVGA 1000Q
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    Rosewill something or other
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    Noctua NH-D15. A whole schwak of Noctua case fans. $$$
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    Logitech G815
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    Logitech G502 Hero
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    700 up, 600 down
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    Firefox
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    MalwareBytes
BIOS :

Legacy USB Support: [Enabled]
XHCI Hand-off: [Enabled]
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Microsoft Windows 11 Home
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    Manufacturer/Model
    MSI MS-7D98
    CPU
    Intel Core i5-13490F
    Motherboard
    MSI B760 GAMING PLUS WIFI
    Memory
    2 x 16 Patriot Memory (PDP Systems) PSD516G560081
    Graphics Card(s)
    GIGABYTE GeForce RTX 4070 WINDFORCE OC 12G (GV-N4070WF3OC-12GD)
    Sound Card
    Bluetooth Аудио
    Monitor(s) Displays
    INNOCN 15K1F
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    WD_BLACK SN770 250GB
    KINGSTON SNV2S1000G (ELFK0S.6)
    PSU
    Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 1000W
    Case
    CG560 - DeepCool
    Cooling
    ID-COOLING SE-224-XTS / 2 x 140Mm Fan - rear and top; 3 x 120Mm - front
    Keyboard
    Corsair K70 RGB TKL
    Mouse
    Corsair KATAR PRO XT
    Internet Speed
    100 Mbps
    Browser
    Firefox
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    Microsoft Defender Antivirus
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