T14 Gen2 Intel: left USB-A only at USB2 speeds with ext. USB SSD (10GB/s) as Win10-boot drive

[mortimar]

Hello community,

does anyone has an idea how it is possible that my T14 Gen2 Intels (model 20W1) left USB-A only performs at USB2 speeds while booting from it using an external USB SSD as Win10 boot drive?

The same cable and drive boots just fine using the right USB-A port with expected USB3 speeds (5GB/s) and as well with 10GB/s using the USB-C Thunderbolt port.

Strange thing though, the left USB-A port performs just fine (5GB/s) when I do not boot from it and test another external SSD.
Test were done with CrystalDiskMark8_0_4c. In parallel I checked the TaskManager performance tab.

Can anyone explain this behaviour or double check if you get similar results?

Thank you very much.

[theterminator93]

Back when USB 3.0 was brand new and Windows 7 was still mainstream, I remember having to integrate USB 3.0 drivers into the installation medium when writing bootable USB flash drives to install from.

It's a long shot but maybe something similar is happening with the OS not loading the SuperSpeed USB drivers during the early stages of boot? I'm not sure how to determine if that is what is happening or what could be done to rectify it, but hey... it's an idea.

[mortimar]

Thanks for the reply. This should not be the problem since the same SSD boots with expected speeds from the other USB ports as described.

[theterminator93]

Can you replicate the problem with another OS, say, a Linux distro?

[RealBlackStuff]

Both ports are USB3.2 Gen1 at 5GB, on T14 left port is standard USB, right port is Always-On.
Driver problem?

[mortimar]

Hmmm, I don't understand how it could be a driver problem since the boot works just fine from the right USB-A port with same USB SSD as described in my 1st post.

Did you get that from `my original post or should I structure my post differently?

For the moment I can not test with an other OS.

[RealBlackStuff]

My reasoning is a failing/missing/old USB3 driver on that external W10-drive.
Have you tried booting Linux from that port?