Question incompatibility of usb wifi adapters with usb 3 ports

[Dadrian Daedalus]

I've had quite a few usb based wifi dongles for a while now,mostly from tp link.However i have observed something strange-whenever i connect some of them (particularly the ones that are somewhat older) to usb 3 ports at the front panel of my pc case ,they don't work properly and i experience frequent disconnections from the internet-also when they do work,connection speeds tend to be slower than normal.

However these adapters work fine when connected to usb 2 ports at the rear of the motherboard.Is there any compatibility issue between wifi adapters and usb 3(esp older ones)? Some wifi adapters that i bought recently do work well even when connected to the front panel usb 3 ports of the cabinet-so this is rather baffling.

If you have any possible explanations for this,please share it here.

 

[Lutfij]

If it's the front panel in your case and not your rear ports on the motherboard, then the issue might very well be with your case's front panel or the drivers for your chipset/USB. What is the make and model of your motherboard and case? BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time? What OS are you working with? If you're on Windows 10/11, open up Device Manager and see if anything is flagged with a yellow exclamation mark.

Model for all wireless adapters?

 

[CountMike]

I've had quite a few usb based wifi dongles for a while now,mostly from tp link.However i have observed something strange-whenever i connect some of them (particularly the ones that are somewhat older) to usb 3 ports at the front panel of my pc case ,they don't work properly and i experience frequent disconnections from the internet-also when they do work,connection speeds tend to be slower than normal.

However these adapters work fine when connected to usb 2 ports at the rear of the motherboard.Is there any compatibility issue between wifi adapters and usb 3(esp older ones)? Some wifi adapters that i bought recently do work well even when connected to the front panel usb 3 ports of the cabinet-so this is rather baffling.

If you have any possible explanations for this,please share it here.

All USB versions are up/down compatible electrically and signal wise but drivers for them and OS may request data from USB3 pins and time out (in miliseconds) and "think" it's shut down.
Another possibility is that USB3 has more but finer contacts and USB2 device may not make good contact.
Do other devices work in same ports properly ?

 

[Dadrian Daedalus]

All USB versions are up/down compatible electrically and signal wise but drivers for them and OS may request data from USB3 pins and time out (in miliseconds) and "think" it's shut down.
Another possibility is that USB3 has more but finer contacts and USB2 device may not make good contact.
Do other devices work in same ports properly ?

yes,usb flash drives connected to those ports do work.

 

[Dadrian Daedalus]

If it's the front panel in your case and not your rear ports on the motherboard, then the issue might very well be with your case's front panel or the drivers for your chipset/USB. What is the make and model of your motherboard and case? BIOS version for your motherboard at this moment of time? What OS are you working with? If you're on Windows 10/11, open up Device Manager and see if anything is flagged with a yellow exclamation mark.

Model for all wireless adapters?

Motherboard: Gigabyte b460m D3h

Case: Corsair spec 01

Bios version :F4

OS: win 10 x64

No issues observed in device manager.

Wifi adapter models with issues: TP link WN725N,Wn 823 N(these are a few years old).A newer Wn 725n adapter has been working without issues .

 

[stonecarver]

something strange-whenever i connect some of them (particularly the ones that are somewhat older) to usb 3 ports at the front panel of my pc case ,they don't work properly and i experience frequent disconnections from the internet

Don't have the answer but have the same issue. My workaround is I seem to have acquired many USB extension cables over the years somehow.

So I plug cable to rear of PC and put the other end by the monitor and plug in the WIFI dongle and I just forget about it. No issues.
I do know those little dongles get hot but mine get stupid if hooked to front panel as well.