What does XHCI hand-off mean?

[sbab123]

Hi guys,

Was reading through my motherboard manual and found out something requesting the user to change the BIOS setting "XHCI hand-off" from "Disabled" to "Enabled".

Could anybody please tell me:

What does hand-off mean? I know that XHCI defines description of the host controller on the motherboard for USB. But what does hand-off mean in this case? What is the difference between enbaling it and disabling it?

Regards

 

[little_me]

googling about it, I came to understanding that said setting determines who handles said USB ports.
Disabled, BIOS has control and OS has no say in the matter.
Enabled, BIOS lets operating system to handle and control said ports.

That said, everyone seems to agree that it should be enabled for most modern (win8+) OS'es

 

[Gnuffi]

from what i understand
disabled = no usb 3.0 speed (even if using a 3.0 port)
enabled = enables usb 3.0 speed, but requires proper usb 3.0 drivers installed (like if using windows 7 that doesnt natively support usb 3)

 

[sbab123]

If have Windows 7, what should I do?

 

[Gnuffi]

depends, if you have a motherboard that supports USB 3.0 or faster
then you should probably download the drivers from your motherboard manufacturer to install, and then enable XHCI handoff and disable EHCI handoff
but only if your motherboard actually supports this, windows 7 might not natively support it, but drivers did make it possible, so check your motherboard manufacturer support/driver section

info about enabled/disabled:
http://superuser.com/questions/770198/should-i-enabled-or-disable-xhci-hand-off-in-bios-setup-when-running-windows-7
https://communities.intel.com/thread/52421

 

[sbab123]

My motherboard does have USB 3.0 header...no problem about that and it provides a driver for USB 3.0 to download. I just checked:

Intel USB3.0 Controller Driver V4.0.0.36 for Windows 7 32bit & 64bit