Z420 USB 3.0 driver for Server 2012 R2

[GSBear]

My USB 3.0 ports do not work in my z420 workstation running Server 2012 R2.  Not of them, front or back.

I found a TI driver for windows 7, but it would not install.  (inappropriate operating system)

On HP support, there is no USB 3.0 driver listed for the z420.

I would really like to be able to use USB 3.0.

Suggestions?

Thanks much for your assistance.

[SDH]

The motherboards for the Z420 and the Z620 are almost identical, and they use the same TI USB3 chipset drivers.  You can find those for W7Pro64 easily by going to the HP drivers download site for either of those two workstations and subselect W764, and go to the "Driver-Controller" section where you'll find the SoftPaq for driver version 1.16.3.0 via SP65043. 

I have no idea whether that SoftPaq will work for your server OS, but it sure works for my Z420 and Z620 workstations and is easily available from HP for download.  I'd not use any other HP USB3 drivers than these because I tried and other alternatives did not work but these did.

[DGroves · Accepted solution]

you can also try the latest TI driver for win 8x-10 from the TI web site

http://www.ti.com/product/TUSB7340/toolssoftware

[GSBear]

Dear SDH:

Thanks much for your quick reply.

I had found that driver, but it would not installon my OS (Server 2012 R2, Win 8.1).  It appears that driver is for Windows 7 only.

[GSBear]

Dear DGroves:

Thank you for your quick reply.

I thought your link would solve my problem.  But when I tried to download that software from TI, I get a file not found error.

I believe this is the driver I need, I just need to find it.  

Do you have any ideas where else I might look for this driver?  I'm surprised TI removed it from their website.  Their windows 7 driver is newer, perhaps someone thought the newer driver was sufficient.

Thanks again for your assistance.

[Brian1965]

Hi GSBear,

Have a look at this post;

https://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Business-PCs-Workstations-and-Point-of-Sale-Systems/Sudden-interuption...

Quite interesting comment on the second post, "Windows 2012 R2 is based on Windows 8.1, so those drivers should be installable on your system".

I don't see any specific link for the USB drivers so I would try and install the Windows 8.1 Manageability-Driver Pack.

https://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp68501-69000/sp68648.exe (EDIT - The correct link)

[DGroves]

microsoft update catalog also has TI drivers posted 

https://www.catalog.update.microsoft.com/Search.aspx?q=Texas+Instruments

usually the ms drivers are in "inf" ready format, i would use the have disk option and select the i will select/have disk option to force the driver install as win 2012 mat reject the driver if you just do a normal win driver install method

[GSBear]

Dear DGroves:

It appears TI was just kidding when they said "file not found".  Eventually they emailed me with a link to that download, stating I was approved for download.  I guess "Pending Approval" was too hard to spell.

Regardless, I installed the download, and violla, I see TI USB 3.0 in my Device Manager, and a USB 3.0 hard drive was visible in Windoes Explorer.  I'm currently trying to run a backup onto that drive, and it looks like it is working. 

Thanks much for your help, it is much appreciated.

GSBear

[GSBear]

Dear Brian1965:

Thanks much for your reply, links, and suggestions.  They are much appreciated.

I will be installing the Manageability Pack as you suggest.

it is interesting they never tested the boxes with the server operating systems.  Granted, they are workstations, but even still, wouldn' they want to know they work with all the current software?  How much extra time could a server test require? 

At the moment, it appears the driver from TI is working.  I will keep a close eye on it. 

Thanks again,

[DGroves]

the reasion this workstation line  was not tested is due to several reasions, the primary one being that they are workstations not server models HP has a clear dividing line between the two

and the OS's tested are also specific to each line as the server models are not tested/approved by HP for non server OS installs.

hp does a lot to confirm a OS will work as expected on a workstation or server hardware and it would not be cost or time efective to try supporting consumer OS's and server OS's on both hardware lines since each is aimed at a diffrent market/user base