Usb port malfunctioning on MSI GE60

[liperus]

Hi.
I bought a MSI GE60-0NC 498US in April of this year, and t works great apart for one detail. This laptop has 4 USB ports, 2 of them being USB 3.0. When I connect my external HDD (WD Passport 1TB USB 3.0) with the original cable (Y), it doesn't work at USB 3.0 speeds. The device shows up fine in Device Manager, though I've had to assign a specific drive letter for it to be recognized all the time. If I connect it to a USB 2.0 port, Windows says "this device can perform faster", but if I plug it in a USB 3.0 port, it continues working at USB 2.0 speeds. This happens on Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 as well as in Ubuntu 13.04.
I'd have trouble applying for a warranty, since I bought this from Newegg but am now currently living outside of the US (with no plans of returning soon ($$) )
Thank you to anyone who can try to help me out

 

[EonW]

If it has not worked from Day One,it may just be that your drivers are not up to date. Try the MSI website for the latest chipset and USB drivers (which you may have already done). The drivers for each of those OS's will also be different - are you getting a conflict somewhere? Failing that, the USB port may be flaky - it can happen in USB ports even with new hardware.

 

[liperus]

Yeah, they've been flaky from day one. I have the latest drivers installed, but this doesn't seem to do the trick. I guess my hardware is faulty

 

[jarotech]

You must install the driver for your WD Passport, it is already on your WD Passport HDD.