USB 3 Not working

[kervich]

Well that is strange - I've had problems booting 10.8.0 installer from a USB2 pen drive, but I can read/write it ok now that I have installed 10.8.2 update. I guess it depends on the chip that provides USB3 on the MB - I've got B75 chipset that drives 2 USB3 ports directly, while other MBs use a separate chip for USB3 ports (just like there are separate chips for SATAIII on older MBs). Of course it might also be a 'compatible' mass storage device controller in the USB flash drive itself - I will try other USB2 drives and devices tonight just to make sure it's not some weird coincidence.

 

[ovb1]

Some of this info is not really correct;

OSX also supports USB 2 devices on USB 3 ports with out a problem on both my hack and macbook air 2012.
OSX supports USB 3 devices on USB 2 ports fine, both hack and macbook air 2012.

My macbook supports usb 3 devices with no problem but my hack will not support usb 3 devices on the usb 3 ports what ever combination of firmware / kexts i try!

 

[the_gael]

I allready said media devices like HDDs, SSDs, and flash/pendrives will not work, its a limitation in the USB3 drivers. This is a known and common issue and there is now way to fix it yet. For now just don't use those drives on a USB3 port. USB3 drives will work fine.

PJALM, wherever you got this information I am afraid this is not quite correct. There is no hackintosh community wide failure of USB 2.0 devices plugged into USB 3.0 ports. I use a Z77X-UD5H and I use 7 or 8 different USB 2.0 Flash drives and USB 2.0 External Hard drives and they all work perfectly when plugged into my rear USB 3.0 ports. If I use the front USB 3.0 they do not work.

So let me just clarify that - certainly on my motherboard USB 3.0 ports work perfectly with USB 2.0 devices except when plugged into FRONT USB 3.0 ports.

 

[thierry37]

PJALM, wherever you got this information I am afraid this is not quite correct. There is no hackintosh community wide failure of USB 2.0 devices plugged into USB 3.0 ports. I use a Z77X-UD5H and I use 7 or 8 different USB 2.0 Flash drives and USB 2.0 External Hard drives and they all work perfectly when plugged into my rear USB 3.0 ports. If I use the front USB 3.0 they do not work.

So let me just clarify that - certainly on my motherboard USB 3.0 ports work perfectly with USB 2.0 devices except when plugged into FRONT USB 3.0 ports.

Thanks Gael for your info.
I will put my info, for my own board GA-B75M-D3H

For me, USB 2.0 flash drives are only working on the USB 2.0 ports. (tested with Sony Micro Vault 8GB and a no-name 1GB and also Sandisk Voyager waterproof)
When plugged to the USB 3.0 ports, it flashes once then nothing happens. It is not mounted.

The USB 3.0 flash drive (Transcend Jet Flash 8GB) is working on any USB ports (2.0 and 3.0)

I will try again later, if I can get other USB 2.0 drives, to see if it can work with different brands.

But as now, my ports USB 3.0 are not retro-compatible with USB 2.0 drives.

 

[the_gael]

PJALM, wherever you got this information I am afraid this is not quite correct. There is no hackintosh community wide failure of USB 2.0 devices plugged into USB 3.0 ports. I use a Z77X-UD5H and I use 7 or 8 different USB 2.0 Flash drives and USB 2.0 External Hard drives and they all work perfectly when plugged into my rear USB 3.0 ports. If I use the front USB 3.0 they do not work.

So let me just clarify that - certainly on my motherboard USB 3.0 ports work perfectly with USB 2.0 devices except when plugged into FRONT USB 3.0 ports.

Update - I just tested again and my first statement is correct if the front USB 3.0 is plugged into F_USB30_1 on my board.

However if I plug the cable for front USB 3.0 into the F_USB30_2 header I get full USB functionality on all ports - i.e. working as intended USB 3.0 devices at 5gb/s on all USB 3.0 ports and USB 2.0 devices at 480mb/s plugged into USB 3.0 ports. All USB 2.0 ports working correctly.

Further update - just discovered on my board at least this also cures the issue with device not being ejected at sleep from front USB 3.0 ports.

 

[thierry37]

I have to check on my board.
Until now, I was plugging the front USB cable, to the F_USB2 on the board.

(But, since the onboard USB3 ports are already not working with USB2 drive, I have very little chance to get something better)

 

[thierry37]

It seems that DBP found some kind of solution on his board. (details here : http://www.tonymacx86.com/mountain-...-2012-guide-notes-progress-16.html#post495458)
by using a USB3 hub to the USB3 port, his USB2 drive is working on the hub.

I only have USB2 hub right now, but if some other have the possibility to try, it would be nice to know.

 

[thierry37]

I am doing some more test with USB3, with my new flash drive Transcend Jetflash.

Big surprise, the USB3 stick on a USB3 port, is not faster than on USB2 port.
Did I miss something?

But it's recognised as USB3, in the System Info. (see below attachment)
Is there a difference between the High-Speed Bus and the SuperSpeed Bus?


I thought I would get USB3 speed directly from the config with MultiBeast.




Edit: I was surprised, I got to test again with my "old" USB2 flash drive on USB2 port.
It took much more time to transfer the file.
So, at least, I have better speed with the USB3.

But it's same speed on all ports. Strange. What is the difference to have different ports on my mobo, if they all give the same speed with a USB3 device ??

Test method:
Transfering one file 473MB, to write on the USB flash drive.
It took 27s for the USB3 drive, on any USB2/3 port. (Transcend JetFlash USB3.0)
It took 58s for the USB2 drive, on the USB2 port. (Corsair Flash Voyager / Sony Micro Vault)

 

[DBP]

So essentially you're saying that even on a USB2 port you get faster speed from the USB3 device than from the USB2 device? Not surprising at all.
The flash memory and/or the controller inside the older USB2 device will simply be slower. It's a cost-benefit trade-off for the manufacturers. Many USB2 memory sticks max out at ~16 MB/s. The good ones get up to 24 MB/s or so.
The bar was set much higher for the USB3 device (and time has let them use better technology) so it has to be able to work a lot faster than USB2 can even theoretically do. So on a USB2 bus it's actually able to saturate the bus.

Mind you, the handshaking with the host and with any hubs in between also affect the speed. I have a USB2 device which maxes out at ~32 MB/s on a USB2 port, and 38 MB/s on a USB3 port. USB is no-where near as predictable as Firewire for example.


SuperSpeed is the USB3 speed, Hi-Speed is the USB2 speed (and "Full Speed" is actually the old 12 Mbps USB1 top speed).
I was confused when I plugged my first USB3 hub into a USB2 port (that's all I had at the time) and the device identifier in System Information was "USB 2.0 Hub". WTF? Was I sold the wrong thing? Nope. When connected to a USB3 port it shows up as a USB 2.0 hub on the Hi-Speed bus and a USB 3.0 hub on the SuperSpeed bus.
Just get used to the device tree looking a bit different to what you're used to when you start using USB3!

 

[thierry37]

Anybody can recommend a good tool to test speed disk?
(Instead of doing some manual calculation)
Black Magic speed test is good ?


Thanks DBP for the info. I can start looking again into my configs.
It takes 27s for writing 473MB on my JetFlash usb3. = 18MB/s
Slow according to your info.

And my usb2 drives are even slower !! Like 8MB/s
Crazy!!