Mass storage doesn't work over USB

[trs96]

When you total USB3 ports with their USB2 side too, and the USB2-only ports, we often go way beyond 15.

I'm not sure exactly when but it seems like Apple ditched all USB 2 ports on new Macs about 8 years ago. You can still find them on new PC hardware motherboards, along with VGA ports. Having a couple of onboard USB 2 ports actually helps us when we use PC hardware to make a hackintosh. You can use them for booting the USB installer when USB 3 ports don't work.

This is how they can set the limit at 15 for Macs. Most have 4 USB 3.0 ports or fewer. We're lucky they even set the number of ports allowed as high as 15. Soon they may all disappear in new Macs in favor of thunderbolt type C ports.

 

[Gorian1]

Good news

Officially Apple only supported 15 USB ports per controller - and they only used one of those. However our PCs tend to have many more. When you total USB3 ports with their USB2 side too, and the USB2-only ports, we often go way beyond 15. This can cause problems because the array Apple has set aside for them in their code is only so big. If we hack the code to add more there can be long-term reliability issues and power delivery problems.

Truth be known a lot of folks get by fine with over 15, but it's a choice of numbers versus reliability. Nothing is compulsory.

Hm, I see. Thanks for the explanation.

How do I go about trimming them down? Can I do that by hitting the "delete"-button in Hackintool?

 

[PhantomSlapESQ]

Good news

Officially Apple only supported 15 USB ports per controller - and they only used one of those. However our PCs tend to have many more. When you total USB3 ports with their USB2 side too, and the USB2-only ports, we often go way beyond 15. This can cause problems because the array Apple has set aside for them in their code is only so big. If we hack the code to add more there can be long-term reliability issues and power delivery problems.

Truth be known a lot of folks get by fine with over 15, but it's a choice of numbers versus reliability. Nothing is compulsory.

I'm using I think about 11 or 12 USB ports that are either plugged into the mobo or directly on the back panel of the mobo. (I say 11 or 12 as I'm not sure how to count the Feni Wifi/Bluetooth card but I think its just powering the card or something, but it takes both slots).

I think I've read this, but want to make sure: The 15 port limit does not include any hubs you might plugin, correct?

Everything has been fine USB wise for me for about a month after creating a custom map for USB. Lately, I have started getting issues when I had about 3 USB hard drives plugged into one hub. When the computer began to sleep it would say "Disk not ejected properly". I didn't have this error for a month. That happened a couple of times, and it messed up the hard drives and one needed to be reformatted twice! I haven't had an issue since i only have 2 or less connected on one hub or in general.

Have you heard of this?

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Hm, I see. Thanks for the explanation.

How do I go about trimming them down? Can I do that by hitting the "delete"-button in Hackintool?

Have a look here:

The New Beginner's Guide to USB Port Configuration

Important Update: June 2023 From Big Sur 11.3 on the built-in OpenCore XhciPortLimit quirk no-longer worked as described. This became a known "bug", though in reality it was Apple changing their internal code, making a simple "peek and poke" to keep it operating, a difficult task. However, with...

www.tonymacx86.com

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I'm using I think about 11 or 12 USB ports that are either plugged into the mobo or directly on the back panel of the mobo. (I say 11 or 12 as I'm not sure how to count the Feni Wifi/Bluetooth card but I think its just powering the card or something, but it takes both slots).

I think I've read this, but want to make sure: The 15 port limit does not include any hubs you might plugin, correct?

Everything has been fine USB wise for me for about a month after creating a custom map for USB. Lately, I have started getting issues when I had about 3 USB hard drives plugged into one hub. When the computer began to sleep it would say "Disk not ejected properly". I didn't have this error for a month. That happened a couple of times, and it messed up the hard drives and one needed to be reformatted twice! I haven't had an issue since i only have 2 or less connected on one hub or in general.

Have you heard of this?

Hi.

A USB port which has a hub plugged in to it is the only configurable port. The ones on the hub are not. So to use several drives attached to a hub, you usually need a powered-hub, with its own psu.

Your Fenvi card USB cable is only using one of the two ports on the USB2 header but if it is a 9-pin plug it blocks the other port. You can tell which this is using Hackintool.

 

[PhantomSlapESQ]

Hi.

A USB port which has a hub plugged in to it is the only configurable port. The ones on the hub are not. So to use several drives attached to a hub, you usually need a powered-hub, with its own psu.

All my hubs have their own power source coming from the wall 120V AC

 

[UtterDisbelief]

All my hubs have their own power source coming from the wall 120V AC

Okay. To continually get that error, then either the drives are pulling more power than the PSU is providing or you are running system memory at speeds over stock. A known issue.

 

[PhantomSlapESQ]

Okay. To continually get that error, then either the drives are pulling more power than the PSU is providing or you are running system memory at speeds over stock. A known issue.

Everything is stock. No overclocking or anything weird. I thought this 8-port hub I had was pretty meaty, but I guess I'll have to look into it. One of the hard drives even has it's own PSU as well. I wouldn't even know how to see if this is a power drain issue, but I supposed to be safe I should put more Mass Storage Devices directly into the computer.

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Everything is stock. No overclocking or anything weird. I thought this 8-port hub I had was pretty meaty, but I guess I'll have to look into it. One of the hard drives even has it's own PSU as well. I wouldn't even know how to see if this is a power drain issue, but I supposed to be safe I should put more Mass Storage Devices directly into the computer.

No, I didn't mean overclocking in a risky, unsupported way.

Any memory speed above 2133Mhz - which you might note is your BIOS default - or above the speed of memory Apple provided in the system-definition you are using, can cause the wake-from-sleep disconnection error we are talking about.

If you left your BIOS memory speed at 2133 then the problem lies elsewhere. When people use, say, 3000Mhz memory they are not aware that though it is designed to work at that speed, technically it is over normal speed, even though they change their BIOS setting to match.

 

[PhantomSlapESQ]

No, I didn't mean overclocking.

Any memory speed above 2133Mhz - which you might note is your BIOS default - or above the speed of memory Apple provided in the system-definition you are using, can cause the wake-from-sleep disconnection error we are talking about.

If you left your BIOS memory speed at 2133 then the problem lies elsewhere.

I haven't changed my RAM speed, and the macOS says it's 2133 Mhz DDR4. I'm using iMac19,1. Isn't overclocking putting the speed higher than the manufacturer's intended design? Or are you just referring to anything that doesn't fit in the model's definition? I don't know much about overclocking. Either way, I suspect the problem is elsewhere, but I haven't had the problem since reducing the number of USB hard drives.