USB Audio Interface Noise Interference / USB Sleep Issues

[bansuri97]

HORRAY! With the help of OpenCore and people on here I have a fully pretty damn powerful OpenCore system running Catalina. Thank you!

I am having two issues post installation which are pretty nasty for my setup. I am a music studio owner and will be using this system as my daily studio driver.

Issue 1: My system/computer is causing really annoying interference noises on my studio monitors (Yamaha HS7) as soon as the macOS bootloader begins. This didn't happen when I'm on the BIOS. This never happened when using my Macbook Pro in the same building/circuitry. I have tried switching plugs, changing cables, changing my balanced audio cabled, I even tried giving the speakers their own Power Conditioner. Nothing is working. Every time I move my mouse or if my computer does any proecessing I get the noises and I really can't have this in the studio. Can ANYONE please help me with this as this is driving me insane and it's such a shame that I got it all working but this one issue is stopping me. BTW: The interface is working, going through the power conditioner and is behaving as it should be with no issues.

Issue 2 (less important): Sleep works on this system as well as all the other Apple things BUT on wake, it disconnect all of my external drives which is pretty serious. Does anyone have a work around this? I've just set it to not sleep at the moment but I'd really like to have the opportunity to not do this.

AS ALWAYS, THANK YOU EVERYONE ON HERE IN ADVANCE!

Hope all of the above makes sense. Also sorry if this has been posted about already.

 

[Edhawk]

Sounds as though you have yet to configure your USB ports for macOS.

1. Have you configured the USB ports to work within the Apple imposed 15 port limit?
2. Are you using the OC's XhciPortLimit option to enable all your USB ports?
3. Have you included an SSDT-USBX.aml for USB power configuration?

If no to 1 and 3 above, then both of these issues are dealt with by following UtterDisbelief's USB guide - https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/the-new-beginners-guide-to-usb-port-configuration.286553/

Once you have created and added a custom USBPorts.kext to your OC setup, you can disable the XhciPortLimit option in your OC config.plist.

 

[bloodline]

HORRAY! With the help of OpenCore and people on here I have a fully pretty damn powerful OpenCore system running Catalina. Thank you!

I am having two issues post installation which are pretty nasty for my setup. I am a music studio owner and will be using this system as my daily studio driver.

Issue 1: My system/computer is causing really annoying interference noises on my studio monitors (Yamaha HS7) as soon as the macOS bootloader begins. This didn't happen when I'm on the BIOS. This never happened when using my Macbook Pro in the same building/circuitry. I have tried switching plugs, changing cables, changing my balanced audio cabled, I even tried giving the speakers their own Power Conditioner. Nothing is working. Every time I move my mouse or if my computer does any proecessing I get the noises and I really can't have this in the studio. Can ANYONE please help me with this as this is driving me insane and it's such a shame that I got it all working but this one issue is stopping me. BTW: The interface is working, going through the power conditioner and is behaving as it should be with no issues.

What Audio interface are you using?

 

[bansuri97]

What Audio interface are you using?

Focusrite 18i20!

 

[bansuri97]

Sounds as though you have yet to configure your USB ports for macOS.

1. Have you configured the USB ports to work within the Apple imposed 15 port limit?
2. Are you using the OC's XhciPortLimit option to enable all your USB ports?
3. Have you included an SSDT-USBX.aml for USB power configuration?

If no to 1 and 3 above, then both of these issues are dealt with by following UtterDisbelief's USB guide - https://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/the-new-beginners-guide-to-usb-port-configuration.286553/

Once you have created and added a custom USBPorts.kext to your OC setup, you can disable the XhciPortLimit option in your OC config.plist.

Thank you! I will have a look. Checking USB Map is seems I'm at 14. So that should be okay?
I'm not sure about 2. and yes to 3.

Thanks for commenting!

 

[bloodline]

Focusrite 18i20!

Interesting, Many years ago I was setting up a stage rig for a friend and we had some noise issues with an HP laptop and a (Gen1) focusrite 2i2, it was the 5v rail on the USB, which was for some reason a really dirty signal. Using a powered HUB reduced the issue.

I'm currently using a Zoom UAC-8 over USB3.1 via USB-C for audio work now, which is completely silent.

 

[Edhawk]

Activating only 14 ports is fine, as long as they are set with the correct port type. You would be surprised at the number of USBPort.kext or SSDT-UIAC.aml tables I have seen with incorrectly set USB ports, USB2 ports set as USB3 or Internal, USB3 set as Type-C or internal, internal set as USB2. Easy to do if you don't read or understand the importance of setting the correct connector type.

If you post a copy of the kext or SSDT you created for your system, I can run my eye over it and let you know if anything needs attention. As having an incorrectly set port is as bad if not worse than not not having the port active. The wrong Connector Type set against a port will cause problems when you come to use the port.

The XhciPortLimit option is found in the /OC/config.plist > Kernel >quirks section, as highlighted in the screenshot below: (screenshot taken from OC Sample.plist using Corpnewt's ProperTree Plist editor)



In the image above the option has been set to 'False', i.e. has been disabled.

The OC guide tells you to set this option as 'True' because the author has aimed the guide a someone undertaking a fresh install of macOS.

Once you have a USBPorts.kext added to your /OC/Kexts folder or an SSDT-UIAC.aml added to your /OC/ACPI folder then this option needs to be set as 'False' and disabled.

You also need to make sure you have added an entry for the kext or SSDT, whichever you have used to your config.plist, in the corresponding ACPI or KERNEL section.

 

[bansuri97]

Activating only 14 ports is fine, as long as they are set with the correct port type. You would be surprised at the number of USBPort.kext or SSDT-UIAC.aml tables I have seen with incorrectly set USB ports, USB2 ports set as USB3 or Internal, USB3 set as Type-C or internal, internal set as USB2. Easy to do if you don't read or understand the importance of setting the correct connector type.

If you post a copy of the kext or SSDT you created for your system, I can run my eye over it and let you know if anything needs attention. As having an incorrectly set port is as bad if not worse than not not having the port active. The wrong Connector Type set against a port will cause problems when you come to use the port.

The XhciPortLimit option is found in the /OC/config.plist > Kernel >quirks section, as highlighted in the screenshot below: (screenshot taken from OC Sample.plist using Corpnewt's ProperTree Plist editor)

View attachment 498666

In the image above the option has been set to 'False', i.e. has been disabled.

The OC guide tells you to set this option as 'True' because the author has aimed the guide a someone undertaking a fresh install of macOS.

Once you have a USBPorts.kext added to your /OC/Kexts folder or an SSDT-UIAC.aml added to your /OC/ACPI folder then this option needs to be set as 'False' and disabled.

You also need to make sure you have added an entry for the kext or SSDT, whichever you have used to your config.plist, in the corresponding ACPI or KERNEL section.

Hey! Thank you so much for this lengthly reply.

Here are the files that I ended up making with Hackintool. It doesn't seem to get rid of the issue. The interference is certainly a USB issue and not a power issue as when connected to my Macbookn it doesn't make any noise when it shouldn't be.

Been trying everything - everything else works apart from the USB.

Anything else to try? Do you need any other files?

 

[Edhawk]

The SSDT-UIAC and USBPort.kext are both devoid (empty) of USB ports. These files will really not help your system, in fact using them would probably cripple all your USB ports.

You need to delete these files and start again with the USB port Discovery.

That means you need to do the following:

1. Remove/delete the USBPorts.kext or SSDT-UIAC.aml you are currently using.
2. Add USBInjectAll.kext to your system. For clover that means add the kext to your /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other folder.
3. You need to make sure you have the change XHCI to XHC_ rename patch in the ACPI section of your config.plist and that it is enabled.
4. You need to make sure you have the two Catalina Raise USB port Limit patches in the 'Kexts and Kernerl Patches' section of your config.plist and that they are enabled.
5. Reboot your system with the above settings in place.
6. Open Hackintool and navigate to the USB tab.
   1. In Hackintool you need to use the CLEAR ALL icon (looks like a witches sweeping broom) to remove all the ports Hackintool is showing in the USB port window.​
   2. Then you need to use the REFRESH icon to repopulate the USB window, looks like a Ring/Yang symbol, i.e. two half-circle arrows.​
   3. This will reset your Hackintool USB window to show all the USB ports.​
   4. You need to do this before you start the USB port discovery.​
7. Open IORegistryExplorer and navigate to the XHC section of the IOReg. Keep this open while testing the USB ports, as you may need to use this to correctly identify a port that is connected to a hub.
8. I would recommend you test each port with a USB2 and then a USB3 pen drive.
9. You should see the pen drive appear on your desktop and the USB port it is connected to should be highlighted with a Green background.
10. What I tend to do is add a comment to the Hackintool USB port window, in the far right hand column.
    1. To do this you need to right-click in the row where you want to add the comment.​

I find that logging the ports against the Rear I/O plate image and Motherboard layout image helps. So I have attached a screenshot of the Motherboard layout and a PNG showing the Rear I/O plate, which you can use in Preview to annotate as you identify each port. Here is an example of what I am taking about.


Z390 Designare Rear I/O plate with all ports identified. Yours is much simpler.

See the Hackintool USB screenshot below for confirmation of what I am meaning about adding comments to each row after I identify each port or Hub.



If the two drives are spares, I would recommend that you Erase and format them as HFS+, after saving and clearing any data files from them.

Using empty USB pen drives will speed up the time it takes to mount and unmount the drives as you confirm which port is which in Hackintool.

IF you can't see a device you just plugged in in the Hackintool USB window, switch to the open IORegistry Explorer and look in the XHC section, the USB drive should be shown as active against one of the ports in the IOReg.

The screenshot below shows the effect of unmounting/ejecting a USB drive, as seen in IORegistryExplorer:



USB pen drive was ejected from Front Case port, it had been connected to a hub on port HS07

Have another go at the USB port identification and lets see what you end up with. Hopefully something that works correctly or is at least close so it is easy to correct and edit.

 

[bansuri97]

The SSDT-UIAC and USBPort.kext are both devoid (empty) of USB ports. These files will really not help your system, in fact using them would probably cripple all your USB ports.

You need to delete these files and start again with the USB port Discovery.

That means you need to do the following:

1. Remove/delete the USBPorts.kext or SSDT-UIAC.aml you are currently using.
2. Add USBInjectAll.kext to your system. For clover that means add the kext to your /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other folder.
3. You need to make sure you have the change XHCI to XHC_ rename patch in the ACPI section of your config.plist and that it is enabled.
4. You need to make sure you have the two Catalina Raise USB port Limit patches in the 'Kexts and Kernerl Patches' section of your config.plist and that they are enabled.
5. Reboot your system with the above settings in place.
6. Open Hackintool and navigate to the USB tab.
   1. In Hackintool you need to use the CLEAR ALL icon (looks like a witches sweeping broom) to remove all the ports Hackintool is showing in the USB port window.​
   2. Then you need to use the REFRESH icon to repopulate the USB window, looks like a Ring/Yang symbol, i.e. two half-circle arrows.​
   3. This will reset your Hackintool USB window to show all the USB ports.​
   4. You need to do this before you start the USB port discovery.​
7. Open IORegistryExplorer and navigate to the XHC section of the IOReg. Keep this open while testing the USB ports, as you may need to use this to correctly identify a port that is connected to a hub.
8. I would recommend you test each port with a USB2 and then a USB3 pen drive.
9. You should see the pen drive appear on your desktop and the USB port it is connected to should be highlighted with a Green background.
10. What I tend to do is add a comment to the Hackintool USB port window, in the far right hand column.
    1. To do this you need to right-click in the row where you want to add the comment.​

I find that logging the ports against the Rear I/O plate image and Motherboard layout image helps. So I have attached a screenshot of the Motherboard layout and a PNG showing the Rear I/O plate, which you can use in Preview to annotate as you identify each port. Here is an example of what I am taking about.

View attachment 499062
Z390 Designare Rear I/O plate with all ports identified. Yours is much simpler.

See the Hackintool USB screenshot below for confirmation of what I am meaning about adding comments to each row after I identify each port or Hub.

View attachment 499054

If the two drives are spares, I would recommend that you Erase and format them as HFS+, after saving and clearing any data files from them.

Using empty USB pen drives will speed up the time it takes to mount and unmount the drives as you confirm which port is which in Hackintool.

IF you can't see a device you just plugged in in the Hackintool USB window, switch to the open IORegistry Explorer and look in the XHC section, the USB drive should be shown as active against one of the ports in the IOReg.

The screenshot below shows the effect of unmounting/ejecting a USB drive, as seen in IORegistryExplorer:

View attachment 499056

USB pen drive was ejected from Front Case port, it had been connected to a hub on port HS07

Have another go at the USB port identification and lets see what you end up with. Hopefully something that works correctly or is at least close so it is easy to correct and edit.

Thank you for the abundance of effort put into the response above, really appreciate it. I am going to give this a go tomorrow. A quicky before I get back to you properly, a lot of places say USBPorts.kext or SSDT-UIAC.aml... should I use the kext or the AML? Or both? Thanks!!!