GC-ALPINE RIDGE in hands

[bombardier10]

Any info about sleep with GC Alpine Ridge ? I dont get sleep & shutdown . That to appear that Thunderbolt add in cards broke mac os config. I verify Asus thunderbolt EX3 & GC Alpine Ridge this same result ; no sleep. Although This cards works very well but no sleep.

 

[joevt]

Any info about sleep with GC Alpine Ridge ? I dont get sleep & shutdown . That to appear that Thunderbolt add in cards broke mac os config. I verify Asus thunderbolt EX3 & GC Alpine Ridge this same result ; no sleep. Although This cards works very well but no sleep.

I would have to get sleep working without the GC-ALPINE RIDGE first. It's not a priority for me. What do you see in the system log?

 

[bombardier10]

I would have to get sleep working without the GC-ALPINE RIDGE first. It's not a priority for me. What do you see in the system log?

Sleep/shutdown need external SLP3,S4,S5 signals from THB-C connector. Windows 7/10 driver for GC Alpine Ridge put signal SLP3 for sleep directly to Alpine Ridge by THB_C connector and S4,S5 for deep sleep/shutdown.

On MacOS we don't have special driver so no SLP3/S4/S5 on TH device and no sleep or awake from sleep.
When Thunderbolt is build on motherboards like Z170X-Designare sleep works because no need SLP3 from THB-C connector.

What interesting I cut two cables (3 and 4) from THB-C connector and get temporary (random) sleep/shutdown ...
But this broke sleep on Windows. Random sleep is not a good solution.

 

[joevt]

Sleep/shutdown need external SLP3,S4,S5 signals from THB-C connector. Windows 7/10 driver for GC Alpine Ridge put signal SLP3 for sleep directly to Alpine Ridge by THB_C connector and S4,S5 for deep sleep/shutdown.

On MacOS we don't have special driver so no SLP3/S4/S5 on TH device and no sleep or awake from sleep.
When Thunderbolt is build on motherboards like Z170X-Designare sleep works because no need SLP3 from THB-C connector.

The Thunderbolt chip on the motherboard probably uses the same SLPS3, SLPS4S5 signals as provided on the THB-C connector to the add-in card. S3, S4/S5 are connected to most of the chips on the motherboard. That doesn't change in macOS. So the issue is something else.

What interesting I cut two cables (3 and 4) from THB-C connector and get temporary (random) sleep/shutdown ...
But this broke sleep on Windows. Random sleep is not a good solution.

Can you describe "temporary (random) sleep/shutdown" in more detail? Are you saying that your computer goes to sleep for no reason? Or is it just the Thunderbolt devices that go to sleep? And then your computer or Thunderbolt devices wake up for no reason? I didn't think the computer would be affected; just the devices connected to the add-in card.

 

[Numb3r]

Windows should be installed so you can verify that Thunderbolt works. Also, Windows is the only way to update the firmware of the Thunderbolt chip (but I think the GC-ALPINE RIDGE comes with the latest firmware anyway). I think Linux has Thunderbolt support now too, but I haven't tried that yet (it's not enabled by default).

What Thunderbolt 3 devices are you trying to use? To work in macOS, they need to be connected before you boot the computer, since we haven't figured out how to get Thunderbolt 3 hot swap to work yet.

The Z170MX-Gaming 5 also has a built in Thunderbolt 3 controller but it is only used for USB 3.1 gen 2.

The GC-ALPINE RIDGE card needs to be in the last slot (PCIEX4). The header cable should be connected. Thunderbolt should be enabled in the BIOS.

Putting the card into the last slot and booting with windows gave me success. However, I've been struggling mighty hard to get OSX to recognize this card. In Windows, I can get the Thunderbolt utility to recognize different drives as well as my Apollo Twin sound card. In OSX.... nothing whatsoever.

Anything else I should be checking in the bios? I have Thunderbolt(TM) Support / Boot Support & Detachable Graphics Support all ENABLED.

I've enabled and disabled TBT USB3.1 Force Power - no go either way.

 

[Numb3r]

 

[joevt]

The devices need to be plugged in before startup. When you get into Clover, go into the Shell, and type "help" for a list of commands. Get a list of devices or pci devices. Some of those will be the Thunderbolt devices. If they appear their, then they will appear in IORegistryExplorer.app and should be useable in macOS.

The commands are like DOS commands. You can pipe them to a file. First select the filesystem containing your EFI. Start with
fs0:, then fs1: etc.

fs0:
ls

If the ls command shows the contents of your EFI partition then you can output results there.

help * > help_all.txt
devtee > devotee.txt
pci > pci.txt


If your thunderbolt devices don't appear in pci.txt then there's a problem.

 

[Numb3r]

The devices need to be plugged in before startup. When you get into Clover, go into the Shell, and type "help" for a list of commands. Get a list of devices or pci devices. Some of those will be the Thunderbolt devices. If they appear their, then they will appear in IORegistryExplorer.app and should be useable in macOS.

The commands are like DOS commands. You can pipe them to a file. First select the filesystem containing your EFI. Start with
fs0:, then fs1: etc.

fs0:
ls

If the ls command shows the contents of your EFI partition then you can output results there.

help * > help_all.txt
devtee > devotee.txt
pci > pci.txt


If your thunderbolt devices don't appear in pci.txt then there's a problem.

OK. I plugged in the devices before startup and exported a pci txt. It's attached. I don't see anything thunderbolt related here but maybe I'm missing something? Would it say Thunderbolt somewhere?

 

[auwri]

OK. I plugged in the devices before startup and exported a pci txt. It's attached. I don't see anything thunderbolt related here but maybe I'm missing something? Would it say Thunderbolt somewhere?

I'm not positive, but for me, the Thunderbolt card is at <"pci8086,1577"> according to IORegistryExplorer. I have a Gigabyte Z270X motherboard with the Alpine Ridge card in the last PCI slot. I am using it in Mac OS 10.12 successfully with an Apple Thunderbolt Display via a Thunderbolt 3-2 adapter (although wake-from-sleep drops the Thunderbolt connection). I am not using the motherboard's Thunderbolt header cable; just the PCI slot. For some reason, it didn't work in macOS with the header cable connected.

My PCI card entry seems to match your row as follows:

00 0E 00 00 ==> Base System Peripherals - Other system peripheral
Vendor 8086 Device 1577 Prog Interface 0

Don't lose hope! I'm betting this is solvable.

 

[joevt]

OK. I plugged in the devices before startup and exported a pci txt. It's attached. I don't see anything thunderbolt related here but maybe I'm missing something? Would it say Thunderbolt somewhere?

From your pci.txt file and what I know about Thunderbolt PCIe layout, I think your Thunderbolt devices are like this:

00:06:00.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
    00:07:00.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
    00:07:01.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
    00:07:02.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
        00:0A:00.00 8086:15B6 Serial Bus Controllers - USB : DSL6540 USB 3.1 Controller [Alpine Ridge]
    00:07:04.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]

00:0C:00.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
    00:0D:00.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
        00:0E:00.00 8086:1577 Base System Peripherals - Other system peripheral : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 NHI [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
    00:0D:01.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
    00:0D:02.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
        00:29:00.00 8086:15B6 Serial Bus Controllers - USB : DSL6540 USB 3.1 Controller [Alpine Ridge]
    00:0D:04.00 8086:1578 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL6540 Thunderbolt 3 Bridge [Alpine Ridge 4C 2015]
        00:2A:00.00 8086:1549 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL2210 Thunderbolt Controller [Port Ridge 1C 2011]
            00:2B:00.00 8086:1549 Bridge Device - PCI/PCI bridge : DSL2210 Thunderbolt Controller [Port Ridge 1C 2011]
                00:2C:00.00 1B4B:9230 Mass Storage Controller - Serial ATA controller : 88SE9230 PCIe SATA 6Gb/s Controller

The devtree file should be able to verify the hierarchy. You can check the vendor and device ids of each device at http://pci-ids.ucw.cz

This shows two Thunderbolt 3 controllers.

The first one is used by the motherboard to support USB 3.1 gen 2 only, so there is no NHI device. This is as expected. Have you verified USB 3.1 gen 2 capability from this port?

A Thunderbolt 1 device containing a SATA controller is connected to port 2 of the second Thunderbolt 3 controller which must be the GC-ALPINE RIDGE card. So it seems you should be able to see that SATA drive in macOS. There appears to be nothing connected to port 1 of the GC-ALPINE RIDGE.

Are you expecting any other devices to appear in the pci.txt file? What is your Thunderbolt chain like? Make sure Thunderbolt 1 devices come after Thunderbolt 2 devices and Thunderbolt 2 devices come after Thunderbolt 3 devices. Maybe try each device by itself before chaining them together. Use port 1 for one device, and port 2 for another (you may want a second Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter - one for each Thunderbolt 3 port).

You should try the lspci command in macOS.

Download the zip from https://github.com/pciutils/pciutils
Add /usr/local/sbin to the end of the file /etc/paths and save it.
Open Terminal.app, go to the location of the unzipped folder(pciutils-master), make and install it.

cd ~/Downloads/pciutils-master
make install
update-pciids

update-pciids downloads the latest pci vendor and device IDs (same list as at pci-ids.ucw.cz).
Now you can use the lspci command to get pci information. The following command gets a hierarchy of the pci devices:

sudo lspci -nnvt > lspcinnvt.txt

The following command gets all the information for all the pci devices:

sudo lspci -nnvvvxxxx > lspcinnvvvxxxx.txt

pciutils also includes a setpci command that will let you read or set individual registers (for example, you could check the current link width and link speed, or change them).

If you have lspci V1.1.pkg installed, you should uninstall those files before installing the version from GitHub because the GitHub version is the latest.