Getting USB 3.1 ports working

[sbcsam]

@ paulkol Can you please help me. I have a z270 gaming 5 mb with a 7700k and I followed the installation guide with no luck. I gets stuck in a loop. The apple logo comes out with the progress bar and then reboots. I changed the cpuid to 0x0506E3 in clover before doing the install.

 

[Duema]

@paulkol it seems you have a mb similar to mine (z270mx). I can't get usb 3.0 and 3.1 reliably working. Could you give me a hand and post your plist and kext? Thanks a bunch!

 

[lambam]

@jontech
What motherboard you have? I can send you plist for Z120MX and Z270MX where USB 3.1 type A is working (no Type C though, just 480Mbps on that)

Also interested in how you got it working. I have z170n gaming 5. The port works at full speed in windows environment

 

[chrisnewhard]

Any updates on this? I need to get usb 3.1 working to get maximum speeds for work. Intel 7700k + Z270x UG (mb) -Additionally, has anyone gotten the 3.1 port to work on osx 10.13?

 

[kennywu]

Any updates on this? I need to get usb 3.1 working to get maximum speeds for work. Intel 7700k + Z270x UG (mb) -Additionally, has anyone gotten the 3.1 port to work on osx 10.13?

The Z270X runs ASmedia USB controllers, and thus difficult to make compatible with OSX. I knew that the 2XX series motherboards all use ASMedia, and was reluctant to get the latest a greatest last year for my Hackintosh.

Instead I purchased the Z170N Gaming 5, which uses an Intel native Alpine Ridge Controller with Thunderbolt 3 disabled. Fortunately, my gamble has paid off. As of July 2018 I am getting 10 GBps on my USB-C and USB-A ports. With one exception, Apple's USB-C charge cable reverts my devices to 480mbps. Solution is to use a USB-IF certified 3rd party cable (or reputable).

My system is a self-compiled Clover build, please don't ask me about Multibeast installations issues, I simply don't use it other than keeping myself updated with the latest methods I may have missed.

Below what I deem as the important steps for getting USB-C 10 GBps:
- If you are using a 7th Gen CPU, be sure to have you firmware updated in store using a 6th Gen CPU first.
- Update your GA-Z170N G5 motherboard to the latest Firmware (f23f) via Windows or EZFlash.
- The UEFI/BIOS update should include the USB Thunderbolt Firmware update, if not you will need to update it in Windows following the steps outlined on the Product website.
- You can check if your USB Firmware under the BIOS, Peripherals > USB Configuration; if the module version is 16, the you are on the latest USB3.1 firmware.
- If you find your thunderbolt firmware update is failing, you may want to try turning on the the Force TBT 3.1 Power option in the Bios, and turn it off once everything is installed.
-Configure BIOS settings as per the various guides found on Tonymacx86. Sorry can't help you out as everyone's system is different, and it is not the purpose of this post.
- Follow guide from the legendary ReHabMan, on how to extract and implement your DSDT and SSDTs. Patch so it compiles with no errors (warnings ok), there is no need to add any fixes for USB 3.1 10 GBps to work for Z170N G5 (BIOS v.F23F). Patching DSDT here serves to 'stabilise' your USB configuration so you are not dealing with a moving target (your ports are described as per the extracted DSDT, not by a buggy UEFI/BIOS).
- Follow the guide from ReHabMan again on USBInjectAll.kext, Do it once, and do it right. My only advice is to only use port limit patches temporarily and use the SSDT + USBInjectAll for you system. Use only the latest patches under the Pathc_cofig.plist file in the repository, and nothing else on the forums.
- DO NOT, DO NOT use Apple's USB-C Thunderbolt cable. Use only high quality 3rd Party Cables that are certified. Apple's Thunderbolt cable is known to cause issues with CustoMacs. They will nerf your 10GBps port to become a 480 Mbps port, I still don't understand why. Might be to do with Additional 'smarts' a 'real' TBT Cable, but the USB 3.1 spec is very clear that USB-C cables and TBT are interchangeable.

Note: I only have one 10 mbps device, the Volans USB-C SATA dock, probably a good one to get if you want to enjoy the 10 GBps speeds.

Summary,
1) Update all your TBT firmwares under windows first before doing anything else.
2) BIOS updates may already contain the TBT firmware for USB 3.1 Gen 2 controller
3) Do the USBInjectAll.kext properly as per ReHabMan's guide.
4) Do not use Apple's Thunderbolt 3 USB-C cable that came with your MacBook, use only USB-IF certified USB-C Cables.

 

[MacMan]

macOS has native support for ASMedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 controllers.

No additional kexts or DSDT and/or SSDT required for my Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming and ASUS ROG Strix Z270I Gaming.

 

[kennywu]

macOS has native support for ASMedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 controllers.

No additional kexts or DSDT and/or SSDT required for my Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming and ASUS ROG Strix Z270I Gaming.

Cool, I didn't realise that Asmedia is now supported. Nice to know. Firmwares still need upgrading via the windows side? I also found that the Intel Alpine Ridge controller will enable macOS to load the AppleXHCIAR kexts (think that is name, anyways, it ends with AR for Alpine Ridge).

Do the Asmedia controllers load the same kext or a generic version of the kext?

Yes, USB 3.1 controllers are supported without DSDT and SSDT, just confirmed on my Z170N G5 build. DSDT and SSDTs are still needed for proper USB port limit fixes tho. There's still a lot of people just applying the port limit patch without generating a DSDT/SSDT for it.

Again, just to reiterate, if you are using the USB-C cable from your MacBook/ Pro charger, you will only be limited to USB 2.0 480 Mbps. So make sure you are using a USB-IF certified USB 3.1 cable or a proper Thunderbolt 3 Type-C cable.

 

[muchmore]

macOS has native support for ASMedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 controllers.

No additional kexts or DSDT and/or SSDT required for my Gigabyte GA-Z270X-Ultra Gaming and ASUS ROG Strix Z270I Gaming.

I was never able to get the asmedia USB ports to work on my motherboard... Since I created a custom SSDT using RehabMan's guide, I just excluded those ports anyways... In the future if I really need USB 3.1, I will just get a pcie card.

 

[RehabMan]

I was never able to get the asmedia USB ports to work on my motherboard... Since I created a custom SSDT using RehabMan's guide, I just excluded those ports anyways... In the future if I really need USB 3.1, I will just get a pcie card.

USBInjectAll.kext and the related SSDT configuration has nothing to do with ASMedia.

 

[muchmore]

USBInjectAll.kext and the related SSDT configuration has nothing to do with ASMedia.

I know - I was just trying to say that I could never get my asmedia ports to work, even though MacMan said "macOS has native support for ASMedia USB 3.1 Gen 2 controllers".

I also was trying to say that it didn't matter because I followed your guide to create a custom SSDT, my other USB ports are working correctly, and that if I needed USB 3.1, I would just get a pcie card.

I will try to be more specific with my comments in the future, or will not comment at all.