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Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 USB 3.0 Troubles [Clover 10.10.5]

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MSI Z270 Gaming Pro Carbon
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Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 USB 3.0 FIXED! [Clover 10.10.5]

After buying an SSD, I reinstalled OS X 10.10.5 Yosemite using Clover. This was the first time I successfully used Clover, and this guide

http://www.tonymacx86.com/yosemite-...-clover-uefi-guide-gigabyte-ga-z77x-ud5h.html

was essential and needed just a few modifications for my motherboard. After install, it was easy to fix audio and now everything except USB 3.0 works.

I have never been able to get USB 3.0 to work on this board. USB 2.0 works great, but 3.0 not at all. I have done searches, and it seems the culprit is the Etron EJ168 controller chip. The solution seems to be to use GenericUSBXHCI.kext from Multibeast. Unfortunately, while this seems to install properly, the rear USB 3.0 ports behave as if they are dead.

SysInfo copy.jpg

GenericUSBXHCIkext copy.jpg

I am running the latest Bios for my board, U1c:

150831174819 copy.jpg

Also, I disabled EHCI handoff, but kept XHCI handoff enabled. I had previously had both enabled, but it seems to have made no difference at all either way for USB 3.0.

150831174840 copy.jpg


If this is too difficult, I really would not like to use the rear USB 3.0 ports anyway now that I have transferred the board to a new case that has front USB 3.0 ports. Since my board does not have a front USB 3.0 header, would this card work?

http://www.silverstonetek.com/legacy.php?area=en&model=EC03

It has the NEC uPD720200 controller chip which is apparently better supported in Mac OS X.


Edit: Just found this thread:

http://www.tonymacx86.com/customization/157165-looking-reliable-pci-e-usb-3-0-controller.html

A user found this card that is listed as compatible with OS X 10.8+

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00JEVLEFQ/?tag=tonymacx86-21

This can't be shipped to the USA, but I think it is the same as this one:

http://www.amazon.com/Cord-free-Inateck-Controller-Internal-Connector/dp/B00JFR2H64/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1441058080&sr=8-2&keywords=Inateck+2-Port+PCI-E+USB+3.0+Express+Card

Edit 2015-09-01: I just ordered the Inateck KT4006 from the Amazon link above. I will post a followup when I have time to install and test the card.
 
Rear USB 3.0 Ports are now FIXED, and working perfectly.
Here are the steps that I used:

Prepare the system:

1. Back up the main system drive.
2. Check to see that the main system drive is backed up properly.
3. Remove the GenericUSBXHCI.kext from /System/Library/Extensions and put it in the trash.
4. Restart the computer.

Download needed items:

5. Download Patched AppleUSBXHCI v710.4.11 (10.10.5).
Older versions are available on the same page if you feel this is necessary for your system.​
6. Download Kext Wizard from this post: Kext Wizard
​or download it from Softpedia: Kext Wizard on Softpedia

Perform the patch:

7. Create a folder on your desktop called "Original USB Kext"
8. Navigate to /System/Library/Extensions
9. Find IOUSBFamily.kext
10. Right click on IOUSBFamily.kext and choose "Show Package Contents"
11. Navigate further to Contents/Plugins
12. Drag AppleUSBXHCI.kext out of the folder to the folder "Original USB Kext" on your desktop.
You may need to authenticate to make this happen. On my system, it only copied the kext,​
which is just fine.​
13. Drag the Patched AppleUSBXHCI.kext that you downloaded in step 5 to
/System/Library/Extensions/Contents/Plugins. You WILL need to authenticate this.​
Because the original is probably still there, choose to REPLACE the kext with the one you are​
moving into the folder.​
14. Open Kext Wizard. Make sure the maintenance utility is selected at the top,
and your startup system disk is displayed in the selector menu at the bottom.​
Select System/Library/Extensions. This will automatically select Repair Permissions and Rebuild Cache.​

Kext Wizard.jpg

15. Choose Execute, and be patient while Kext Wizard does its magic.:beachball:
16. Restart the computer and USB 3.0 should be working.

If everything works, you can delete the "Original USB Kext" folder, or save it in case there are any problems and you want to restore your system.

Here is the working USB 3.0 on the system report with an external hard drive:

USB 3 drive.jpg

Here are the results of XBench disk test on a cheap 16 GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive:

USB 2.0:
Results 22.76
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.10.5 (14F27)
Physical RAM 16384 MB
Model Macmini6,2
Drive Type Media
Disk Test 22.76
Sequential 45.17
Uncached Write 45.42 27.89 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 39.62 22.42 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 35.43 10.37 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 76.46 38.43 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 15.21
Uncached Write 6.53 0.69 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 9.72 3.11 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 604.23 4.28 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 190.53 35.35 MB/sec [256K blocks]




USB 3.0:
Results 26.51
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.10.5 (14F27)
Physical RAM 16384 MB
Model Macmini6,2
Drive Type Media
Disk Test 26.51
Sequential 65.93
Uncached Write 48.40 29.72 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 40.34 22.83 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 83.87 24.54 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 303.69 152.63 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 16.59
Uncached Write 7.11 0.75 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 10.26 3.29 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 860.36 6.10 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 520.64 96.61 MB/sec [256K blocks]
.
 
Inateck KT4006 PCI-E Expansion Card

I just installed the expansion card to try to get the front USB 3.0 ports working [after all of the changes in post #2]. When I first installed it and booted up the system, all ports worked front and rear, but only at USB 2.0 speeds. I tried re-enabling EHCI handoff in the BIOS, but it made no difference (see post #1).

Then I thought that maybe the ports would work on the old system with the GenericUSBXHCI.kext. Since I had made a backup of that system on another internal drive, I just rebooted the system to that drive. Same story, except now the rear USB ports were not working. So I removed the GenericUSBXHCI.kext again, restoring the system back to the original Apple configuration and USB kexts.[insert reboot here] This got the front and rear PCI-E USB 3.0 working, but not the rear ones on the board. The rear ones on the board behaved as if dead, like before.

Almost ready to give up, I rebooted in to the other drive, the one with the changes described in post #2. Guess what? MAGIC happened. All USB 3.0 ports worked, front (PCI-E), back (Board) and in the rear PCI-E slots. Also, all worked at proper SuperSpeed.

So what happened? My guess is that there was a conflict between the two different USB 3.0 controllers, the one on the board and the one on the expansion card. While all 6 of the USB 3.0 ports now work at SuperSpeed, they are all controlled by the controller on the PCI-E expansion card, not the one on the motherboard! Perhaps just rebooting several times would have done the same thing, I don't know. Here are some screen shots to show what I am describing:

Notice that no matter which port the USB Flash Drive was in, the Host Controller was always on the expansion slot:

Front USB 3.0 ports with from the PCI-E card:

USB 3 front PCI 2.jpg

Rear USB 3.0 ports with from the PCI-E card:

USB 3 rear PCI 2.jpg

O.K. I guess that was expected, but look at this one.
Rear USB 3.0 ports on the motherboard:

USB 3 rear Board 2.jpg

And no matter which USB 3.0 port the USB Flash Drive was put in, it was always listed as capable of USB 3.0 SuperSpeed. All of the data looked like this one:

USB 3 front PCI 1.jpg


Not only that, but I re-ran XBench using the same USB 3.0 drive from post #2, and got even higher speed results. I think the USB 3.0 controller on the expansion card performs better than the one on my aging Z68 board:

USB 3.0 front port from PCI-E expansion card:

Results 26.44
System Info
Xbench Version 1.3
System Version 10.10.5 (14F27)
Physical RAM 16384 MB
Model Macmini6,2
Drive Type Media
Disk Test 26.44
Sequential 65.32
Uncached Write 44.95 27.60 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 40.52 22.92 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 88.95 26.03 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 326.18 163.94 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Random 16.58
Uncached Write 6.97 0.74 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Write 10.56 3.38 MB/sec [256K blocks]
Uncached Read 859.56 6.09 MB/sec [4K blocks]
Uncached Read 515.85 95.72 MB/sec [256K blocks]


The final verdict? USB 3.0 is definitely workable on this board. With a little persistence as well as some trial and error on a similar system, you should be able to get USB 3.0 working correctly. The Inatek expansion card definitely does what it is supposed to do, and gave me the ability to use the front USB 3.0 ports on my case, a capability that was lacking due to the age and design of my motherboard.
 
Having a similar problem with USP 3.0 on my GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3. Running Clover and El Capitan. Got to the folder /System/Library/Extensions/Contents/Plugins, but no kext "AppleUSBXHCI.kext" there.
 
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