[HELP] G5 front panel - USB flaky - .kext issue???

[whiskeynipple0088]

All,
ISSUE: USB on front panel is flaky when using USB drive in both front G5 panel and rear mobo panel.
using a USB drive.....USB on front panel will operate fine as long as there is no USB drive connected to the rear I/O panel of the mobo. ie: if I plug in a usb drive into the rear mobo and then a USB drive into the G5 front panel ...the one in the G5 panel never shows............if I plug in a USB drive to the G5 front panel (it shows on the desktop and can browse and copy to and from) and then one in the rear mobo - the USB drive in the G5 front panel ejects and I get the notice that it was ejected improperly etc..... or sometimes the rear mobo usb will not even show on the desktop until I unplug the one in the front panel.

I built the break out cable for the front header of the G5 (doing 2 at same time) (did this a year ago for my first G5 customac - works perfect) and have checked with a voltmeter correct pinouts of the DIY cable - even replaced all wires and pins for the USB (in the DIY cable) -still same issue
Tested with 2 different G5 front panels
Swapped the cables into my older G5 customac - they worked fine (mobo - GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3)
connected USB header cable from old case to mobo - worked fine

mobo in this build is: G41MT-S2PT

please help - this has brought my 2 customacs for my boys to a stand still
thanks

 

[rickyreall84]

The front panel is really weird... I think out dated. I don't get much out of the front panel USB. I only get basic keyboard and mouse functions out of it. My USB drives and Bluetooth don't show up on osx. Basically anything that uses a lot of data dose not work. I have a sabertooth z77

 

[whiskeynipple0088]

rickyreall84 - thanks for the reply
yeah I have only used the front usb here and there on my custo mac - wasnt sure if this could be a ground issue or a software - but again thanks for replying - at least I know Im not alone and my cabling is ok

 

[rehpotsirhc]

Did you use twisted pair for the data wires on your USB? I've heard of issues when using parallel wires.

 

[Adrian B]

Hi whiskeynipple0088,

In case you haven't seen this guide, i will post it here, hopefully you can easily fault find and get to the bottom of your USB issues :

http://www.tonymacx86.com/powermac-g5/77208-g5-front-panel-quick-guide.html

 

[whiskeynipple0088]

thanks for the link - yeah I followed that guide when I built the first one last year - these 2 are for my kids - My Z68 board works perfectly fine with the USB but the G41 boards for theirs seem to be the issue
at this point I am going to say its a motherboard issue - best guess is due to old chipset - kinda bummed that something like this could be different from one board to another - hopefully only the older chipsets

 

[rehpotsirhc]

You should try a PCI card with an internal header, or either attach a regular USB A male to the header or redo the front connector using an old USB cable and run it out of the case and plug it in the back.

 

[whiskeynipple0088]

You should try a PCI card with an internal header

Good idea - didn't think of that - thanks

Ps - we have the same build - except vid - mine runs great - you using uefi 01c?

 

[rehpotsirhc]

I never installed UEFI, I just upgraded the bios to whatever version was out when I first built it. Once I find the desire and have some extra cash I'm going to get a second, bigger SSD, a new graphics card and a copy of windows which is when I might mess with overclocking for better gaming. Right now I only use this thing for internet, a little bit of photoshop and illustrator when I need to do something from home and traktor pro dj software, none of which need any real processing power.