issue with USB 3.0 - NEC/Renesas

[Say Heading]

Silly question maybe. But how can you tell if the motherboard has a VLIHub in it? Is there a specific vedor ID that will show? Or a certain error in one of the logs?

Thanks in advance!

You should find it in the user´s manual (@Gigabyte: product specifications).

 

[Jim989]

Silly question maybe. But how can you tell if the motherboard has a VLIHub in it? Is there a specific vedor ID that will show? Or a certain error in one of the logs?

Thanks in advance!

You should find it in the user´s manual (@Gigabyte: product specifications).

I think the Alienware laptop has a custom made motherboard and I have been unable to find any details on what is on it. Does the VLCHub show in IORegistryExplorer as something noticeable?

 

[Say Heading]

I think the Alienware laptop has a custom made motherboard and I have been unable to find any details on what is on it. Does the VLCHub show in IORegistryExplorer as something noticeable?

I don´t know about IORegistryExplorer but if you have OSX installed you can see it in the system report.
[email protected]

 

[Jim989]

Thanks for that. It's not showing in my list, so perhaps I have something else wrong.

 

[thelostswede]

Silly question maybe. But how can you tell if the motherboard has a VLIHub in it? Is there a specific vedor ID that will show? Or a certain error in one of the logs?

Thanks in advance!

It's easy if you have Windows installed, it should show up in the device manager. However, I don't know of any notebook that has a USB 3.0 hub built in, so I don't think that's an issue for you.

 

[Jim989]

It's easy if you have Windows installed, it should show up in the device manager. However, I don't know of any notebook that has a USB 3.0 hub built in, so I don't think that's an issue for you.

On the Alienware laptop in Device Manager it shows the following USB controllers...
Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 1C26
Intel(R) 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller - 1C2D
Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Host Controller

And these reported hubs...
2x Generic USB Hub
2x USB Root Hub
1x Renesas Electronics USB 3.0 Root Hub

The laptop has these ports..
(2x) Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports
(2x) SuperSpeed USB 3.0/2.0 Combo ports
(1x) eSATA 3Gb/s + USB 2.0 Combo port(with USB charge function support.

Now the eSATA + USB 2.0 port seems to work, but none of the other 4 which is why I wondered if it could be linked to this VLI Hub thingy but I find no mention of it in Device Manager. So my hunt for a solution continues.

 

[thelostswede]

The USB 2.0 port should just work, as OS X has native support for Intel USB 2.0 ports. You'd have to install a kext for the NEC/Renesas ports to make them work and you might want to upgrade to the latest firmware for those, as it seems to make them work slightly better in OS X.

FYI root hubs aren't really hubs, but it's strange that there's a generic USB hub, as there's really no reason for Alienware to put in a USB hub to add additional USB 2.0 ports considering that the chipset offers more than enough ports.

 

[Jim989]

The USB 2.0 port should just work, as OS X has native support for Intel USB 2.0 ports.

Just in case someone else has a similar issue (It keeps things tidy IMHO), here is a little update on my particular problem. It's not linked to the USB 3.0 NEC at all, but a problem with HPET causing IRQ conflicts. Solution posted here in my Alienware M17xR3 Lion progress thread: viewtopic.php?f=170&t=45864&p=288910

 

[nikitosian]

Hi! I have the same USB 3.0 problem Like you. And the same problem. If I instal A USB3.0 Nec from Multibeast Its just freez my sistem When I plug in a USB.

 

[lucky777s]

Now that apple is introducing USB 3 support will there now be a fix coming for some of the boards with the VLI issues, such as mine.

Getting USB3 to work would make my Hackintosh nearly perfect. Only sleep would be missing.