PCIe USB2.0 card: no HD's or Flash memory

[dtrvndrn]

Hi,
I've got an issue with my Sonnet Tango 800 card. It's a PCI Express card with firewire 800 & USB2.0 ports. Firewire works fine. USB2.0 works with devices like mouses and MIDI controllers but my USB flash drive and USB HDD don't mount in Finder. System Profiler does list them. I tested the card in a Winbugs PC and it worked fine. Any ideas as to what could be causing this? I'm running 10.6.8.

Tanx, Dieter

 

[vienna01]

Can you test without the add-on FW PCIE card?
Will USB 2.0 etc. then work OK ?

 

[dtrvndrn]

Not sure if I understand you correctly... I can't take the FW out because it's on the same card as the USB ports.

If that wasn't what you meant: the USB drives work fine in the USB ports of my motherboard.

 

[vienna01]

Because your MB USB 2.0 ports are OK, I would guess the problem is the FW card. You probably think that too.

You can start to debug the problem, by trying your FW/USB card in other MB slots. You might even try it in the x16 slot with the video card in the x8 slot temporarily.

If that doesn't give you a working solution, I would purchase a FW card, with or without USB2.0, that you can RETURN. See if it works for you.

Other solutions to extend the 6 USB 2.0/3.0 ports of your mother board:

Get separate FW and USB cards. Either USB 2.0 or 3.0 cards.

Get separate FW card and use a USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 multi-port device [one that comes with its own power supply].

When you have working solutions, you can test for the best thoughput.

In selecting a replacement FW card, research other's success with them and your MB.

 

[dtrvndrn]

tanx for the advice!

there's a couple of things that limit my options though. with the FW+USB card all my expansion slots are taken so I can't replace it by 2 individual cards. i do need both. firewire for my audio interface and the extra USB controller for my 2nd Kinect camera. these have a technical limitation that doesn't allow 2 of them to be connected to the same USB host controller. that's why i need the extra USB.

i might try another route. the Kinect drivers/libraries have another limitation (or bug?) that doesn't allow them to run on USB3.0 ports. that's a pitty cause my guess is the backward compatible USB3.0 controller will appear as a 2nd controller to the Kinect software. one guy managed to fix this, though with a complicated hack on windows...

 

[vienna01]

Were you able to determine if the card is defective or just incompatible?

You might look on Ebay. There are many folks selling add-on cards. Some of them mau fit your needs.