Stable H77N-WiFi Yosemite build flaking out - USB, freezing, etc.

[jvalentinus]

Hello everyone,

I've had a January 2013 "CustoMac Mini" build (H77n-WiFi [F2 firmware], Core i3, 8GB ram, Samsung 840 SSD, Chameleon legacy boot). It's been stable for about 5.5 years. Thinking that the SSD might've been flaking out, I did a brand new install on a Samsung 860 SSD. I used a DSTD for my reinstall, but the behavior is the same as my previous DSDT-free install. These are my problems, in the reverse order in which they appeared (most recent first), all still occurring on relatively fresh Yosemite 10.10.5:

1. Optiarc AD-7280S optical drive: erratic behavior reading, writing, and burning. Oftentimes will not mount a disc at all, and continually tries to spin it up. Sometimes a reboot helps. Sometimes ejecting helps. Tried cleaning and disassembly (no avail), and then swapped with an identical model drive. Same behavior after swapping drives. Also occurs when booted into Windows 10.
2. With #1 removed, the system is usually stable as long as there are no server shares or USB drives attached. With a USB drive attached, either to the USB 2 or 3 ports, the system may become unresponsive (usually happens overnight). These behaviors did not occur for 5.5 years with same USB hardware attached.
3. USB flakes out in a predictable manner: the USB keyboard, plugged into a rear USB 2 port, will not respond unless I move it to a front USB 2 port. Simultaneously, my Apple bluetooth trackpad becomes unresponsive and I can't do anything to revive it. If I'm lucky, I can plug in a mouse and reboot the system. Other times, I have to power down because the OS is locked up hard.
4. If my external TM volume is attached to USB 2 or 3 ports while booting up, Chameleon freezes before the splash screen. I do not have this drive enabled as a boot drive in BIOS.

HWMonitor reports voltages, temps, etc. are all normal.

Thanks in advance for any help!

 

[trs96]

Why not try using the Clover Bootloader ? You can boot UEFI and use Clover's many advantages.
Even upgrade to something newer than Yosemite if you'd like.

 

[jvalentinus]

Why not try using the Clover Bootloader ? You can boot UEFI and use Clover's many advantages.
Even upgrade to something newer than Yosemite if you'd like.

Thanks for the suggestion. I, in fact, first tried my new build using Clover w/UEFI and El Capitan on a spare hard drive. Once I got the system up and running, spinning beach balls began to appear more commonly over the course of several days. Then, my USB drives would randomly disconnect, even while copying files. After two weeks of frustration, I went back to Chameleon and Yosemite, and my system seemed vastly more stable in comparison.

 

[trs96]

I, in fact, first tried my new build using Clover w/UEFI and El Capitan on a spare hard drive.

You need a custom SSDT for USB when running El Capitan. Did you ever use one ? You might be able to find one specific to your motherboard if you search the forums. Many people used that mobo back in 2013.

 

[jvalentinus]

Sorry, should have been more specific. Yes, I did use a DSDT for my motherboard with El Capitan when I tried the fresh install of El Capitan/UEFI/Clover about a month ago. I had hoped that an upgrade from Yosemite/Legacy/Chameleon would kill whatever gremlins had developed over time. Instead, it resulted in an unstable system with more USB problems. I also used a DSDT when I reinstalled Yosemite/Legacy/Chameleon but I can't tell any difference between that and my original Yosemite boot drive.

It's just driving me nuts that everything worked fine from 2013 until recently. I'm thinking that there must be some sort of weird hardware problem. I've done a ton of troubleshooting, including replacing my MB battery, clearing the CMOS via jumper, flashing to firmware F4 (not good) and then reflashing back to F2.

Also, I can't see a connection with USB and the more recent problems with the SATA optical drive issues, which exist in both OS X and Windows 10 in both my original and replacement optical drive.

 

[trs96]

Yes, I did use a DSDT for my motherboard with El Capitan when I tried the fresh install of El Capitan/UEFI/Clover about a month ago.

An SSDT is related but not the same thing as a DSDT. You need a custom SSDT for USB to work normally.

SSDT – The Secondary System Description Table is an ACPI table (secondary to the DSDT). The SSDT is usually used to configure system power management parameters, though it can also be used for other purposes.

 

[jvalentinus]

Thanks for the clarification. That reflects my unfamiliarity with Clover.