USB 3.0 on Gigabyte UEFI Motherboards- XHCI Mode Explained

[eddieboy]

As you may or may not know, Gigabyte has a setting in the BIOS called xHCI mode.
It can be set to Smart Auto, Auto, Enabled and Disabled.

Disabled turns off USB 3.0 entirely and makes all the ports USB 2.0.

The other three operate slightly differently, especially with regards
to OS X and as you can see from my screen shots, it appears that the
Auto mode is the one to pick for OS X. It's the only mode that allows the OS to see the VIA USB 3.0 hubs for example an it appears to show more information about USB 3.0 devices.

I'm not sure the performance is quite there, as there's no performance benefit using either mode, but in Smart Auto the devices don't even seem to show up.

Note: This only applies to the Z77, H77, B75 and Q77 boards with integrated Intel USB 3.0 ports. Also note that xHCI and EHCI Hand-off has to be enabled or the USB ports won't work at all.

Edit: Also note the "HS Port Switchable" settings. On the Z77X-UD5H there are four of these and they enable you to manually set your USB 3.0 ports to USB 2.0 mode if you chose disable rather than enable. This is handy for example during installation if you don't have additinal USB 2.0 ports on your case or via a bracket.

I have a ga-z170x-ud3 ultra board and I'm having problems with the usb. When I shutdown computer it stays off but my devices stay on or if I just move the mouse it turns back on. Any solutions on this.

 

[freelancertech]

I have similar hardware and done a few hackmacs in my life...but I am having very little success in this round. You should see my hardware profile below...which seems to fit right in the main stream of compatible hardware. I get tantalizingly close with the Apple logo and progress bar and then the wheel starts spinning and finally freezes about 2 minutes in...and thats it. I have waited for long periods of time, thinking maybe its still working...to no avail. I have been swimming through the countless threads enumerating the BIOS configs, trying them all. I started with High Sierra...failed, then thought what the heck...try Mojave...failed without even showing the USB...and yes, I took the advice about the XHCI settings...failed. Now I am going backward in time to El Cap, thinking maybe older is more compatible with my HW setup...but if anyone sees some light where I've gone and failed, it would be good to know. One thing I have wanted to do was get into verbose mode...tried the spacebar, but that did not work, couldn't see anyway of configuring the load to verbose or safe. I am growing weary of the failures, but am determined to make this happen. I see successes everywhere, so I know it is something I am missing in this sea of information. Help, I'm drowning....

 

[rsch]

Thank you, without this my Hackintosh had no mouse and no keyboard when I tried to login, The generic instructions say set a gigabyte motherboard to enabled which meant no USB ports would work at login, setting XHCI to auto enabled me to proceed. So good Swede Im glad I found you.