usb device needs more power

[semtecs]

Hi

I have been running my Lion hackintosh flawlessly since my build 3 months ago.
I have the GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 and I'm running 10.7.3

I just now discovered that I can't connect usb peripherals such as hard drives and a wacom tablet directly to the usb port on my keyboard. I'm using an apple keyboard and it should work as an usb hub providing power but it doesn't. The keyboard is connected to the back of the motherboard.
I get the "usb device needs more power" message when I try to connect through the keyboard.

Has anyone else had this problem?
Is this a driver issue?

EDIT: By chance I discovered something interesting. I had my iphone on charge through the apple keyboard usb, connected to my macbook pro.
I then switched the keyboard to my hackintosh, iphone still connected to keyboard and booted up the hackintosh.
Are you following? Good.
During the bios screen the iphone actually charged!
As soon as it entered the OSX loading screen it stopped loading and I got the "usb device needs more power".
So what we can learn from this is that it is NOT a usb power issue but a os hackintosh issue!
Similar to what happened with the 10.7.4 update when the sandy bridge CPUs got stuck on a 16x multiplier and later got fixed with the multibeast SSDT support.
I believe that this also can be fixed if someone just figures out what's missing...

 

[dh22r]

the USB drive probably needs more power than the tablet. either plug this to a port on the back of your machine else get one of those 6-port USB powered hubs.

 

[thelostswede]

Uhm, no, it's user error...

A USB port only delivers 500mA (or in the case of Gigabyte boards 1,500mA) which is shared among all of the devices connected to it and that keyboard of yours is most likely taking most of that power for itself. On top of that, it's unlikely that the USB hub can share more than 500mA which in general isn't enough power for a lot of devices, especially a lot of hard drives require the full 500mA, but the hub most likely delivers a lot less.
Try plugging the devices straight into a rear USB port and I'm certain they will work just fine.

 

[SG-]

the extra USB port on the apple keyboards is really only made for a mouse or other low power USB devices (on a real Mac or a PC).

while the keyboard does act as a hub, it isn't a powered hub which is what you're looking for or thinking of, those require an external power source.

 

[semtecs]

Thank you for your replies.

This DOES work on a real mac that's why I'm confused to why it doesn't work on my hackintosh. Do Mac computers have a higher usb power output than pc?

I would like to point out that yes my devices work just fine when I plug them directly to the motherboard.

EDIT: After looking into this a bit further it seems that apple computers have "hi-power" usb ports, which is why it works on my real mac. I still find it weird that these "hi-power" usb ports don't exist on a 2012 motherboard

There is some info on the matter here: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4049

 

[SG-]

it's really hit or miss if it does work on a Mac as i've been unable to even charge my iPhone 4 on my MacBook Pro 13" using the port on the keyboard. The Gigabyte USB ports actually give way more power too.

so while it might work, it's not intended to work.

 

[semtecs]

I wouldn't say it's a hit or miss. It should definately work on a real Mac, in fact I tried it on 4 different Macs at work, both macbooks and Mac Pros and it worked on all.

But I would really like to get to the bottom of why this doesn't work on a hackintosh.
As some of you stated there is in fact more than enough power on the Gigabyte usb ports.

I thought OSX did the power handling of the ports.

Is there a DSDT hacker that can say if this can be solved by editing the DSDT or if this is purerly a hardware issue?

 

[sma1968]

I'm having the same problem with the same gigabyte (GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 board and Lion 10.7.4. If I use another keyboard, it works fine. The problem is strictly with the aluminum wired mac keyboard. Interestingly, I can plug a usb drive in -- and it is powered with no problem. I can't imagine that a keyboard with a mouse would use more power than a hard drive.
I haven't had this problem with previous gigabyte / hackintosh systems.

The z68x-ud3h-b3 is a popular MB for hackintoshing and I haven't heard many people with this problem. Something else must be going on, no?

 

[SG-]

you really can't imagine why a keyboard mouse don't use more than a keyboard and hard drive?