USB Fixes

[davidr418]

Did anyone ever come up with a comprehensive, universally applicable solution for either Z87 or Z97 motherboards to get the USB 3 ports working?

Yes, I've been through every single technique mentioned in the USB section of the Big List of Issues. Furthermore, I've been through every single technique on three different motherboards-- An ASUS Z87, ASUS Z97, and brand new Gigabyte Z97 because hey, that's the Officially Recommended Board here and the Z97 stuff should just work with 10.11.1, right?

[insert hollow, mocking laughter here]

I have, on occasion, managed to get USB 3 ports actually showing up in the system report. I've never managed to get any sort of mass storage device, like a USB 3 hard drive dock, actually working. The best case has been a recognition (in the system report) of the dock's existence, but no drive in the dock will mount or show up in Disk Utility. Which is kind of a show-stopped for me since that's how I do my backups.

I was hoping MultiBeast 8 would automate this process to some extent. It was a foolish hope, I know, but still...

The principal methods for getting the ports to work seem to be writing custom injectors and modifying the DSDT. But either method seems to require information about the port hardware, typically gained from a utility like IOJones. But what I see when I use these utilities bears no relationship to what the various threads on the matter say I should see; and the various different flavors of pre-built injects I've tried don't seem to do anything other than sporadically render the system unbootable.

So, anyway, I though I'd check back one last time for any more advice, or pointers to techniques I should try. Again, three motherboards to work with...

 

[ammulder]

We're trying to get that feature into a future release of MultiBeast -- but as you've seen, there are so many techniques and boards that it may prove to be challenging.

That said, try this (for any 7/8/9-series boards -- not 5x or 6x or Skylake):

1. Remove any USB fixes you've already tried
2. Install FakePCIID.kext and FakePCIID_XHCIMux.kext from the latest distribution here. Put them in EFI/CLOVER/kexts/... on your USB or system boot drive. If you're using the numbered directories (as UniBeast does), make sure to put them in both 10.10/ and 10.11/ ! (Or if you've previously removed numbered directories, put them in Other/ with any other kexts.) Reboot and...
3. Profit!
4. Oh, um, if that doesn't work, please report back. Our expectation is that you should only need additional fixes if using one of these SMBIOS system definitions: MacBookPro8,1 MacBookPro9,1 iMac13,1 iMac13,2 iMac13,3 MacPro6,1
5. If it doesn't work the next step is (with those kexts in place) to add these two patches to EFI/CLOVER/config.plist on the same boot drive in ACPI/DSDT/Patches:

   	<key>ACPI</key>
   	<dict>
   		<key>DSDT</key>
   		<dict>
   			<key>Patches</key>
   			<array>
   				<dict>
   					<key>Comment</key>
   					<string>change EHC1 to EH01</string>
   					<key>Find</key>
   					<data>RUhDMQ==</data>
   					<key>Replace</key>
   					<data>RUgwMQ==</data>
   				</dict>
   				<dict>
   					<key>Comment</key>
   					<string>change EHC2 to EH02</string>
   					<key>Find</key>
   					<data>RUhDMg==</data>
   					<key>Replace</key>
   					<data>RUgwMg==</data>
   				</dict>
   			</array>
   		</dict>
   	</dict>
   	...

6. Then reboot and try again.
7. If that doesn't work, please report back.
8. The next step is perhaps the XOSI patch, but I really hope we don't have to go there.

Note that if you want USB3 to work when first installing, you need to apply those kexts and potentially config.plist changes to the USB install drive after UniBeast creates it but before you use it.

 

[davidr418]

I have an SSD with a fresh install of El Capitan, devoid of any previous USB fixes. So I will try this and report back. Thanks for the suggestions...I live in hope.

 

[mamateis]

How do I install those kexts as KextBeast only installs in /l/e ir s/l/e? Can I just drag and drop?

 

[ammulder]

To install kexts in your Clover directory structure, you can drag and drop. You only need the special tools to install to /L/E or /S/L/E

 

[mamateis]

Thanks

 

[davidr418]

We're trying to get that feature into a future release of MultiBeast -- but as you've seen, there are so many techniques and boards that it may prove to be challenging.

That said, try this (for any 7/8/9-series boards -- not 5x or 6x or Skylake):

1. Remove any USB fixes you've already tried
2. Install FakePCIID.kext and FakePCIID_XHCIMux.kext from the latest distribution here. Put them in EFI/CLOVER/kexts/... on your USB or system boot drive. If you're using the numbered directories (as UniBeast does), make sure to put them in both 10.10/ and 10.11/ ! Reboot and...
3. Profit!

1. 
   
   OK, I tried this part first. The KEXTs are installed as directed, and the SMBIOS definition is MacPro3,1.
   
   There are 8 USB 3.0 ports on this system: two from an internal USB 3.0 header, and six on the back panel, in one group of four and one group of two. I have 3 USB 3.0 devices to test:
   
   • A USB 3.0 card reader built into my Dell monitor
   • A Patriot USB 3.0 memory stick
   • Two USB 3.0 hard drive docks
   
   Results:
   
   • USB 3.0 card reader: works!
   • Patriot USB 3.0 memory stick: works!
   • Two USB 3.0 hard drive docks! <loud buzzer>
   
   After installing the KEXTs and rebooting, the card reader and Patriot USB stick worked on all 8 USB 3.0 ports, in that they showed up as 5Gb/s devices on 6 of the ports and achieved USB 3.0 transfer speeds on all 8 ports. (On two of the ports the speed was not shown in the system report, but the devices worked fine anyway.)
   
   I should note that I had previously added the Clover ACPI patches to rename the Apple injectors. Removing this patch disabled two of the USB 3.0 ports completely; the other 6 continued to work.
   
   However, neither USB 3.0 dock-- both from different vendors but both apparently using the same ASMedia AS2105 USB 3.0 controller-- worked. They would show up in the system report as a 5Gb/s device, as shown in the attached screen shot, but the drive doesn't mount and Disk Utility does not see it. The dock works perfectly in any USB 3 port under Yosemite.
   
   At this point I'm guessing the problem is some sort of obscure compatibility issue between El Capitan and the AS2105 controller. It's easy enough to buy another dock; or I could try the additional ACPI patches you mention (although I think they're the same as the ones I disabled.)
   
   SO, what do you think re the dock?
   
   UPDATE: Found a Seagate 2GB laptop backup hard disk with a USB 3.0 interface. Works perfectly. So at this point I'm pretty sure the problem is the old AS2105-based docks.

 

[HennoeR]

1. Remove any USB fixes you've already tried
2. Install FakePCIID.kext and FakePCIID_XHCIMux.kext from the latest distribution here. Put them in EFI/CLOVER/kexts/... on your USB or system boot drive. If you're using the numbered directories (as UniBeast does), make sure to put them in both 10.10/ and 10.11/ ! Reboot and...

hi,

I followed your guide to update from Chimera/Yosemite to Clover/El Capitan and it went well but my USB 3.0 ports don't seem to work. As described in your guide i had to delete all 10.X directories leaving only other (point 13.). So, where do I have to place the kexts from above if I don't have the 10.10 or 10.11 folders?

 

[ammulder]

In the Other/ directory. It avoids needing to put them in both 10.10 and 10.11.

 

[HennoeR]

In the Other/ directory. It avoids needing to put them in both 10.10 and 10.11.

okay, thanks I will try it now. Wish me luck!