USB freezes mavericks computer, would installing yosemite help?

[lemjello]

System is
GA-H97-3DH
Xeon 1231 v3
EVGA 740 4GB
32GB RAM
240 SSD

The issue is in a fully updated, brand new install of Mavericks 10.9.5 with latest sec update, I am getting random freezes/locking up when there is anything plugged in to usb besides keyboard and mouse.

A Presonus VSL22 sound card USB 2, and a Western Digital 4TB usb 3 drive.
I've tried with just the sound card plugged in, and it randomly freezes. Tried in usb2 and usb3.
I followed the guide and only installed from MB the alc1500 and the intel ethernet 3.1 driver.
Everything looks fine in the system, I've tested all the individual components and they are all fine.
Everything works in Windows (installed on a separate drive just for testing)

Is there something I can do to make this work in Mavericks? Do you think installing Yosemite instead would help? Or will I still be dealing with the same situation? Thanks

 

[Adrian B]

There was a lot of problems back in the early days of Mavericks with many - myself included having problems with random screen/system freezing when a USB device was plugged in. USB flas drives were a real problem.

If you have updated the UEFI/BIOS to the latest available - easy to do from within Windows. If you have also tweaked your USB UEFI settings and are still getting the problem then I would first of all try a test installation of 10.9.5 using absolute minimum MultiBeast options (no audio/USB options) and see if you get any difference in behaviour. You can also do the same with Yosemite to compare the difference. I take it that the console logs are not giving much useful information away?

 

[lemjello]

BIOS is updated to the latest, and, I don't think the logs are really having a chance to tell me what is going on with the freeze. Honestly, there is so much info, I don't really know what to look at.

The install I have happening right now, started as you suggest. Just 10.9, then combo update to 10.9.5, then MB with just onboard sound and Ethernet, then update thru software update. Everything is fine, which I also find strange, since I installed with a USB3 flash drive, and, no issues.

It's not till I start hooking up peripherals that things start locking up.
I think I will try a fresh Yosemite install and see if that helps. I built another one of these but with an i5 and onboard graphics, and there is no USB issue, so, even though I wanted Mavericks since this is an audio machine, might have to go with Yosemite...at least give it a shot and I will post back later.

Thanks
PS, what would I be looking for in the logs?

 

[Adrian B]

It's not till I start hooking up peripherals that things start locking up.

It is something to do with USB and only happens when plugging in or unplugging a USB device. Keyboard & mouse where generally immune from the issue from memory

I think I will try a fresh Yosemite install and see if that helps. I built another one of these but with an i5 and onboard graphics, and there is no USB issue, so, even though I wanted Mavericks since this is an audio machine, might have to go with Yosemite...at least give it a shot and I will post back later.

PS, what would I be looking for in the logs?

Good luck with your testing. Have a look in the logs at the time that the computer freezes - you will see the time uses the 24 hour clock.e.g 18:21:20 would be 18.21 and 20 seconds.

At its worst I could have two freezes a day, but I could then go for 3-4 weeks and have no problems at all. My freezes stopped around 10.9.4/10.9.5. Gigabyte GA-H87-HD3 board with i5-4440 CPU using HD4600 graphics or GT640 GPU

One other thing that I wondered about was if a different HDD or SSD could make a difference - I think that I had real difficulty getting he problem to replicate as often with a different drive (its been more than a year since I last had this issue so my memory may be playing tricks on me now.

 

[lemjello]

Thanks for the info!
I am happy to report, Yosemite loves this computer.
Hasn't froze once. Even with the usb sound and external drive!
Using the Nvidia web drivers, and running a stress test now, all cpu cores, all ram, and video. If this doesn't crash it, I think it should be ok. I'm running the test with the sound card hooked up, so that is in the equation as well.
So far, it's taking it like a champ. all cores maxed, ram maxed and video maxed. Temps sitting around 61c. Not bad considering everything that is running right now.