USB stick seen as Internal Drive

[DanRamone]

I didn't say to set the USB3 header ports as internal. Just the USB2 header ports need to be set as internal!

This is a quirk in how macOS deals with header ports.

Change the 4 x USB3 header ports (HS11, HS12, SS01 and SS02) back to USB3.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, on the front panel of the case I have 2 USB2 connected to the USB2 header, and 2 USB3 connected to the USB3 header. To stay in the 15 port limit, I decided to have one of these USB3 not working with USB2 devices. So the front part has 2 USB2 HS11 and HS12, and 2 USB3 SS01+HS01 and SS02.

 

[Edhawk]

So SS01+HS01 and SS02 should be set as USB3, not as Internal.

HS11 and HS12 should be set set as Internal.

Make these changes and export a new USBPorts.kext.

1. Copy the USBPorts.kext to your /EFI/OC/Kexts folder.
2. Create an entry for the USBPorts.kext in your config.plist.

Easiest way to add an entry to the config.plist is to use Corpnewt's ProperTree plist editor.

• Open your config.plist with ProperTree.command
• From the File menu select OC Clean Snapshot option.
• 
  
• This will ask you to select your OC folder, using a Finder window that will automatically open.
• When you select your OC folder ProperTree will automatically add the entry for the new kext.
• Save the change(s) to your config.plist
• Close ProperTree.

Reboot your system with these edits in place.

When you get to the OpenCore boot screen, use the ClearNvram and ResetSystem tools, in that order. So you remove any previous unwanted NVRAM settings from your setup.

 

[Edhawk]

HS11 and HS12 are the only USB ports coming from the USB2 Header, these should be Internal.
SS01, SS02 should be set as USB3, while HS01 shouldn't be USB2?

HS01 should not be set as USB2.

It is from a USB3 header port, all ports from the USB3 header are required to be set a USB3, if they are to work correctly in macOS.

 

[DanRamone]

I should have done it correctly now like you said, but I still see in Disk Utility the pen drive connected to the usb2 header as internal. Is this correct?
Thanks

 

[Edhawk]

I am not sure you are looking at the correct drive in Disk Utility.

1. The SCSI Disk with the 'LIC' volume/partition you highlighted in Disk Utility is not the one that is shown in the main Disk Utility window.
2. The disk shown in the Disk Utility window is a 500GB Samsung SSD 970 drive, which is using a PCI-Express connection not a USB connection.

The USB window in Hackintool looks OK.

The eLicenser device is connected to one of the Asmedia USB ports, with a port speed of 12MB, which relates to USB2 speed.

How am I supposed to tell you what you have done is correct, given the above?

 

[UtterDisbelief]

I should have done it correctly now like you said, but I still see in Disk Utility the pen drive connected to the usb2 header as internal. Is this correct?
Thanks

Hi there.

Late to the party, I know ...

In the last graphic, where is the pen drive in Disk Utility? You have highlighted a SCSI drive? Is that it?

I've spent some time reviewing the posts, your screengrabs and USBPorts.kexts ...

@Edhawk has explained very comprehensively - post #15 for example - so I won't repeat that.

I'd just check other things before going further...

Upload a ZIP archive of your complete EFI folder (with serial-number removed or redacted).

The images I'm seeing make me feel there are kexts at work here, or maybe SSDTs, confusing the issue. Either that or a broken DSDT/ACPI table.

 

[DanRamone]

Hi there.

Late to the party, I know ...

In the last graphic, where is the pen drive in Disk Utility? You have highlighted a SCSI drive? Is that it?

I've spent some time reviewing the posts, your screengrabs and USBPorts.kexts ...

@Edhawk has explained very comprehensively - post #15 for example - so I won't repeat that.

I'd just check other things before going further...

Upload a ZIP archive of your complete EFI folder (with serial-number removed or redacted).

The images I'm seeing make me feel there are kexts at work here, or maybe SSDTs, confusing the issue. Either that or a broken DSDT/ACPI table.

Ohh now I see, sorry I confused you as I made the screenshot with the wrong drive on the main windows, but actually I wanted to highlight that the USB pen SCSI-LIC is actually under the internal drives. If I plug it to the nearby USB3 port connected to the USB3 header is showing up in the External drives. I post you both pictures, one with the pen connected to the USB2 and the other on the USB3. Thanks for your help!

 

[Edhawk]

OK, those images make more sense.

• The only thing I can think that would cause this is the USB ports are connected via different USB controllers.
• MacOS may be dealing with the ports in a different manner and making it look like an Internal drive.
• As that is what it expected when a device is connected through the PXSX controller.
• Any device connected through the XHC controller's USB ports are probably dealt with as standard USB external devices.

That would be my best guess. Yes, guess!

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Ohh now I see, sorry I confused you as I made the screenshot with the wrong drive on the main windows, but actually I wanted to highlight that the USB pen SCSI-LIC is actually under the internal drives. If I plug it to the nearby USB3 port connected to the USB3 header is showing up in the External drives. I post you both pictures, one with the pen connected to the USB2 and the other on the USB3. Thanks for your help!

Okay, great. Thank you.

What is missing from the information you need is the port map. You need to know which port is allocated which label in IOReg.

We know a lot from the information Asus gave us, but not enough to fully explain what is going on.

For example, here is my guess as to the controller-to-port configuration:


What we don't know is the port name allocated to each. Usually HS01 should be an Intel port, but the fact it appears to be an ASMedia one is confusing. In fact the whole USB port layout seems confusing!

The port your LIC USB drive is attached to appears to be HS11, if IOReg is correct.

You should map all the ports using Hackintool to check their port-names. Select the broom icon in the bottom row of the screen, then the refresh (circular arrows) icon to update. Use USB2 and USB3 memory sticks to test each port and make a map of the ports.

One reason we need to do this is to check controller port type as @Edhawk explained earlier. This is the "UsbConnector type" setting, which defines how each port is treated by macOS.

All USB drives should show up as external no matter which port they are attached to.

At the moment I am not able to see the cause of your problem. Your IOReg export file shows no ASMedia ports.

Two extra points to note:

1) The PXSX port-count setting in the USBPorts.kext seems incorrect for the controller, if it is indeed ASMedia.

2) If you are using iMac19,2 as a system-definition I would consider ig-platform-id of 07009B3E instead.

 

[Edhawk]

To me it looks like the PXSX ports are being duplicated. There should only be 4 x USB ports on the PXSX controller, Hackintool shows 8.

You have a PXSX controller with ID 0x00, anther with ID 0x01, both with the same vendor and Device ID's.

• PXSX 0x00 declares the 4 x ports as PRT1, PRT2, HS01 and PRT4 (eLicenser attached to PRT4)
• PXSX 0x01 declares the 4 x ports as SS01, SS02, HS01 and PRT4 - highlighted in magenta box in image below

My first instincts were to tell you to delete the ports on controller PXSX 0x00. But the same argument could be brought forward for the deletion of the PXSX 0x01 controller ports. As only two ports on each controller have been identified.

The easiest way to tell which port is working with each controller is to look at the Location ID column. If you sorted the USB window by this column the distinction between the two PXSX controllers would be easier to see, for everyone.

PXSX 0x00 Controller ports highlighted