USB WIFI keeps disconnecting!!! HELP!

[hananias]

Guys I'm going crazy with my USB ports!
I have a "no brand" USB Wifi dongle, and when it works it works.
After a fresh boot (wifi seems OK, notification is green) but opening anything that uses the wifi (Appstore, Mail, Browser, etc.) causes it the wifi to freeze (green, but no internet). I have to manually unplug the thing, and move it to another usb port to get it working again.
Sometimes the USB port that it was plugged into turns off somehow.

I looked into more forums than I can count, but after all the research. Perhaps it is a problem with my USB Port & macOS High Sierra 10.13.3 not supplying enough power to the ports.
I'm not an expert with patching kext and what not, but if there is a simple or do able fix to get my USB working fine I would love to hear it.

Another option would be to upgrade to a PCIe wifi adapter, but that wouldn't solve the problem with the USB right?

I tried hooking it up to an externally Powered USBx4 hub for HDD/SSD dock. But still disconnects randomly.
Here's my networks info:

System Reports' USB device,
802.11ac WLAN Adapter :
Product ID: 0xa811
Vendor ID: 0x0bda (Realtek Semiconductor Corp.)
Version: 2.00
Serial Number: 00e04c000001
Speed: Up to 480 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Realtek
Location ID: 0x1a124200 / 11
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 500
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0
Network, Wi-Fi:
Software Versions:
CoreWLAN: 13.0 (1339)
CoreWLANKit: 13.0 (1339)
Menu Extra: 13.0 (1345)
System Information: 12.0 (1300.1)
IO80211 Family: 12.0 (1200.12.2)
Diagnostics: 1.0 (805)
AirPort Utility: 6.3.8 (638.5)


So if anyone could be kind enough to share links to Wifi adapters I could purchase, or better yet how can I fix my USB!
Thanks in advance.

 

[Bob_the_Tomato]

Just a guess here,
but does it disconnect when using USB drives? I have two ports that will disconnect some USB drives but not others. I am willing to bet it's a power management issue with the USB ports and nothing to do with the WIFI adapter.
Can you plug the adapter into an external POWERED USB hub?


edit: I should probably read faster than I type... you already said that you tried an external hub. Sorry.

Getting WIFI/Bluetooth to work requires very specific chipsets in the device. Check out the recommended adapters found in the Recommended Buy section that is updated monthly.

 

[hananias]

Just a guess here,
but does it disconnect when using USB drives? I have two ports that will disconnect some USB drives but not others. I am willing to bet it's a power management issue with the USB ports and nothing to do with the WIFI adapter.
Can you plug the adapter into an external POWERED USB hub?


edit: I should probably read faster than I type... you already said that you tried an external hub. Sorry.

Getting WIFI/Bluetooth to work requires very specific chipsets in the device. Check out the recommended adapters found in the Recommended Buy section that is updated monthly.

It's alright! I'm just happy somebody replied.
I'm still suffering from this problem.
And yes right now it is connected to an external usb hub with a SATA HDD. The HDD works fine, but the WIFI doesn't... what gives???

When it goes bad, I have to eject the disk and then turn OFF & ON the Hub, to trigger the wifi to work again.
It's a pain in the back... and to make things worst, I think it is affecting OneDrive folder (having sync issues).

Thanks for suggesting the Buyers section, I completely forgot about that!
I live in Japan, and some those chips don't ship here, but I found a local PCI wifi adapter in Amazon Japan.
Will this work? It claims to work on "Hackintosh System"...
https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B071F9D9D6/

I appreciate your feedback!

 

[UtterDisbelief]

It's alright! I'm just happy somebody replied.
I'm still suffering from this problem.
And yes right now it is connected to an external usb hub with a SATA HDD. The HDD works fine, but the WIFI doesn't... what gives???

When it goes bad, I have to eject the disk and then turn OFF & ON the Hub, to trigger the wifi to work again.
It's a pain in the back... and to make things worst, I think it is affecting OneDrive folder (having sync issues).

Thanks for suggesting the Buyers section, I completely forgot about that!
I live in Japan, and some those chips don't ship here, but I found a local PCI wifi adapter in Amazon Japan.
Will this work? It claims to work on "Hackintosh System"...
https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/B071F9D9D6/

I appreciate your feedback!

If I read right, your usb wifi chipset is Realtek, which is not one of the recommended ones. Usually you need Broadcom or Atheros to get full Mac compatibility. Actually, having said that I have a TP-Link usb model (T4U I think) I keep as a spare and it has beta Mac drivers available to download. It's Realtek too.

The PCIe model you link to is Fenvi, but again not the one usually recommended and doesn't feature bluetooth. Says hackintosh in the description so maybe ok though!

If BT isn't an issue go for TP-Link's TL-WDN4800 pcie adapter. It's not AC speed but is reliable and works OOB. You can also use their T8E AC1750 if you need AC.

 

[hananias]

If I read right, your usb wifi chipset is Realtek, which is not one of the recommended ones. Usually you need Broadcom or Atheros to get full Mac compatibility. Actually, having said that I have a TP-Link usb model (T4U I think) I keep as a spare and it has beta Mac drivers available to download. It's Realtek too.

The PCIe model you link to is Fenvi, but again not the one usually recommended and doesn't feature bluetooth. Says hackintosh in the description so maybe ok though!

If BT isn't an issue go for TP-Link's TL-WDN4800 pcie adapter. It's not AC speed but is reliable and works OOB. You can also use their T8E AC1750 if you need AC.

Yes, it's a Realtek chipset, but it did come with drivers which works. But I guess since it is not a "real" mac wifi chipset, anything can go wrong. So I'm gonna look for a supported one from the list. Thanks again for all your advice!
I'll post an update when I end up upgrading the wifi adapter.

But a quick question is, even though I change my Wifi adapter to a PCIe adapter.
Wouldn't the USB power usage still be unreliable???

 

[UtterDisbelief]

Yes, it's a Realtek chipset, but it did come with drivers which works. But I guess since it is not a "real" mac wifi chipset, anything can go wrong. So I'm gonna look for a supported one from the list. Thanks again for all your advice!
I'll post an update when I end up upgrading the wifi adapter.

But a quick question is, even though I change my Wifi adapter to a PCIe adapter.
Wouldn't the USB power usage still be unreliable???

Yes, that's true.

You've got to appreciate Gigabyte because they still have your motherboard product page online. The specs say the USB 1/2 ports are controlled via the Intel chipset and the USB 3.0 ports by a Renesas chip.

Doing a search here on tonymacx86 shows a fair amount of guidance for the NEC/Renesas USB chips. This one looked interesting, mainly because it had input from @RehabMan who is unquestionably the expert. There are several other threads though that should help. An interesting point I picked up was that it seems the USB device needs to be plugged-in at boot for the Renesas (USB 3.0) port to work correctly. Intel (USB 2.0) should be fine hot-plugging.

 

[hananias]

An interesting point I picked up was that it seems the USB device needs to be plugged-in at boot for the Renesas (USB 3.0) port to work correctly. Intel (USB 2.0) should be fine hot-plugging.

Thank you so much for the links!!!
I recently happened to noticed about the "USB3 hot-plugging bug" by accident. Thanks for clarifying this for me.