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USB 3.0 issues

T

Tech198

Cancelled
Original poster
Mar 21, 2011
15,915
2,152
After doing a DIY install creation of Mountain Lion from Disk Utility on a USB stick, I rebooted... While rebooting i pulled flash drive out.....

However, the USB is not dead, as i can read it fine from OS X.. it just doesn't show up in the Mult-boot screen at boot...

Trying to see why its not showing up,,,weather it was pulling it out without Ejecting it first.. or the fact i didn't create bootable flash drive....

But what makes me think its a flash drive issue, is when i plug in the usb flash after seeing my drive on the multi-boot screen, the macbook halts...

That is,, the pointer freezes and unable to move, until i unplug, or power off.


Also, if i leave the flash connected while power on, i do not see the Apple logo,, ever..... just a grey screen... even if i wait a long time.

This all leads me to the unplugging as it all started go go 'iffy' afterwards.

Recommendations?
 
...

UPDATE:

I tried this with a fresh USB stick and the the flash drive appeared after holding down Option at boot.

However, it wasn't booting.. I saw the apple logo after selection, then i saw "what looks like" a "no smoking symbol" with the continuous circle at bottom centre...

What does this mean? it s a new usb flash drive. This happens in both USB ports.

yet once booted into the OS, from HD, I can read/write files fine to usb.
 
Tech198 said:
UPDATE:

I tried this with a fresh USB stick and the the flash drive appeared after holding down Option at boot.

However, it wasn't booting.. I saw the apple logo after selection, then i saw "what looks like" a "no smoking symbol" with the continuous circle at bottom centre...

What does this mean? it s a new usb flash drive. This happens in both USB ports.

yet once booted into the OS, from HD, I can read/write files fine to usb.
Click to expand...

It sounds like the custom install of ML wasn't created correctly. I'm sure there is nothing wrong with your computer or USB drive. The "no smoking symbol" indicates that it can't boot from the drive you've pointed it at.
 
Did you format the drive as a GUID partition table and make it Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)? It seems like that could be the issue.
 
The USB3 support is extremely flaky at the moment. Mine is only recognized approximately once in every 10 plug ins. So when you're trying to boot off it, it probably loses the connection once the XHCI kext kicks in.
 
terraphantm said:
The USB3 support is extremely flaky at the moment. Mine is only recognized approximately once in every 10 plug ins. So when you're trying to boot off it, it probably loses the connection once the XHCI kext kicks in.
Click to expand...

It sounds like something is wrong with your USB port or the device you're trying to connect.

Tech198 said:
Your right.... I was creating it wrong...
Click to expand...

Good to hear!
 
strangely enough my USB3.0 external hdd was plugged in yesterday and while copying to it, i got the disconnected message in osx. not once but twice.

then it dissapeared and i left it plugged in, when i actually unplugged it, i got the same device removal message.

pretty unhappy since its a brand new rMBP...
 
T5BRICK said:
It sounds like something is wrong with your USB port or the device you're trying to connect.
Click to expand...

Google it. Pretty much all the Ivy Bridge macs have major trouble with USB 3.0 drives. It's not the drive.

Could very well be the USB ports. But in that case, Apple really messed up...
 
I can attest to that. I have a 2012 13" MBP. When I plug my Toshiba Canvio 1TB external into it with the supplied USB 3.0 cable, it does nothing, never mounts. If I plug the drive into the computer using a USB 2.0 to USB micro connector, which fits into a portion of the device's proprietary connector, the drive spins right up and mounts within 1 second. At USB 2.0 speeds.

Most of the chatter about this drive is that it takes too much current and Apple has safeguards in their ports which disable them if limits are exceeded.

So, why would the thing draw more current in USB 3.0 mode over USB 2.0 mode? Really? Hardware problem, Apple's side. Curious to see if this ever gets resolved.
 
terraphantm said:
Google it. Pretty much all the Ivy Bridge macs have major trouble with USB 3.0 drives. It's not the drive.

Could very well be the USB ports. But in that case, Apple really messed up...
Click to expand...

Thankfully, I can confirm it is a software problem. I have an ssd in a USB 3 enclose. It won't read or write on Mac. I was able to format it once in disk utility then it stopped working again. It just won't do anything.

However. On the same machine I logged into windows 7 and it reads/writes at about 170MB/s and never drops. It is a Mac problem that will hopefully be resolved soon.
 
gentlefury said:
Thankfully, I can confirm it is a software problem. I have an ssd in a USB 3 enclose. It won't read or write on Mac. I was able to format it once in disk utility then it stopped working again. It just won't do anything.

However. On the same machine I logged into windows 7 and it reads/writes at about 170MB/s and never drops. It is a Mac problem that will hopefully be resolved soon.
Click to expand...

Hmm, i can't get mine to be recognized in Windows either... though that may be a Windows 8 driver issue.
 
It doesn't necessarily mean it's a software issue. It might be a bus power issue on Apple's end, which is what I am suspecting.
 
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