Which PCI USB 2 card?
 

Hello,

I have an old Mac Power PC G4, 933MHz,1G, running OS X 10.4.10 and would like to install a PCI USB 2 card. I have read a few posts where people have had much trouble with installation and faulty cards. The prices vary greatly and I would appreciate advice as to which card to purchase.

A friend has offered to do the install, however he builds PCs and does not use a Mac but claims the similarities make this possible. Should I let him?

Thank you,
Victoria

The installation is pretty straightforward: open the case, remove the metal coverguard where the sockets will stick out the back of the machine, and slot the card in the ...slot. Technically, there is no difference in doing this on a PC or Mac, so let your friend have a go.

Sonnet make good cards:
http://www.sonnettech.com/product/co...rds/index.html

However, there are problems. Powered USB/Firewire is not necessarily as reliable, and there may be issues if the machine goes to sleep.

USB 2 is backward compatible with USB1.1. Any device that is USB 2 will run on your original USB 1.1 connections. Apart from speed, there is no real benefit. What devices are you planning to use that made you consider this upgrade? You may not see much "real-world" benefit.

Sonnet Allegro USB 2
 

Hi,

I agree with "benwiggy" on the Sonnet cards.

I have used the Sonnet Allegro USB2 PCI cards in various G4s and G5s have have not seen any of the sleep problems noted on various Mac websites regarding USB 2 cards.

Details at:

http://www.sonnettech.com/product/allegro_usb2.html

Regards,

Nick

I may have just been lucky, but I have had good luck with the "cheapest" cards I've found on the internet (eBay) for just $2.99 each. These use the VIA chipset and were made in China. I downloaded the latest driver from the VIA web site and the cards work with a PC, a 10.4 PPC Mac and a 10.2.8 G3 Mac. (I don't have an Intel Mac)

Which PCI USB 2 card?
 

Thank you for your responses.

The devices I would like to use are an iPod, Canon Digital Camera SD 700, Canon MP600 printer and an older Epson Stylus Printer 2200,

The information for the Allegro USB 2.0 states
[INDENT](2) Allegro USB 2.0 does not support deep sleep in Power Mac G4 and G5 computers. Deep sleep removes power to PCI cards and is not supported by PCI cards that can connect to external devices.


Do any PCI cards support "deep sleep"
[INDENT]"Any device that is USB 2 will run on your original USB 1.1 connections." Apart from speed, there is no real benefit. What devices are you planning to use that made you consider this upgrade? You may not see much "real-world" benefit."

Does this mean in practical terms that I will not be able to achieve the 480MHz speed of the USB 2 card? I do not understand.

Thank you,
Victoria

Yes, you may not be able to achieve deep sleep on your PowerMac after adding the USB 2.0 card. In my opinion this is not a big deal. Let the computer run with the screen slept, or shut it down.

As far as the benefits, I think that they are certainly worthwhile in your situation. The benefits of USB 2 when syncing an iPod are enormous--you either take way too long with USB 1.1, or a somewhat more reasonable amount of time with USB 2.0.

Of course, this depends on exactly what iPod--if you only have a 1 GB iPod Shuffle, it's not a big deal. But anything larger than 10 or 20 GB synced over USB 1.1 is quite painful.

Trevor

Which PCI USB 2 card?
 

"Yes, you may not be able to achieve deep sleep on your PowerMac after adding the USB 2.0 card. In my opinion this is not a big deal. Let the computer run with the screen slept, or shut it down."
Trevor[/QUOTE]

Trevor i do not understand. Can you charge an iPod (by the way 30G), with the computer shut down?

Is their another company that makes a PCI USB 2 card that works when the computer is in deep sleep?

Thank you,
Victoria

No, you can't charge an iPod with the computer shut down. But I'm not sure why you are asking.

When I say "Let the computer run with the screen slept, or shut it down", I'm referring to those times when you might want to put the computer into deep sleep.

I'm not sure. It makes the firmware more difficult, so I don't know of anybody making a USB 2.0 card that has done it. But they certainly could.

Trevor

Same issue many returned cards
 

I find it hard to believe that there is no card that supports deep sleep on a (at the time) 3,000 dollar machine. I need a pci card that supports usb 2.0! Orange micro had a card that worked. They are out of business. I been researching this too!

I am also at 10.4.10 os. I was told that USB 2.0 worked better if you stay at 10.2.8 os. Not true. I have bought 4 cards from Fry's (they allow returns) and each one "hangs my system". Black kernel text messages. None of them work.

I contacted my local Apple geek shop and they said they stopped carrying the cards because every single one was returned. The manufacturer will not be honest about the cards compatibility.

In short, the answer is no.

You cannot upgrade to usb 2.0 on your mac. (I have same)

I find it very hard to believe that 5 pci slots and none can accomidate usb 2.

And, I cannot leave my system "slept" the thing sounds like a 757! The heat generated inside will not allow me to just "slept". And shutting down while in the middle of projects such as FCP, ect. is not good. Plus the startup can take too long.

You cannot upgrade your 3000 dollar g4 to usb 2.0

But, you can buy a 5,000 G5 with usb 2.

Unfortunately

I got a message from sonnet regarding their cards
 

Sonnet informed me that the tests on the 10.5 leopard beta (set to be released next month) seems to have fixed the problems with deep sleep. What happens is that the power is cut during deep sleep and the devices attached. When the computer is woke up, the power is restored to the card but, not the devices. Is has to do with the usb driver in osx. Somewhere between, 10.2.8 and 10.4.10 apple changed the OS.

So, if you want usb to work, spend a hundred dollars more on the leopard update.

Which PCI USB 2 card?
 

"I find it hard to believe that there is no card that supports deep sleep on a (at the time) 3,000 dollar machine."

No kidding! How about $3400 and counting. When we buy Mac we buy into built in arrogance.

I called Iogear and they reported that their cards have the same problem. I also called Belkin, got a person in India speaking an unidentifiable language. Unfortunately this problem was not in his script. Called Belkin back and encountered a similar response, This after spending 47 minutes on the phone. Remember this when considering buying Belkin products.

Thank you for the information concerning Allegro Sonata. I will get Leopard, but not right away.

I will try a geek store down the block and if the info is useful, will post.

Thank you all,
Victoria

Some testing...
 

Hi,

Just being playing around with my Dual 2Ghz G5 with the Sonnet USB2 PCI card I mentioned above.

The G5 will deep sleep (no fans running, pulsing LED on front panel & "System Sleep" noted in system log) with USB2 devices connected to the PCI card so long as they are not bootable devices (hard disks etc). Scanners/printers - sleep OK

When sleeping, keyboards connected to the PCI card can not be used to wake the Mac.

Mac wakes as normal when the keyboard is re connected to the built in USB2 ports.

Hope this is of interest to someone.

Regards,

Nick

Ritmo Cards
 

&uotHi,

I had a similiar problem with my quicksilver mac. I wanted USB 2.O so that photos from my digital camera loaded more quickly and memory sticks would transfer quicker.
I bought a cheap card (USB 2.0 and firewire) at a local swap meet for about AU$20. It was a Ritmo brand with a VIA chip set (VT6214L). I then sought out drivers on the net. This driver (see link below) provides support for G4 machines only.

http://www.viaarena.com/default.aspx...0&SubCatID=122

But the fun didn't end there. I had lots of problems after installing the card and drivers. It would cause kernel panics as soon as a camera was connected and very unstable when USB sticks were connected.
After much trial and error (even buying a 2nd card thinking the first one was faulty) and reading other posts about cached .kext files, I found that the installer added 2 .kext files. I decided to try removing one at a time and as luck would have it, found that if I left the one called "VIAUSBEHCI_D98.kext" and restarted all was well. The machine sleeps quite happily and memory sticks and cameras now work without causing kernel panics. The system profiler now shows the high speed usb bus being controlled by "com_viasusbhci;. The .kext files are found in the system>library>extensions directory. Not really the place to be mucking around with, but if you only remove VIA kext files you should be alright. I am far from a mac os expert and hopefully someone will read this post and suggest a nice safe way to remove the files after running the driver installation. A restart is required once the .kext file has been removed.

Victoria, I use a Belkin card which mostly supports deep sleep
 

I have a 10.4.10 G4 twin 800 Mhz. Some two years ago - I bought a standard USB2 card cos I need more USB slots but it wouldn't let my G4 sleep quietly so I returned it.

The Mac shop replaced it with a Belkin Hi Speed USB2 PCI Card (5 port) F5U220 card, at twice the price, and this does allow quiet sleep, with no fan noise, mostly.

I found that if you select Apple menu/Sleep, it doesn't work. So I checked Allow power button to sleep in System Preferences/Energy Saver/Options, along with Energy Saver/Sleep/Put the hard disk to sleep whenever possible.

Now, using the power button to get it to sleep quietly works virtually all the time. Sometimes it takes a few minutes...

I seem to recall it worked properly when I bought the Belkin card originally, so it probably stopped working a couple of MacOS 10.4 updates ago as vja52 says...

Forgot to say....
 

Hi,

I forgot to say that my Dual 2.0Ghz G5 mentioned above is running 10.4.9, just for future reference

Regards,

Nick

Sonnet Allegro USB 2.0 with Leopard
 

Did Leopard fix the sleep issues with this USB card?

I had luck with the card in Tiger by not ever letting the Mac sleep, but I recently upgraded to Leopard and now my iphone connection winks on and off intermittently. And, I haven't yet tested this yet but it seems that the more peripherals I plug into the card the more often the iPhone connection fails...

I have copied this from elsewhere, someone else's work. I was looking for USB 2 expansion for qsilver, that would be nice ..don't absolutely need it but thinking of avoiding it because of all the issues.

Most seem to like IOGEAR GIC 220U

Best bet is any card with a NEC PD72101 chipset
Stick with the NEC chip, and try NOT to use drivers, Tiger doesn't need the drivers.

All of these Cards are NEC chipset based
Adaptec 3100LP
BAFO BF-460
Belkin F5U220
GWC UC-160
IOGear GIC250U
Keyspan U2PCI-5
O'toLink U2-C2B
O'toLink U2-C2A
O'toLink U2-P20N
O'toLink U2-P50
Ratoc PCIU5
USBWholesale UII-PCIP

I've found for any standard PCI bus Mac, any USB 2.0 card that uses the NEC chipset will work without problems. The NEC card will even boot Leopard on a PPC Mac.

It's not sleeping that's the problem. It's waking up.
 

I'm using the D-Link DU-520 on a Dual G4 system. This is one of the ones with 5 ports, originally made by Orange Micro. I think all the ones with 5 ports are basically the same.

I never had any problems with being able to sleep. For me, the problems are with waking up.

When the system wakes up after sleeping, usually the USB2.0 ports don't work any more. Then I have to cycle power, and they come back. This is with Leopard, BTW. Everything else wakes up OK, and works fine. Just the PCI/USB adapter has a problem.

Interestingly, it seems to tolerate sleep for a short period. It's when I leave it sleeping overnight that I tend to have problems with the USB card waking up. The usual symptom is that I can't get my iPod to be recognized.

Iogear Gic 220u
 

Just got it, installed the card, I see it in Apple Profiler,
USB Bus
USB Highspeed BUS

Doesn't recognize ipod. Don't see anything in profiler on this bus when I plug in anything to USB port :(

Thank you sooooooo much CrisBCT! I have just installed the Belkin USB 2.0 5-Port PCI Card in my PowerMac G4 Digital Audio and thought I had a sleep issue when selecting Sleep from the Apple Menu with the machine NOT waking, forcing a restart. Your fabulous discovery (using the Apple Power Button) works fabulously! Many, many thanks as this will save me lots of production time.. :-D

I have a NEC based belkin card and will install it on a DA dual. I hope it works cuz I only use the computer remotely and it needs to sleep and wake up on demand. Hopefully Las Vegas is right and all NEC based usb cards work.

As Las Vegas suggests the Belkin PCI 5 port which has a NEC chip works fine on my G4 Digital Audio. I have no sleep problems what so ever. It sleeps and wakes up. Unfortunately, I cant speak for any newer macs. :(

USB 2.0, Logitech, Elgato et misc
 

Thanks for all your previous postings. Am new here, on a Dual 1.42GHz PPC G4 (2MB L3 x2, 2GB RAM) running Leopard 10.5.2. This machine will also run Tiger 10.4.11 from a different partition. It replaces a Quicksilver which got a fried processor board after 6 years, not uncommon I am told.

Anyway, have just bought a Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 (stay with me), and was looking at the Elgato EyeTV 250 Plus. The latter definitely requires USB 2.0 and I am still fighting with the webcam, even with the help of IOXperts who, as far as I know, are the only folk to supply drivers for this webcam with a Mac. Otherwise, you end up with GBP50 worth of camera and GBP10 worth of functionality. This one is work in progress.

I digress. Have just ordered the Sonnet Allegro USB 2.0 PCI card and will keep you informed of performance when I get it. I also did some research on the connectivity business, still waiting for a Mac Techie from Greece to get back (he is troubled somewhat also). IOGear are bust & I do not know of a new incarnation, not great reviews for them in some places either & Orange Micro seem to have disappeared. I hope the Sonnet solution works here else I shall try Belkin.

Have v helpful tip for anyone trying to buy a second hand Mac in UK but won't advertise it else shall be chastised. Sadly have much experience of a dying Quicksilver, first port of call - System Profiler - Diagnostics and hope you don't see 'External cache failure', this means a v. poorly Mac indeed but I should probably post that stuff elsewhere.

I await the USB 2.0 card ..

Update to #23 the belkin card. I have just recently got around to using the card and it turns out it does not work. It is recognized and sleeps fine but this one would not see anything attached to it. I apologize for not testing this before posting the first time. So this was belkin N10117 or F5U220 pci card. I tested a printer and a mouse and neither was recognized. It could just be a bad card I quess.

Re previous post: Sonnet Allegro USB 2.0 PCI card seems to work fine with EyeTV2 & app starts up ok after machine slept for 5 hours. Have not tested in Tiger. Logitech camera was also happy at first with PhotoBooth working (allbeit with limited camera functionality) using, I assume, the native Leopard driver. However, in the last couple of days, the PB video window is flickering badly and continues to do so. PB otherwise seems stable.

Might this be the USB card? I have tried a different port, same prob.

USB 2.0 PCI card for G4 tower, OS 10.4.11
 

Posting this 2 years after the previous post just in case anyone needs help finding a USB 2.0 PCI card that will work with the G4 tower and OS 10.4.11. I found a $13 card at "Central Computers www.centralcomputers.com" in San Francisco. it is their branded (generic) card Part No: U-143 (NEC UPD720101).
Was plug-and-play. Even plugged keyboard/mouse into it before booting. No problems yet.

http://www.centralcomputers.com/comm...F794FE8F4412EF