USB Hub causes cursor freeze on Mac mini 2018

Question

USB Hub causes cursor freeze on Mac mini 2018

My Mac mini 2018 (3 GHz Core i5) runs Mojave 10.14.6.

After a RAM upgrade to 32GB the cursor momentarily freezes approximately every 4 seconds. This is a major annoyance with photo editing, although the extra RAM makes everything else snappier.

I use a wired non-Apple mouse, and a wired Apple keyboard, but the same thing happens with a Magic Mouse 2 and a Logitech wireless mouse and another non-Apple mouse. Note that other than to test with the Magic Mouse, I have Bluetooth turned off.

After trying various solutions, like Safe Boot; resetting NVPAM ; removing mouse-related plist items in ~/Library/Preferences by process of elimination I found that 2 of the 3 USB hubs I use (USB-C to 3 x USB 3.0) seem to be causing the problem.

The problem-causing hubs are unbranded, but have been working perfectly, and they do not cause any issue at all on a 2017 MacBook Pro.

But on the Mac mini, even with no peripheral devices connected to these hubs, the cursor freezes momentarily, seemingly regularly about every 4 seconds.

The other hub, an Aerocool, did cause Bluetooth interference on the MacBook Pro until I wrapped its lead in foil, but still works fine on the Mac mini.

I am stumped as to why more RAM appears to have created this issue as previously my cursor never froze.

This is what the "problem" hubs look like:

Mac mini, macOS 10.14

Posted on Jan 24, 2020 1:20 PM

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Answer 1

Jan 25, 2020 4:59 AM in response to Thunderclutch

You may want to open the Mini back up again and make sure there isn't

some errant piece of debris in it and also make sure all screws are properly

secured, especially the logic board screws.

I worked for many years in the electronics design world and have seen

all sorts of "sudden issues" with only a single device and was the result

of a loose screw and with these very high speed devices it is even more

critical.

There is also a possibility of a sudden and coincidental "partial" failure

in the hub itself. I recently ran into a similar situation with a USB 3 -> SATA

adapter that suddenly caused erratic mouse use that would occur on

one machine but not another and apparently there was some "obtuse"

failure in the adapter that would only show up on a certain machine (s)

but work fine on others.

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Answer 2

den.thed

Level 10

92,788 points

Jan 24, 2020 1:35 PM in response to Thunderclutch

Hmm...

Have you tried it in one of USB-C ports farther away from the Ethernet port?

Have you tried using a USB 3.0 USB Hub to expand the 2 native USB 3.0 ports?

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Answer 3

Jan 24, 2020 2:02 PM in response to Thunderclutch

I just stumbled on a thread on stack exchange ~ seems USB hubs and other devices can cause cursor issues.

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/245429/cursor-freezes-for-a-split-second-around-every-10-seconds

But I had no such issue with my hubs until my RAM upgrade; and they cause no issue on another Mac.

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Answer 4

Jan 24, 2020 2:50 PM in response to Thunderclutch

I omitted to mention my monitor is an LG UHD 27UK850. I usually run it from a USB-C port and make use of the two USB 2.0 ports on the monitor.

I tested again with the monitor connected only via HDMI.

Again, plugging in one of the "problem" hubs causes the cursor freeze issue.

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Answer 5

Jan 24, 2020 3:31 PM in response to den.thed

For what reason? My external drives are not USB-C.

In any case, it is the USB-C to USB 3.0 hubs (unbranded but ADATA sell something that looks identical) that cause the issue whether or not anything - USB 2.0 or USB 3.0 - is connected to them.

What puzzles me is that I did not have the issue before the RAM upgrade.

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Answer 6

Jan 25, 2020 1:29 PM in response to woodmeister50

No there are definitely no missing screws or debris or misalignments. Your last paragraph is probably the most likely explanation (see https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/245429/cursor-freezes-for-a-split-second-around-every-10-seconds).

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Answer 7

Jan 24, 2020 1:52 PM in response to den.thed

It doesn't matter what USB-C port they are plugged into.

I haven't tried using a USB 3.0 USB Hub to expand the 2 native USB 3.0 ports. I use those ports for my backup and data drives only.

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Answer 8

den.thed

Level 10

92,788 points

Jan 24, 2020 3:27 PM in response to Thunderclutch

Thunderclutch wrote:

I haven't tried using a USB 3.0 USB Hub to expand the 2 native USB 3.0 ports. I use those ports for my backup and data drives only.

Think I would try a different strategy and use the USB-C ports for the backup drives and the USB 3.0 ports for mix USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 devices like your keyboard, Mouse, external DVD/CD drive etc....

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Answer 9

Jan 26, 2020 4:16 PM in response to woodmeister50

For those that can understand Console logs, here is the sequence that repeats when a problem hub is connected. Seem to be from graphics frame buffer. It's as though the hub causes the Mac to think it's a display connection?

With a non-problem hub connected nothing remotely like this appears.

default 10:40:48.665165 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [EDID] Not display connected to Port.. Bail out

default 10:40:50.172541 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Port enable

default 10:40:50.172562 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] Port Enable for fb1 with state=0

default 10:40:51.320424 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] FB1 port = 2 at 10593802368

default 10:40:51.320454 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] fb->fDPCDParams.SinkCount = 0

default 10:40:51.320475 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] HPD is high

default 10:40:51.320479 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] FB1 Setting DP power state = 1

default 10:40:51.475880 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] Set DP power state failed. Returned state 0

default 10:40:51.475887 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] Setting DP power failed (0xe00002bc), ignoring empty dongle handling (likely HDMI/TMDS case)

default 10:40:51.475889 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] isHPDLow = 0 emptyDongle = 0 sinkCount = 0 sinkCountChanged = 0

default 10:40:51.555904 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] Event insert

default 10:40:51.555920 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] Hotplug - disable RC

default 10:40:51.555922 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] FB1: Hot plug on port2

default 10:40:51.555923 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] Clear EDID cache flags flags=0

default 10:40:51.555926 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] AGDC managing Display: Start listening to AGDC

default 10:40:51.555928 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] FB1 port = 2 at 10594037883

default 10:40:51.555928 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] fb->fDPCDParams.SinkCount = 0

default 10:40:51.558613 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] HPD is low

default 10:40:51.558617 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] isHPDLow = 1 emptyDongle = 0 sinkCount = 0 sinkCountChanged = 0

default 10:40:51.640157 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] Event remove

default 10:40:51.640164 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] Unplug - enabling RC

default 10:40:51.640167 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] FB1: Display unplugged from port2

default 10:40:51.640168 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] Clear EDID cache flags flags=0

default 10:40:51.640171 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [Hot_Plug] AGDC managing Display: Start listening to AGDC

default 10:40:51.640505 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.655200 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.670419 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.718605 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.766602 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.806827 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Port enable

default 10:40:51.806835 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] Port Enable for fb1 with state=1

default 10:40:51.806854 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.819926 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.830378 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.843406 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.854357 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.867515 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.878447 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.890803 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.901136 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.915422 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get stream AUX access

default 10:40:51.926372 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [AGDC] Get EDID

default 10:40:51.926381 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [EDID] DisplayPath = 0 port = 2

default 10:40:51.926382 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [EDID] Matched

default 10:40:51.929131 +1100 kernel [IGFB][INFO ] [EDID] Not display connected to Port.. Bail out

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USB Hub causes cursor freeze on Mac mini 2018

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