Dorje

Q: Mavericks does not recognize ExpressCard

Mavericks does not recognize the SIIG ExpressCard 34 Firewire card that works perfectly with 10.8.5.  Have contacted SIIG support.  So far no response.

MacBook Pro (17-inch Early 2011), OS X Mavericks (10.9), i7 quad core AMD Radeon HD 6750

Posted on Oct 24, 2013 1:23 PM

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Q: Mavericks does not recognize ExpressCard

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  • by PeterTheta,

    PeterTheta PeterTheta Nov 11, 2013 11:58 AM in response to Dorje
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    Nov 11, 2013 11:58 AM in response to Dorje

    For me, too, the flaw seems to be in Mavericks' ExpressCard support for this model:

     

    MacBook Pro 17" Mid 2010

    aka MacBook Pro 6,1

     

    A Google Search for "expresscard mavericks" is turning up reports all over the place, but comparable MacBooks both newer and older don't appear to be affected.

     

    My own ExpressCard is an eSATA controller from Sonnet; it's AHCI compliant so it doesn't even need a driver but that presumes the OS is behaving itself, which it isn't. I spoke to a tech at Sonnet who was able to corroborate my findings. He suggested that Apple is aware of this.

     

    I'm too paranoid to attempt that hack above but I'm bookmarking this thread in case 10.9.1 doesn't fix the issue.

  • by vukodlak75,

    vukodlak75 vukodlak75 Nov 11, 2013 12:43 PM in response to PeterTheta
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Nov 11, 2013 12:43 PM in response to PeterTheta

    I have the same model and none of my express cards are working on Mavericks.

  • by PKRoss,

    PKRoss PKRoss Nov 11, 2013 12:53 PM in response to vukodlak75
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    Nov 11, 2013 12:53 PM in response to vukodlak75

    I had the same problem after I upgrade to Mavericks.  I downloaded the lastest driver from Sonnets and it worked.  They have a couple of eSATA express cards so you have to be careful to download the right one (I didn't but I got great help from Sonnets).

  • by PO_OLD_MAN,

    PO_OLD_MAN PO_OLD_MAN Nov 11, 2013 2:12 PM in response to PKRoss
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2013 2:12 PM in response to PKRoss

    Then you do not have a Mac Book Pro 2010 model.

     

    It is not a 3rd party Driver issue - Apple did not include the neccessary KEXT to support PC Express cards.

     

    This only affects the 2010 MBP 17" models.

     

    So telling us we don't have drivers is not going to fix it.

     

    I have filed a devloper bug report, but apple hasn't even looked at it yet. Maybe in 2015 if Apple isn't too busy porting the Mac to iOS they might look at it - but I doubt it.

  • by Dorje,

    Dorje Dorje Nov 11, 2013 2:23 PM in response to PO_OLD_MAN
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 11, 2013 2:23 PM in response to PO_OLD_MAN

    "It is specific to the 2010 model, if you have a 2011 or a 2009 and earlier model, then you don't have this issue."

     

    This is not true - at least for the type of card I use.  In my original post (see the first in this stream) I found that my MBP 17" early 2011 has the same issue that everyone else seems to be having (ExpressCard/34 failure - mine is a SIIG FW 800) with Mavericks.  My "solution" was to downgrade back to Mountain Lion (I have multiple other issues with Mavericks as well) and wait.

     


  • by fredm6463,

    fredm6463 fredm6463 Nov 12, 2013 12:50 PM in response to GeekBoy.from.Illinois
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    Nov 12, 2013 12:50 PM in response to GeekBoy.from.Illinois

    I have the late 2011 MacBook Pro 17"(purcahsed July 2012) and have two Sonnett Technology Express/34 cards.

     

    One is the plain 2 port eSATA card and the other is Sonnett USB 3.0 card.

     

    After upgrading to Maverick and re-installing the drivers from Sonnett's web site, I found that the Time Machine Backups using the eSATA card to a NewerTechnology Voyager dock with a WD 2TB Cavier Green hard drive, was very much slower than with Mountain Lion. I have a second card by another manufacturer (forget the name) but both use Silicon Image S3132 chip set, and the most recent driver on Sonnett's web site (which works for both eSATA Express/34 cards) is from November 2011!

     

    Also, the USB 3.0 card never really worked even in Mountain Lion although Sonnett has a 2013 driver update.

    I have a Buffalo 1TB Thunderbolt/USB3 drive and a LaCie Rugged 1TB Thunderbolt/USB3 drive. Neither show up in Disk Utility or mount on the desk top using USB3. (I also own a spring 2010 MBP 17" which does not have Thunderbolt).

     

    Of course there are much more recent drivers on Sonnet's web site for Windows than for Macs even though they prominently features Macs on their web pages. And all cards work fine in Boot camp Windows 7/XP Pro 32 bit. So it looks like I'll have to go back to Mountain Lion as Silicon Image doesn't care about supporting (updating drivers) for Macs.

     

    By the way, where may I download the driver you mention in above reply to some one else:

    "I re-installed the driver (using v1.2.6 release Nov 2012)."

    What web site may I download this driver from.

     

    Thanks very much.

  • by PeterTheta,

    PeterTheta PeterTheta Nov 12, 2013 1:46 PM in response to fredm6463
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 12, 2013 1:46 PM in response to fredm6463

    Note that some of Sonnet's cards don't need Sonnet drivers. For those, the manual states that the drivers 'are installed as part of Mac OS X' and that the 'card is ready to use when you power on your computer.'

     

    (quotes are from the manual for Tempo Edge SATA Pro 6GB ExpressCard34, 1-port version)

     

    For cards that do need drivers, the absence of Mac ExpressCard support and the presence of 3rd party drivers may interact to produce a variety of observable results, good and bad.

     

    That last statement is just me deducing, but I felt it might help clarify.

  • by fredm6463,

    fredm6463 fredm6463 Nov 12, 2013 2:25 PM in response to PKRoss
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 12, 2013 2:25 PM in response to PKRoss

    I did the same thing. Downloaded Sonnett's lastest drivers for plain 2 port Express/34 SATA card.

     

    Maverick see the card and drive, but Time Machine backups run incredibly slower than when used in Mountain Lion.

     

    Sonnett's driver is date November 2011!!!!!

     

    Meanwhile, they have much newer drivers for Windows.

     

    What gives? Sonnett Tech's web site features many images of Apple computers, yet they cannot get the chip makers they buy from to write updated drivers for newer Mac OS versions.

  • by PKRoss,

    PKRoss PKRoss Nov 12, 2013 2:33 PM in response to fredm6463
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 12, 2013 2:33 PM in response to fredm6463

    When I was having issues with my Sonnett eSATA Express/34 card I emailed them and got a very quick response.  Overall we emailed back and forth and had the problem solved inside of an hour.

  • by Aelle ,

    Aelle Aelle Nov 14, 2013 4:08 AM in response to cascag
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 14, 2013 4:08 AM in response to cascag

    Thanks Cascag

     

    I had tried everyting (I thought) but this actually solved my problem.

    I am back in business and can access my array of various HDD/SSDdrives connected via Sonnet Expresscard on my 17" 2010 Macbook Pro.

     

    Thanks a million!

  • by ttd mediamusic,

    ttd mediamusic ttd mediamusic Nov 19, 2013 4:11 AM in response to Aelle
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Nov 19, 2013 4:11 AM in response to Aelle

    Is Apple coming up with a fix for this? Seems to be mostly macbook pro 2010. Im using a Lacie express card 34

     

    Message was edited by: ttd mediamusic

  • by Froggacuda,

    Froggacuda Froggacuda Dec 6, 2013 10:46 AM in response to Froggacuda
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 6, 2013 10:46 AM in response to Froggacuda

    Has Apple sneaked in some updates? I booted my MBP this morning and the WinTec 128GB SSD in my ExpressCard slot appeared! Anyone else have similar results just lately? I checked Software Updates and the log and did not see anything recently that would suggest that a fix was delivered.

  • by modern8films,

    modern8films modern8films Dec 6, 2013 12:39 PM in response to cascag
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 6, 2013 12:39 PM in response to cascag

    @cascag Thank you!!!! This worked for me.  I'm using a Lacie USB 3.0 Expresscard34 So far so good.  I did'nt do every step you mentioned but here's what I did.  Oh my goodness I'm soo happy!!!

     

    So, I did the following:

     

    1)Go to your Mavericks /System/Lybrary/Extensions and save a copy to usb or pen drive of the kext IOPCIFamily.kext then delete it from your system

    2)From a installed system of Mountain Lion go to the same folder /System/Lybrary/Extensions and copy the same file (IOPCIFamily.kext) to a pen drive or other place.

    3) Back in Mavericks, download the Kext Wizard software and run it.

    4) Go to the tab instalation and drag the kext copied form Mountain Lion inside the white box in the window software.

    5) Install the kext.

    6) Go to the Maintenance tab and select System/Library/Extension (Repair Permitions and Rebuild Cache) and Execute.

    7) Reboot the system and conect the eSata HDD.

     

    Presto! It's working again!!!

  • by Froggacuda,

    Froggacuda Froggacuda Dec 6, 2013 1:51 PM in response to Froggacuda
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 6, 2013 1:51 PM in response to Froggacuda

    UPDATE: After a reboot, my WinTec 128GB SSD ExpressCard has vanished again. No idea what made it appear, but everything was still there and working perfectly, including a full VMware Windows 8 virtual machine. Interesting.

  • by Seb_,

    Seb_ Seb_ Dec 9, 2013 6:07 AM in response to Froggacuda
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Dec 9, 2013 6:07 AM in response to Froggacuda

    @Froggacuda: gutted... I was so hopeful when I saw your post, only to see your update straight after...

    I'm so p***ed off with Apple, just ignoring the Expresscard slot at least on the mid-2010 17". And not even feeling the need to address it in one of the recent Mavericks updates. Or feeling the need to respond to developers filing bug reports (ok, they say they won't but this is quite a big(ish) omission to Mavericks - intentional or not)...

     

    Just before the Mavericks release I saw at least 10 17" machines appearing on the refurb store and none since Mavericks got released - could this be related?

     

    BTW: I'm trying also to get my Wintec 128GB Expresscard to work with Mavericks, have ML installed on it...would like t do the same with Mavericks...

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