SONNET PCIe USB CARD NOT WORKING IN MAC PRO EARLY 2009

Question

SONNET PCIe USB CARD NOT WORKING IN MAC PRO EARLY 2009

Hello

i'm running a MacPro Early 2009 on Mavericks and i'm trying to get a Sonnet PCIe USB 2.0 card installed.

the card appears in the system information when I install it but any device I plug on it is not recognized, as if it lacked power.

tried reseting PRAM, changing slots, emptying caches, anything I found on the web...nothing worked

so what could cause a power shortage to the card ? any way to check if the system monitor if power actually reches the card ?

i've bought the card a while ago, before mavericks, problem was the same with previous OS X versions

thanks for your help

Mac Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.1)

Posted on Feb 3, 2014 5:19 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Mar 28, 2017 2:54 PM in response to Johnb-one

A bit late, but this page (link below) says

'The easiest way to power the card is to run a cable from the optical drive area. If you only have one optical drive in there then there will be a spare, combined SATA data and power socket available and you can tap into that using a SATA to female Molex cable. However, if you have already used the spare cable to power an SSD, as I illustrated in Part V, you will need to use a cable splitter to provide power for the USB3 card.'

and plenty more

http://pindelski.org/Photography/2013/07/12/mac-pro-2009-part-xiv-2/

Reply

Answer 2

Feb 3, 2014 9:21 PM in response to vinceabbraccio

Support Note for Mac Users:

Please install the Sonnet Allegro USB 3.0 PCIe card in a recommended slot:

Mac Pro (Mid 2010, Early 2009, Early 2008) - Use only slot 3 or 4.

Pre-2008 Mac Pro - Use any available slot.

The same might apply for the USB 2.0 card...

If the card still doesn't work in the recommended slot,

You might have to ask for a replacement.

Reply

Answer 3

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Feb 4, 2014 3:50 AM in response to vinceabbraccio

I bought the USB3 Allegro 3-4 months back and works fine in Mac Pro 1,1 for USB3 dock and for plugging in an external drive case.

Reply

Answer 4

Feb 4, 2014 5:39 AM in response to nolanscott

tried both slots already, no use

Reply

Answer 5

Feb 4, 2014 2:30 PM in response to vinceabbraccio

Did you upgrade the Driver to make it compatible with Mavericks ?

http://www.sonnettech.com/support/kb/kb.php?cat=119#position_content

Reply

Answer 6

Feb 4, 2014 2:37 PM in response to nolanscott

well it's supposed not to require any driver and actually there are none available for the card on mac

Reply

Answer 7

Feb 4, 2014 6:14 PM in response to vinceabbraccio

so what could cause a power shortage to the card ?

Did you connect a Molex connector or some other 5 Volt power source to the 4-pin Molex connector on the card?

It cannot power external devices otherwise.

Reply

Answer 8

Feb 4, 2014 6:35 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Connect to what ? There's no internal power socket in the Mac Pro and specs say it should not require to be plugged anyway.

Reply

Answer 9

Feb 4, 2014 7:50 PM in response to vinceabbraccio

It does not require that to be plugged in for the card to function as a USB card.

It is only required if you also want to provide power to USB devices.

Reply

Answer 10

Feb 5, 2014 5:21 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

means I wont be using it to supply power cause that would me impossible...

but that doesn't come as a relief because I can't even use it as a USB card because it's not working well (sigh :-( )

Reply

Answer 11

Feb 5, 2014 8:51 AM in response to vinceabbraccio

Things to try include:

• shuffling your devices around so that the ones that require USB-power are on the chassis USB ports, or

• Adding a Powered USB Hub, or

• providing external power supplies for some external USB drives.

Reply

Answer 12

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Feb 5, 2014 8:59 AM in response to vinceabbraccio

Threads like this, I look back, and t here is NO mention of the specific device you are connecting.

Under best of circumstances, bus powered drives, those 2.5" type like a WD Passport, are trouble.

Always choose an external that has its own power.

Sonnet Allegro - at leat the new USB3 - does not support use to connect to a hub or non-storage devices (SD cards, tablets and cell phones and others)

Reply

Answer 13

Feb 5, 2014 1:24 PM in response to The hatter

power supply is "just" the secondary problem, as ANY device i plug in is not recongized, even a keyboard, a mouse or such

for example, i used to use a USB hub, it didnot handle power supply but when i plugged an iPod, iPhone, iPad, at least the iDevice appeared in the USB buses system information and could be synced, if not charged.

there with the sonnet card, it's just like the USB ports don't work AT ALL

if the card did not appear in the system information, i'd definitely believe it's broken

Reply

Answer 14

dwboston

Level 1

9 points

Aug 13, 2015 7:46 AM in response to vinceabbraccio

I'm having the problem with the WD Passport external portable drives and I noticed in this thread that the issue is likely the mac pro not delivering enough voltage to the drive. I think the responder hit the nail on the head. My drive works fine on my macbook pro which does deliver more voltage and power drives do work with the card, but not connected to the card. So it looks like this problem is unfixable for those who bought it for connecting portable drives that are not powered externally like the WD passport.

Reply

Answer 15

Johnb-one

Level 6

9,156 points

Aug 13, 2015 9:02 AM in response to vinceabbraccio

dunno if this helps you at all. In the optical cage for the 2nd dvd drive, there's a 4 pin molex connector. and on the board of the mac pro way up at the front, there's a sata connector. It's hard to get at but it is there

I don't think it helps much , but...

JB

Reply