USB 2.0 Cardbus PCMCIA Not Recognized - Help

Question

USB 2.0 Cardbus PCMCIA Not Recognized - Help

I'm aware (now) that the PCMCIA slot on my PB doesn't have enough power (I think) for a USB 2.0 PC card (after going through four different manufacturers with no luck). I just got an Iogear USB 2.0/Firewire combo card that claims to work fine with my PB, but I can't get it to show up. It even has an external power source (which made me hopeful when ordering it). I don't have any other PCMCIA device to test my PB, so I'm wondering if it's even working at all.

Iogear's tech support claims not to "technically" support Macs even though their freakin' product specifically says that it's Mac compatible and uses the MacOS logo on their packaging and web site. sigh

Is there anyplace in Mac OSX 10.4+ that I can check to make sure that the card is active in the system? It just seems as if the machine just isn't seeing anything I plug in there.

Or has anyone found another way to do this?

Any help would be great. Thanks.

G4 Powerbook 15 Inch Titanium, Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Posted on Oct 6, 2006 9:13 AM

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Answer 1

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Oct 6, 2006 1:11 PM in response to Rick Tracewell

Hi, Rick.

I'm aware (now) that the PCMCIA slot on my PB doesn't have enough power (I think) for a USB 2.0 PC card...

You may well have a problem, but too little power isn't it. The USB cards themselves don't need much power at all — it's the devices you connect to them that (in some cases) may require more power than the slot has to offer them.

Where are you expecting the cards to "show up" — in System Profiler? That's where I'd look for them. If there's no sign of any of the cards in SP, my hypothesis would be that the flex cable connecting your PCMCIA slot to the main logic board may have worked loose at the LB end: something that has been known to happen fairly often in Tibooks.

Release your keyboard catches, flip the keyboard over onto the wrist rests, and look directly below the normal positions of the x, s and d keys for a flat rectangular plastic tab. That's the connector on the end of the card slot cable. Press it solidly down onto the logic board with a fingertip. If you feel it move or yield at all, however slightly, then it was loose. Put the keyboard back in place and check for your card(s) again in System Profiler. Let us know what you find.

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Answer 2

Oct 6, 2006 7:56 PM in response to eww

You may well have a problem, but too little power
isn't it. The USB cards themselves don't need much
power at all — it's the devices you connect to them
that (in some cases) may require more power than the
slot has to offer them.

Where are you expecting the cards to "show up" — in
System Profiler? That's where I'd look for them. If
there's no sign of any of the cards in SP, my
hypothesis would be that the flex cable connecting
your PCMCIA slot to the main logic board may have
worked loose at the LB end: something that has been
known to happen fairly often in Tibooks.

Release your keyboard catches, flip the keyboard over
onto the wrist rests, and look directly below the
normal positions of the x, s and d keys for a flat
rectangular plastic tab. That's the connector on the
end of the card slot cable. Press it solidly down
onto the logic board with a fingertip. If you feel it
move or yield at all, however slightly, then it was
loose. Put the keyboard back in place and check for
your card(s) again in System Profiler. Let us know
what you find.

Man, I really wanted your suggestion to be the answer! I checked and the connector seems to be firmly in place. I pressed on it just to be sure and rebooted. Still nothing in System Profiler (it says that there's something in the PCI slot/pc card, but it's not identifying it as an Iogear card.

When I place my iPod into the dock and connect it to the Iogear USB port, it does make the dock light up, but the iPod doesn't start charging or show as if it's connecting to the machine. It also doesn't show up in iTunes or on the desktop.

sigh

Thanks,

Rick...

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Answer 3

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Oct 7, 2006 4:51 AM in response to Rick Tracewell

HI, Rick. If you check the system requirements for your iPod model, you may find that a built-in USB 2.0 port is required. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I'd have been tempted to suggest that that requirement might not be "real" — i.e., that an iPod might work with a USB2 adapter card, but Apple wasn't willing to guarantee that it would, so they covered themselves by saying it wouldn't. However, you seem to have amassed quite a bit of evidence that the requirement is real.

Since something is detected in your card slot, the slot is properly connected. System Profiler's identification of devices in that slot is usually very cryptic, so the failure of the manufacturer's name or product number to be spelled out in recognizable form is in fact normal.

If you have any other USB devices you could try connecting to any of your USB2 adapter cards — a keyboard, mouse, printer, flash drive, Bluetooth dongle, etc. — that might tell the tale as to whether the card(s) is/are "live". Check to see whether the device information shown in System Profiler then is different from that shown when your iPod is connected.

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Answer 4

eww

Level 9

53,028 points

Oct 7, 2006 7:30 AM in response to eww

Hi again. I just checked the System Requirements for current iPods, and they just say "USB 2.0 port". I think I recall that some earlier models did require "built-in" USB ports, but I could be wrong.

You may want to ask about that over in the iPod forums, if you have an older model.

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Answer 5

Oct 10, 2006 3:26 PM in response to eww

I've got the same problem. I just returned a Zonet USB2 card as I got an error saying the card was drawing too much power and the computer shuts off the bus. The moment I put the card in I get the dialog box, before connecting any USB2 device to it. So, maybe these older PowerBook G4s can't use a USB2 PCMCIA card. Has anyone had any luck with a particular brand? Rick, what other brands have you tried?

Thanks,
Earl

PowerBook G4 400 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

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