Anic264b

Q: PCI card not working

Greetings,

 

I just bought a PCI Express card to add USB 3.0 to my Mac Pro (2008 model) but it looks to be unrecognised; System Profiler says “Driver installed: no” about this card, which is at least in the list of cards.

The accompanying CD has several folders (for which it's unclear which is the one I want) but I couldn't find a good one.

 

It's a PCI Express card from “Delock”, however there's no product name, except the description.

 

What can be done to correct the problem?

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5)

Posted on Jun 10, 2016 7:53 AM

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Q: PCI card not working

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  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jun 10, 2016 8:11 AM in response to Anic264b
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    Jun 10, 2016 8:11 AM in response to Anic264b

    What specific USB card is it?

    Most require drivers  from the manufacturer?

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,Helpful

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jun 10, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Anic264b
    Level 9 (60,976 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Anic264b

    Contact the people who made money selling you this card. If they cannot help you make it work, explain that you will need to return this non-working card to them for a refund.

     

    You need solutions, not non-working hardware.

  • by Anic264b,

    Anic264b Anic264b Jun 10, 2016 8:20 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (24 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 8:20 AM in response to lllaass

    Well, that's one hard part of the problem: there's no model name written on the package. All that is written is “PCI Express Card > 2 x USB 3.0” along with “Delock”. On the back of the package, the specifications mention “NEC/Renesas Chipset”.

    Also there, it's said there's a Molex 4 Pins power connector, perhaps it's the actual problem… How would I go about adding a Molex cable in my Mac Pro?

    Thanks for your answer.

  • by Anic264b,Helpful

    Anic264b Anic264b Jun 10, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (24 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 8:25 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    I agree with you but I'm just unsure they accept a refund (after all, I had to open the box; they can't sell it anymore).

    Well, if I can't make it working, I'll try this. Thank you.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jun 10, 2016 8:35 AM in response to Anic264b
    Level 10 (189,016 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 8:35 AM in response to Anic264b

    For a molex power connector:

    Molex Ports in 2009 MacPro (MB871LL/A) (Model 4,1)?

    You can also get a adopter hat get the Molex power from one of the combined SATA/SATA-Power connector in the Mac

  • by Grant Bennet-Alder,

    Grant Bennet-Alder Grant Bennet-Alder Jun 10, 2016 8:39 AM in response to Anic264b
    Level 9 (60,976 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 8:39 AM in response to Anic264b

    The problem you describe is not just one of power for the USB bus. You need to know what Drivers to install to get the card to be recognized. And you are being too kind to the creeps who made money selling you this without proper guidance.

     

    The 2008 model Mac pro silver tower is wired for IDE/ATA DVD Readers. There are two 4-pin molex cords there, and you can buy a male/female extender, and make a passageway to route it over to the PCI card bay. The "neat" way would be to use a molex pin extractor to remove one end's big bulky housing, snake just the wires, then re-install the Molex housing when the cord is in place.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jun 10, 2016 9:36 AM in response to Anic264b
    Level 10 (189,016 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 9:36 AM in response to Anic264b

    Can you post a screen shot of the directors/folder on the CD that came with the card?

    This may also help

    http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/nec-renesas-usb-3-0-wont-work-in-mountain-lion -fix-inside.69001/

  • by Anic264b,

    Anic264b Anic264b Jun 10, 2016 9:51 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (24 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 9:51 AM in response to lllaass

    I'm attaching a screen shot of the folder.

    The first one is the root folder of the disk; the second one is the content of the “PCIe” folder, as I think it's the relevant one.

    F1.png

    F2.png

    Thanks for the link, too.

  • by Anic264b,

    Anic264b Anic264b Jun 10, 2016 10:00 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder
    Level 1 (24 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 10:00 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

    Drivers on my Macs have often been a nightmare with new devices; I can think it's just one more time…. The guys where I buy these peripherals sadly don't know Macs. Granted, I'm not going to ask them anymore.

    I'm already using 2 DVD drives, so both Molex(es) are already taken. I'm now going to hope there are correct drivers available for this and, if not, give up and try the refund option.

    Thank you.

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jun 10, 2016 10:25 AM in response to Anic264b
    Level 10 (189,016 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 10:25 AM in response to Anic264b

    What is in the two NEC folders?

    What information does System Profiler list about the card?

    If you still have Mountain Lion you will have to use the correct drivers and the instructions outlined in the link I posted in my previous reply.

  • by John Lockwood,

    John Lockwood John Lockwood Jun 10, 2016 10:27 AM in response to Anic264b
    Level 6 (9,324 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 10:27 AM in response to Anic264b

    In general USB3 cards do not require a Mac specific driver. I have a Sonnet USB3 card which does have a Mac driver but the Mac driver is only responsible for activating a higher power mode for the ports to allow charging say iPads, it is not needed for normal use. I deliberately chose the much more expensive Sonnet card because it is one of the only trustworthy makers that explicitly states they are El Capitan compatible. Based on end-user reports most if not all generic USB3 cards do work eve in El Capitan but I wanted to play safe.

     

    Therefore no driver might be ok, have you actually tried to connect a USB device via the card, e.g. a Mouse? A mouse needs minimal power is a simple standardised device and if like nearly all current mice it is an optical mouse would give an immediate visual indication that something is happening as the LED will light up.

     

    Now with regards to USB3.1 cards the picture changes, these cards did initially work under Yosemite although it was not clear whether USB3.1 speeds worked or only USB3.0 speeds. Unfortunately with El Capitan Apple have deliberately disabled these cards from working. No USB3.1 card has any Mac drivers - at least yet.

     

    The disk you are listing the folders from appears to list drivers for all their products, I can also tell that many of these drivers are likely to be generic drivers written not by the supposed maker of the card e.g. Delock but the maker of the main component of the card e.g. ASIX. ASIX for example make the main chipset used in many USB to Ethernet adapters including the adapter made and sold by Kanex Live.

     

    It is extremely unlikely any of those drivers on the disk are for this USB card.

     

    Many USB cards have connectors for power, this is because power needs to be provided to the USB devices plugged in to the card, in particular a USB3.1 card needs more power than a USB3 card and might need more than the PCIe slot itself can provide, so these connectors allow providing additional power to the USB card. Even though many USB3 cards have such a connector I do not believe it is necessary to use it. If one looks carefully at the right-hand edge of the following Sonnet USB card you can see where a power connector would have originally been intended to be, however it is clearly not there. This by the way is what my card looks like.

     

    SonnetUSB.JPG

  • by Anic264b,

    Anic264b Anic264b Jun 10, 2016 10:37 AM in response to lllaass
    Level 1 (24 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 10:37 AM in response to lllaass

    There are two “Windows” files in both NEC folders: “Setup.exe” and “setup.iss”.

     

    Here's what system profiler says about the card:

    pci1033,194:

      Driver Installed: No

      MSI: No

      Bus: PCI

      Slot: Slot-4

      Vendor ID: 0x1033

      Device ID: 0x0194

      Subsystem Vendor ID: 0xffff

      Subsystem ID: 0xffff

      Revision ID: 0x0004

      Link Width: x1

      Link Speed: 2.5 GT/s

     

    I tried the link you posted (the TonyMac one), found the two drivers to install but Installer tells me an error occurred at the end of the installation. I tried to install them one by one, but each produces the same error. Console reports things like this:

    com.apple.kextd[12]: kextcache error while updating / (error count: 29)

    I'll try to restart my Mac with the Shift key (IIRC, this rebuilds the extensions cache along the way) as soon as possible.

    Thanks.

  • by Anic264b,

    Anic264b Anic264b Jun 10, 2016 10:56 AM in response to John Lockwood
    Level 1 (24 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 10:56 AM in response to John Lockwood

    Thank you, the mouse was a nice idea. Actually, the LED lights up but the mouse doesn't work (neither moves nor clicks).

     

    Thank you for your other explanations, they make things much clearer. Now, I recognise the disk as being useless. I tried on El Capitan too, earlier. It didn't work there either. So I guess it's just a model that doesn't work on my Mac…

  • by lllaass,

    lllaass lllaass Jun 10, 2016 11:01 AM in response to Anic264b
    Level 10 (189,016 points)
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    Jun 10, 2016 11:01 AM in response to Anic264b

    What OSX versions have you tried?

    In El Capitan Apple tightened up driver signing requirements and now drivers have to be specifically signed for El Capitan.

     

    The LED lighting on the mouse only means it is receiving 5 volts and that is function of getting power from the PCIe slot. Not drivers involved.

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