USB add in card problems

[Ozfer]

Hey guys, I have a beige G3 minitower with 500Mhz G4 upgrade cpu, 768MB ram, 80GB 7200RPM HDD with a fresh install of 9.2.2 from the custom installer you guys provided on your site.

I absolutely hate the old one button ADB mouse that I have to use and I also needed to free it up so I can use it with my older mac SE. Due to this I decided I wanted to add USB support to this old mac to use a more modern mouse. The card I added in is a Keyspan UPCI-2 and has 2 USB ports. After installing that card I did the fresh install of 9.2.2 (I don't think I had to click on any usb specific options right?). Now I can't seem to get the USB card to work for the life of me.

In system profiler it lists "USB card" under PCI slot A1, and says card name usb and a whole bunch more information. I also have the USB Authoring Support, USB Device Extension, USB printer sharing extension, USB software locator, USBAppleMonitorModule, USBNomadejukeboxdriver, USBRioDriver, and USBSoundSpace2Driver in the extensions folder. Furthermore I also installed USB Overdrive, but when I launch it from the control panel it says "USB overdrive was not loaded at startup. You may edit your settings, but they won't be active until you install USB overdrive in your control panels folder and restart your Macintosh." This makes no sense to me because it is in my control panels folder.

When I plug a usb mouse into the card it never lights up or starts working. When I plug a usb flash drive into the system it ignores it and it doesn't even know it is connected. According to the USB cards information the driver comes with 9.2.2 when it is installed so I should not be missing the driver.

What am I doing wrong?

[Jakl]

If I can remember right didn't these cards have drivers that were available on any of Macos9 installer cd's? Not sure but have a look into the extras folder on a macos9 installer disk or just check in all folders - yes did a search on google and this came up -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815128002

[GaryN]

OK, going down the list...

USB Authoring Support: For CD and CD-ROM drives…NOT an issue here
USB Device Extension: The single critical item you need here. It talks to all things USB; mice, trackballs, cameras, etc etc… IS an issue insofar as it must be working
USB printer sharing extension: Self-explanatory… NOT an issue
USB software locator: Locates OS9 USB software updates… NOT an issue for the last 15-odd years
USBAppleMonitorModule: Drives the USB ports in your USB-equipped monitor… NOT an issue
USB Nomad, Rio, SoundSpace drivers: Specifically for long-gone devices(Rio Music Player etc.)… NOT an issue

ALL OF THE ABOVE: Probably not the problem HOWEVER, you should probably disable any that are not being used (like software locator) on general principle
except for the USB Device Extension.

HERE'S A PROBLEM
USB Overdrive has both an extension AND a control panel. It's telling you that the extension part is not installing - (yeah I know it says control panels folder but it means the extension.) Two items: Extension in extensions and Control Panel in Control Panels. If you're lucky, fixing this will get your mouse working.

BUT…
Another serious concern is the fact that your mouse doesn't light and your Keyspan card is just acting generally dead outside of appearing in the profiler. Carefully check the PCI socket and card traces. Make certain the card is seated properly. Look at the caps & other stuff sticking out of the card with a magnifying glass and check for physical damage. Where did you get the Keyspan?  Are you certain it works?

Holla back…

[GaryN]

EXTRA ADDITIONAL DEPRESSING THOUGHT…

The symptoms you describe line up perfectly with what you'd get if you (or the previous owner) plugged something in improperly or otherwise overloaded the 5vdc contact and blew it out. With no 5v on the USB ports, you get no mouse light, no power for a flash drive so it doesn't appear - you get the idea.

Sorry - please don't shoot the messenger, I'm just sayin'…

[supernova777]

if the above is true using an externally powered usb hub should fix your problems
(hub with its own  AC power connection)

[QuicksilverMac2001]

I had one of those a long time ago and it was doing the exact same thing. It is supposed to "just work" but did not. I didn't have a USB hub at the time and so I couldn't determine if the +5V was dead @ the time, but that probably was the case (it makes sense that if the card won't power a mouse, that it would b shorted in that fashion. I wound up upgrading my Mac OS 9 main desktop to a Power Mac G4 of Quicksilver 2001 status and eventually got it a USB/FireWire PCI combo card with a power connector on it and now it just works.

I sure hope that card works for you with a powered hub. 

[supernova777]

is it an NEC chipset card?
because i have no problems with mine..

[Ozfer]

Sorry its taking me so long to get back but I am not with the mac at the moment and haven't had much free time. I was able to check the mobo on the mac and it looked fine all caps are good.

The add in card also looked fine and all caps are good. I tried removing useless extensions and it still didn't work.

Didn't have my multimeter with me to check voltage but I assume there is no volts since mouse wont light up. I believe this could be because of not having the right drivers?

I tried more usbs and none of them work also. I don't have a powered hub to try that. I will try more later.

[supernova777]

what chipset is the addon card.. please answer this question.

[Ozfer]

It's not nec its OPTi FireLink 82c861 149904 10ue

[Ozfer]

I put in USB overdrive in extensions and it doesn't complain anymore but the mouse still doesn't work.

I tried installing usb support 1.4.1 and restarted and it still doesn't work.

[GaryN]

Looks like you've tried all of the try-ables. It's really probably the 5vdc missing.
I'll ask you again: Where did you get the card? If it was on flea-bay…

You can get a small powered USB hub for just a few bucks from Monoprice or Amazon. It's your last, best hope.

[V.Yakob]

OPTi FireLink 82c861

I just added USB support to Power Macintosh G3 (Minitower). And yes, I also had to study the issue before running it. Initially, the board was detected, but the connected USB devices did not work.
The topic is old, but perhaps newcomers to retro computers like me may face this problem.
Quote from the Apple forum:

Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software products that may be mentioned in the topic below. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at
 Apple Support. Use the information below at your own discretion.
Q: I have installed a USB PCI card in my beige PowerMac G3 (or any other Power Macintosh computer without built-in USB ports) running Mac OS 9.2.2, but the card is not working / not recognized by the system. What can I do?
A: This problem is often caused by one of the following three issues -
1.) A Mac OS installer only installs the USB extensions that are necessary to use an USB adapter card if USB ports are present on the computer at the time of installation. This would apply if the USB PCI card was installed after installing the operating system.
2.) Several reports in the past have indicated that the USB extensions that come with Mac OS 9.2.2 may not always work on computers without built-in USB ports.
3.) USB Adapter Card Support 1.4.1 is not intended for use with Mac OS 9.1 or higher.  If the 1.4.1 USB extensions have been installed anyway, this can be the reason why the USB card is not working. (From the ReadMe-document: "Mac OS versions 9.1 and later include a later version of this software. Installing USB Adapter Card Support 1.4.1 over Mac OS 9.1, 9.2 or later could result in the USB adapter card not working.")
The common solution to the three issues above is to install the following USB extensions (that were included in Mac OS 9.1):
HID Library 1.4.6
Serial ShimLib 1.4.6
USB Device Extension 1.4.6
USB Mass Storage Support 2.0.9
USB Software Locator 1.4.6
USB Support 1.4.6

You can use a utility called TomeViewer to extract these extensions from either the Mac OS 9.1 download update or a (retail) Mac OS 9.1 CD.

To install them, open System Folder > Extensions, move any earlier or later versions of these extensions that might be present to the Desktop (you can delete them once your USB card is working) and drag-and-drop the extracted extensions to the Extensions-folder.

Then restart the computer to activate the new extensions.

If the USB card is not recognized after installing the new extensions, resetting the PRAM and/or resetting the CUDA chip might help.

The necessary extensions can be taken on MacintoshGarden, Or here, under this message, in case the site is unavailable or destroyed.



For example, I show System Profiler, USB connected Apple Keyboard (A1048), Apple Mighty Mouse (A1152) through the keyboard hub, and a flash drive.
Since the keyboard wire did not reach the computer, I additionally used the HUB built into the Apple Cinema Display.

[IIO]

and dont forget that it might not boot from USB when the machine did originally not have USB. not sure about the exact rule which models work and which not.

[refinery]

None of them. Booting off USB on a machine that did not come with it built in never worked.
In fact I'm pretty sure booting on USB wasn't supported until the g4s