Mac Aluminum Keyboard Nightmare

LawlessPPC · #1 11-05-2008, 11:29 PM

well i got a nice aluminium keyboard and everytime i plug a usb device in i lose the keyboard annoying as hell. system kext matches kernel etc. ive tried everything but still stumped.

schady4 · #2 11-06-2008, 12:43 AM

Hey Lawless, i've been using that keyboard with my laptop and have had numerous problems with it staying active. I don't know what the problem is but mine has quit on me during installs also.

LawlessPPC · #3 11-06-2008, 01:58 PM

even did the firmware update. Its a real nice keyboard but im begining to wish i hadnt bought 1 now. I know its a usb issue as if i unplug and plug back in its fails to identify it if i check console logs

naquaada · #4 11-06-2008, 06:36 PM

I tested the Aluminium keyboard and it felt like an calculator pad to me. The Apple things always look very nice, but that mustn't mean that they are acutomatically perfect for everyday's work. For keyboard & mouse I'll stick with Logitech, even on my Amiga I use a wireless Logitech mouse.

R0GUE · #5 11-07-2008, 06:03 PM

I had a couple of small issues when I first got mine. I disabled legacy USB support in my bios and the issues disappeared.

Seawane · #6 11-07-2008, 09:43 PM

OK, I know the answer...

first when I got my alu keyboard, I was having the same problems. Everything was functioning OK, until I plug in a mass storage device of some kind, like the iPhone, and it stopps working. If I was using a normal usb keyboard, there was no problem. Later I found out that it was the usb hub function of the keyboard causing the troubles(I tried with 2 other hubs and normal keyboard connected to them - the problem appeared again). I was looking everywhere for a solution, but nobody reported the same issues, so I thought I had a bad mobo. About 2 weeks ago, I bought a new mobo from different manufacturer, but with the same SB600 chipset. I was almost 100% sure that the problem will be gone, but nooo it stayed. I did a new installation it stayed again. I turned off USB 2.0 in BIOS and everything was OK, but of course without the 2.0 devices. Strange thing on both mobos though, was that when I turned on my USB 2.0 TV tuner, I could do everything perfectly. So I knew that it's the sb600 causing it(the SB600 controls the usb's). I found out in a linux forum, that people are having the same problem(in windows though, everything is ). So it turns out, that it's a bug in the chipset.I thought that since I was unable to find almost any info at all, there won't be solution either. In the end, I deceided to not actually use the SB600 and bought a PCI to USB 2.0 card from Belkin(it should be with the NEC chip on it, some cheap cards with VIA chip don't work). Now I have all my 2.0 devices trough the pci card and everything is perfect. I have two hubs on it(one for tv tuner and printer and one on my LCD where I connect my iPhone and flash drives). It's a simple and cheap(around $20 here) solution.

Hope I can help.
Greetings.

LawlessPPC · #7 11-08-2008, 04:56 PM

@Seawane i really appreciate this info will do some further reading on it

LawlessPPC · #8 11-08-2008, 05:38 PM

I can confirm Seawane 100% just popped a spare usb2 card in i had ALi M5273 (Uli) works out the box. Only issue i have is keyboard not seen in bios (have to swap port for bios entry). Also Nvidia do osx drivers for this if anyone had issues. What i have noticed is it seems nippier than b4. Itunes next track etc on keyboard seems to change in a fraction of the time. Sewanr Thanx your a star

Seawane · #9 11-08-2008, 08:36 PM

glad I could help you. And yes it seems faster to me also. And because I wanted the keyboard to be working in bios, I turned off ehci(2.0) for the mobo USBs and the keyboard works perfectly on 1.1(so do my bluetooth for the mouse...) I connect all my 2.0 devices to the card via the hub on the LCD which is handy.