Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Resolved Question

is there a difference between the USB ports on an imac 2010

Aug 28, 2012 10:47PM PDT

Hello,
I'm asking this question on behalve of a severe disabled friend.
He has a special keyboard on USB.
When I connect it to his or my iMac 2010, we need to reboot several times until the KB is recognised.
When I connect that same KB to my macbook air 2011 it has no issues at all.
The iMacs are 2.7GHz i5 running Lion.
Host Controller Location: Built-in USB
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBEHCI
PCI Device ID: 0x1c2d
PCI Revision ID: 0x0005
PCI Vendor ID: 0x8086
Bus Number: 0xfa

The MBA is a 1.8GHz i7 running Lion.
Host Controller Location: Built-in USB
Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBEHCI
PCI Device ID: 0x1c2d
PCI Revision ID: 0x0005
PCI Vendor ID: 0x8086
Bus Number: 0xfa

the keyboard info can be found at http://lucykeyboard.com

Would appreciate some help as a few shops in Belgium are not that helpfull for this kind of troubleshooting.
Thank you in name of Mario.

Peter LOX

Discussion is locked

peter L has chosen the best answer to their question. View answer

Best Answer

- Collapse -
"Lucy will work with any computer with Microsoft Windows Vis
Aug 28, 2012 11:20PM PDT

"Lucy will work with any computer with Microsoft Windows Vista, XP or 98."

It appears this product may have issues with new machines. Since you are not on a supported computer I can only GUESS that you might have some USB HUB or extension cable between the keyboard and the host computer. Try it without that.
Bob

- Collapse -
works on a MBA i7 with lion
Aug 30, 2012 4:40AM PDT

sorry but it works on a later version MBA than the iMac.
but thanks for replying
Peter

- Collapse -
Good but how does that solve the issue.
Aug 30, 2012 4:43AM PDT

The maker does not list your machine so it's unclear how you'll get support.

Did you try the old ideas? Such as putting some USB hub in between?

Also, since it is a real custom job, what does the maker suggest?
Bob

- Collapse -
to Bob
Sep 1, 2012 2:55AM PDT

Hi Bob,
Yes on the site it says Windows.
But the importer in Belgium said that a few mac owners had no issue, that's why Mario switched to Mac.
I put a powered USB hub in between, no luck.
I tried several single, short USB cables of good quality, same result.

It's a weird problem.
After a few restarts it suddenly works.
Sometimes after 1 try, but usually after a few!

Peter

- Collapse -
That's what I saw years ago.
Sep 1, 2012 5:03AM PDT

When USB was new we saw things like that. It had to do not only with drivers but USB clock jitter. Back then I was at an electronics design firm and we were on the cutting edge with USB connected devices. Learned a lot but for now if this device does not work on this Mac and the usual hubs and cables fail, you are left with the usual other solutions.

1. Return it to the maker for another one.
2. Try another Mac.

USB is a bit cranky if the clocks are not just right. And I've changed more motherboards than I'll admit to.
Bob