USB 3.0 7 port causes crashes and kernal panics on iMac 27 Late 2012

I just bought a Plugable Super Speed 7-port USB 3.0 hub (Model USB3-HUB7-81X). When I attached it to my iMac 27 (late 2012) running the latest version of Mountain Lion it appears to work at first and then when I connect drives to it (that work fine in the direct USB port on my iMac) the iMac starts having problems. The machine eventually slows down and nothing works and I must reboot. Upon rebooting I find that I no longer have a fully functional finder (including no menu and sometimes no desktop icons). I also generate Kernal Panics. If I remove the hub, everything works fine. Please help as I really want to be able to use this hub.

Michael Fischer
bichael@cal.berkeley.edu

Hi Michael-

Thanks for posting with your issue- I’m sorry to hear about the kernel panics and I’ll be happy to help.

As a first troubleshooting step I’d like to verify if the panics are happening when we’ve only got a basic device like a USB mouse or keyboard attached to the hub, or if the errors only happen when other devices are also attached.

I’m confident we can get you up and running normally with some quick troubleshooting!

Please let me know how this first quick test goes and I can recommend the next steps.

Best wishes-

Jeff Everett
Plugable Technologies

Hi Jeff –

Thanks for the quick reply.

I have just tested the unit with an Apple Optical Mouse (USB2.0) device) and the system works fine. However, if I then plug in my USB 3.0 drive (Seagate Backup + 4 TB) on the hub, the system doesn’t recognize that I’ve done anything. And, then, if I remove the hub, unplug the mouse, and put back in the hub and connect the drive, the drive shows but very soon I get a spinning ball and finder becomes unresponsive (although other applications continue to work for the most part). If I then pull the hub out (and get a warning about not properly shutting down the external drive) finder again becomes responsive and everything seems to work as it should. One other thing I’ve noticed: If I replug the hub back in again and then go to the finder to look at the drive plugged into the hub, I immediately get a spinning ball and unresponsive finder when I click on the drive name to see what’s in it.

Thanks.

Michael

Hi Michael-

Thanks for verifying that the issue seems to be tied to your Seagate external drive.

I think this firmware update for the drive will help, although the firmware update for the hub may also be necessary. If you still see issues after applying the update for the drive, please shoot an email to support@plugable.com with a link to this thread and we’ll get you taken care of.

Best wishes-

Jeff

Sorry, forgot to paste in the link to the Seagate firmware update:

http://www.seagate.com/support/downlo…

Please let us know if this helps!

Best-

Jeff

Did this resolve the issue for you? I have a Seagate USB 3 HDD and it is causing Kernel Panics too…