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That’s some pretty impressive detective work, are Apple aware of the issue?
On a dif note, Apple missed the boat with smart home gubbins, discontinuing AirPort as the competition just got better. I’ve just imported a Nest Secure alarm and it’s brilliant especially since it links up with all my other nest stuff (obviously).
If I migrate my account to a google one I’ll move to managing everything in google home app which will lead me to buying a nest mwah system so I can manage it all in one app.
chrisbmx116
Velocio
I have figured this shit out.
Apple have an OSX Catalina software bug that is somehow related to the refresh polls for USB 2.0 devices that are directly connected to the motherboard USB 2.0 system bus.
"Directly connected" needs qualifying... if the external USB C hubs are actually terminating the connections the problem doesn't surface, but if the USB C hubs appear to be some kind of transparent proxy then OSX has trouble.
So... what's an example of a workaround that works?
Example 1: A monitor with a USB hub, where that is connected to a USB-C hub to the Mac and the USB 2.0 devices are connected to the monitor... no issues at all. The monitor appears to be terminating the connections and presents them to the Mac with slightly different info the System Information view.
Example 2: Using a CalDigit TS3+ USB-C hub, well that thing can take a lot of connections and appears to use it's own terminating hub within the CalDigit... the USB 2.0 devices connected to it now work.
But... in every example of a transparent proxy USB-C hub that I have (Anker, Satechi, StarTech) the USB 2.0 devices will fail.
Why does the workaround work? If you look at Apple Logo > About this Mac > System Information before and after you will see that any time the USB 2.0 devices appear to the Mac as a USB 2.0 device the issue will emerge. Yet when a USB hub terminates the connection it will present these to the Mac as a USB 3.0 device connected to a USB 3.0 hub... and in this scenario the issue never emerges.
Hence... the bug is in OSX when it sees USB 2.0 devices. Not instantly, so not hardware. And those same devices presented as USB 3.0 via a hub that appears to terminate the USB and present it with slightly different attributes does not exhibit the problem.
Now... it could be that the argument is that my USB 2.0 devices are not compatible with OSX... but my answer to that would be:
And the cost of this debugging? I'd place it around around £600... for the CalDigit TS3+, the StarTech 7 port USB-C hub, the Satechi USB-C hub, fresh USB cables for the above, fresh HDMI cable for the Elgato CamLink.
There's no point returning the Mac... this is an operating system error, hence it affecting the MacBook Air 2020 too.
I also found this bug described in a load of forums without clear resolution:
End of all of this... buy the Caldigit TS3+ USB-C it is awesome.