Every time I update my Hackintosh (P5WDH mobo) with the latest version of Mac OS I lose USB 2.0 speeds (all ports go to 1.1 speeds) and my system refuses to completely shutdown. The fix:

Delete AppleHPET.kext from /System/Library/Extensions

USB is flying and my systems sleeps and shuts down!

Quick and dirty:
Using Finder, copy the Kext to the desktop or somewhere as a backup (or you can use OSX86Tools too). Better be safe than sorry!
sudo rm -r /System/Library/Extensions/AppleHPET.kext

I’ve been experimenting with an Avaya IP Office Small Office Edition (4T, 8A, 3 VOIP) in preparation for rolling a few out to clients in the next couple of months.  I finally got around to hooking up my Vonage V-Portal to the IPO and was excited to start testing.

To my chagrin, there was really serious local echo (hear myself talking) on my 4620 IP phone when using either of my two Vonage channels.  This ECHO issues was isolated to external calls on the Vonage device.  I spent 3 hours experimenting in the Avaya Manager on both the VoIP extension forms and the Trunk configurations trying to fix it to no avail.  Sometimes the echo would eventually cancel out if you were on the phone long enough, but there was definitely something very wrong with my configuration.

I was Googling and found a forum post mentioning something about the impedance on the line being a possible cause for Echo on analog lines in an IPO environment.  So I tried each of the Impedance settings and sure enough the Impedance setting “Alternative 2″ fixed the echo 99%. Other’s mentioned this change fixing POTS lines too.  Who knows, maybe it applies to more VoIP ATAs as well.  Keep me posted in the comments.

UPDATE

I also found that disabling HANDSET/HEADSET AGC (Auto Gain Control in the system menu) helps eliminate  voice clipping in conjunction with the V-Portal.

UPDATE 2

I gave up trying to use a V-PORTAL with my IPO.  The call quality wasn’t very good, with lots of clipping.  I don’t know if this is a Vonage issue or something to do with IPO talking to Vonage.  I ended up moving my lines to a SIP trunk with Vitelity.  I will post a blog entry detailing how I got that working (easy) soon.

From my post at InsanelyMac:

I had a perfectly working 10.5.4 setup on a Dell Precision 370 with AC97 audio… that is until I attempted to install 10.5.5. I ended up reloading Leopard from scratch (I use this machine as a web browser and for my work iTunes music) so it was of no consequence to lose any data. I selected AC97 as the ONLY audio driver to be installed (AppleAC97Audio.kext) on my Kalyway 10.5.1 DVD.

Last time I installed Leopard, I remember fumbling and bumbling with the audio to make it work. It would LOOK like it’s working (you see an output device, can lower/raise volume), but of course no sound would eminate from the speakers. Frustrating.

Today I remembered the Audio MIDI setup in Finder/Utilites. Even though the Dell has a speaker output (technically a single output), line in and a mic input – I had to tell the system that the card had 6 outputs.

When selecting STEREO in speaker setup when outputs 1 & 2 were selected you’d hear nothing. When I upped the outputs to 6 and used 3 & 4 for the stereo output… VOILA… Sound from the speaker jack.

During testing I would just have something in iTunes playing as I fiddled with the settings. The default sounds would only work out of the speakers once I got something from iTunes on the speakers (made sure SOMETHING was working) and then reboot.

I’d suggest the following if you HAVE controls for output (slider works, you have a device in output), but don’t hear anything:

1. Fire up iTunes and start playing something. Crank up all the volumes so you don’t have to do a sanity check later.
2. Fire up Finder/Utilities/Audio MIDI Setup
   
3. In Audio MIDI Setup, view properties for OUTPUT
   
4. Make sure you have more than 2 channels in the Format section (pull down). Note: if you don’t have more than 2 channels, you may want to try loading the various Azalia installers. I know I went through a few trying to get this to work – have no idea if the 6 channels were native when I installed Kalyway.
   
5. In the Format section of the OUTPUT control, select “4ch-16bit” or “6ch-16bit” You can mess with it later if you get it SOMETHING out of the speakers..When I used 6ch-16, I got only the LEFT audio channel working (but you could hear something – PROGRESS!). When I retooled, and selected 4ch-16 in Format, then selected Speaker Outputs 3 & 4 – BOTH CHANNELS worked.
6. Now hit the CONFIGURE SPEAKERS button.
7. Select STEREO at the top (speaker config) and pull down the FRONT LEFT and FRONT RIGHT output to 3 & 4 versus the original of 1 & 2. If that doesn’t work, try 5 & 6. 3 & 4 was the winning combo for me.
   
8. If you’re hearing your iTunes play, close down reboot and then your APPLE sounds should work as well.
9. If the above worked for you – please post here and let us know your system make/brand/specs and the steps you followed to get your sound working.

Sidebar: On some Dells, you may experience a very weird situation. When I initially couldn’t get the sound working (even with my steps above, in my first install which is now defunct), I got frustrated and started removing and plugging my headphone/speaker cable into all of the jacks, one by one. I was playing iTunes while this was happening. The strange part, is that by MOVING the jacks from output to input to input to output the sound suddenly started playing from the speakers with no software changes. I think there may be some circuitry that allows for sounds to come out of the system speaker when you are using Windows (with no external speakers attached) and I had to “trip” the circuit for the system to realize that the hardware should be playing from the jack, not the speaker (although the speaker didn’t work either). I know it sounds friggin nuts, but I swear this fixed my last problem with my Dellintosh and it’s never been a problem since.

If you need the Azalia drivers/kexts/installers – they can be found here.
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=36520

“Hello operator?  Get me Chelsea 602 please.”

• Project:
  Convert 1A2 system to Avaya Partner ACS, preserving existing cable/wire.
• Scope:
  3 CO Lines (2 Voice, 1 Fax), 1 Gate Line, 10 Extensions, Fax Machine, Answering Machine
• Parts Used:
  Avaya Partner ACS R6 Module, 308EC Module, 2-Slot Carrier, (2) 66-Blocks with preinstalled jacks, (1) Standard 66 Block, Amphenol to RJ11 Converters, APC Back UPS 650, RCA 5-Disc CD Player

This project was for my Grandmother’s house.  She’s had her 1A2 system for 40+ years and up until recently it has given great service.  Line 3 on the 1A2 was giving serious audible static to the point of not being usable.  Instead of troubleshooting and fixing the old system, I figured it was more cost-effective to put in a used, but more modern system.  I chose the Avaya Partner ACS as the replacement system as it’s cheap, full-featured and I have experience with it (I’ve owned a few). 

If you don’t know what an Electromechanical 1A2 system is, think of it as sort-of the OG of phone systems. It was the first prevalent multi-line phone system.  You can read more about the 1A2 at Wikipedia.  Here’s a picture of a 1A2 phone:

See that crazy connector hanging off the right of it?  That’s the amphenol connector which you may remember from a Parallel printer’s connection to a computer before USB became popular.  Each 1A2 phone required a 25-pair cable to operate and terminated with an amphenol connector at the phone end.  For our project we simply disconnected the old phones and snapped on an amphenol to RJ11 adapter.  In some circumstances we had to chop the amphenol off and use a biscuit, but the majority used adapters.  The good news is when you are replacing a 1A2 is you’ll have LOTS of existing cable to deal with.  

In this particular project there were two blocks that cross-connect to the KSU, both requiring retermination.  One of the blocks was in a central spot near the system in the basement (Block A) which was connected to the KSU via another 25 pair cable.  This is where the majority of extensions terminated and where Block B cross connected as well.  There was another block (Block B) in the attic powering the upstairs 3 extensions (this was a surprise we found late in the job).  My task was to reterminate the cross-connect blocks so that every phone would have it’s own dedicated 2 pairs.  In a 1A2 system each phone “shares” a series of pairs with the other phones… it’s complex to explain and Wikipedia does a better job of it.

My friend Walter (thanks Walt!) and I completed the job in about 11 hours on a Saturday.  It worked out great and my Grandmother loves her new phone system.  Check out the pics below of the before and after.  You can also read more at this thread at Sundance Communication’s phone system tech support forum where I asked pre-install questions to the experts, having never done something quite like this before.

Before & After Shots:

All project photos: