Mac no longer recognizes Cobalt 2

[terrylowe]

I am running macOS Monterey version 12.5. When I plug my Cobalt 2 into a USB port on the mac, the dive computer will notify me that it is charging, but it never "connects" to the Mac so that I can import the data to my dive log software. I have tried different dive logs, different cables. I plugged it into an old Windows PC and it worked and I could download my dive information on that system.

Do you know if there is an issue with the Cobalt 2 and the newer macOS versions? If so, is there a work-around?

 

[pickens_46929]

USB is a pain sometimes with these new releases.
Sometimes it's security related, other times it's the USB drivers in MacOS themselves.

Try resetting the SMC - that works about 40% of the time.

USB Ports Not Working on macOS Monterey? Here's the Fix! - Saint

USB Ports Not Working on macOS Monterey? Don't worry! There are multiple fixes for this issue. Read on to find the best one for yourself.

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If you're going through a USB Hub, there is (was) a known issue where Monterey would actually test / do something with the cable to see if it was certified / supported high speeds, and if it didn't would basically not work. The solution to that one was to change out the cable to a USB 3.1+ certified cable.

How To Fix USB Ports Not Working In macOS Monterey?

Are USB ports not working on MacBook since you updated to macOS Monterey? USB hubs fail to recognize external devices? Here is what to do!

www.iphonetricks.org

 

[RonR]

I am running macOS Monterey version 12.5. When I plug my Cobalt 2 into a USB port on the mac, the dive computer will notify me that it is charging, but it never "connects" to the Mac so that I can import the data to my dive log software. I have tried different dive logs, different cables. I plugged it into an old Windows PC and it worked and I could download my dive information on that system.

Do you know if there is an issue with the Cobalt 2 and the newer macOS versions? If so, is there a work-around?

I'm not aware of any problems with newer Mac OS's but I'm just on 12.1. What firmware version do you have on the Cobalt, and what dive log programs have you tried? We can try it out here. Have you tried the firmware update process- holding down the Back and Select buttons while USB is connected to see if the Cobalt shows up as BOOTLOADER on the Mac desktop? The most recent firmwarere file can be found here: Cobalt 2 Firmware version 2.60 available for trial

-Ron

 

[terrylowe]

USB is a pain sometimes with these new releases.
Sometimes it's security related, other times it's the USB drivers in MacOS themselves.

Try resetting the SMC - that works about 40% of the time.

Thanks for the tip. Didn't work though. It recognizes the cobalt well enough to charge it, but that's it. I've tried multiple cables and it works fine on my PC, so I'm blaming the mac!

 

[terrylowe]

I'm not aware of any problems with newer Mac OS's but I'm just on 12.1. What firmware version do you have on the Cobalt, and what dive log programs have you tried? We can try it out here. Have you tried the firmware update process- holding down the Back and Select buttons while USB is connected to see if the Cobalt shows up as BOOTLOADER on the Mac desktop? The most recent firmwarere file can be found here: Cobalt 2 Firmware version 2.60 available for trial

-Ron

It works on my PC, just not on the Mac. I tried Subsurface and MacDive. I tried three different cables and two different cobalt 2 connectors. The pins look clean. The mac recognizes it enough to charge the Cobalt 2, but that's it. It does not recognize bootloader on the mac, but does on the PC. I went ahead and updated to the latest firmware while I had it plugged to the PC. Thanks for sending the link.

On the Mac, there are no error messages or anything. I really think this is a mac issue and not the dive computer. I was just hoping that someone may have had the same issue and figured out how to fix it. I'll keep looking.

 

[Chris H]

It works on my PC, just not on the Mac. I tried Subsurface and MacDive. I tried three different cables and two different cobalt 2 connectors. The pins look clean. The mac recognizes it enough to charge the Cobalt 2, but that's it. It does not recognize bootloader on the mac, but does on the PC. I went ahead and updated to the latest firmware while I had it plugged to the PC. Thanks for sending the link.

On the Mac, there are no error messages or anything. I really think this is a mac issue and not the dive computer. I was just hoping that someone may have had the same issue and figured out how to fix it. I'll keep looking.

Have you asked Nick at Mac-Dive? He has provided me with customer service that is 2nd to none.

 

[RonR]

Sorry, that's not something I have run across. Just to check here we tried on a MacBook (M1) running OS 12.3, uploading to SubSurface and had no problems. Charging just uses power and ground pins, so not surprising that works, but not being able to communicate is a puzzler.

I suspect you are right and the issue is on the Mac side. There used to be a Mac utility called USB Prober that was helpful, I'm not sure if that is still around. For firmware update- boot loader- Cobalt should appear to the Mac to be a simple mass storage device- does the Mac see other USB devices, like a thumb drive?

 

[pickens_46929]

The security stuff where you now everything on USB is locked down pretty well on the Mac is causing a lot of these issues. Most of the time you at least get a pop-up that says there's an issue but in about 25% of the cases, I don't.

 

[kelemvor]

You probably lack the driver for whatever usb to serial chip is in the cobalt adapter (or maybe in the dive computer). Since you have it working in windows, you could probably examine the serial device that turns up in device manager. Or, there's a macos serial device detection app here: https://www.mac-usb-serial.com/static/downloads/detect/SerialDetect-2.7.zip .

Common USB to serial chips are
CH340/CH341: driver for osx GitHub - z4yx/osx-ch341-serial: CH340/CH341 based USB to Serial Port Adapter driver for Mac OSX
PL2303: driver and instructions for osx 10.3 and up PL2303 Serial USB on OSX Lion
FTDI: Drivers - FTDI

 

[snapper5]

I recently updated mine using my Mac. It took quite a few attempts for it to load the boot loader