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rmbp, my one honest complaint. USB connections too sensitive to movement

0

01mggt

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jun 23, 2010
309
11
I LOVE my rmbp. I have no lag issues, screen is perfect you name it. It all "just works" as I expected it to do :) However, one thing that bugs the piss out of me since I am using external storage alot is the USB connectors. I do gaming while sitting on the couch and have my USB 3 enclosure with my steam installed to it. It's a Thermaltake Silver River 5G. It seems like it's VERY easy to cause the drive to drop connection. I haven't used my USB 2.0 drives much but I think my maxtor one also has the same issue.

If I move the computer around a little and put just a tad of stress at the USB connector, it will disconnect. I don't even mean it comes out or anything. It just seems to move just enough to cause issues. This already happened once under OSX causing me to have to repair the drive because of some corruption that occured since it was writing.

Has anyone else had this issue? I can't really seem to even see any movement on the connector. I can grab it with two fingers and move it a bit and cause it to lose the connection pretty easily. This wouldn't be as big of an issue if I were sitting at a desk. But I tend to move around a bit.
 
Sounds more like a crappy cable than the USB port. Maybe try and swap out the cable with something else you have laying around.
 
Wirelessly posted

Hm, Apple made the media card slot shallow so as to leave more room for other components. I wonder if they did something similar with the USB ports. Do both ports have that issue?
 
Iono what da FUDGE you talking about lol.

I have a logitech usb dongle for mouse my plugged in as well as other external drives I plug in and out and they fit perfectly. Nothing is loose.
 
Yep, I'd suggest the OP checks different connectors and devices. Everything I have thrown at it from Seagate GoFlex adaptors, to Wacom RF modules, to a Razer mice... all have been perfectly tight fits with no connection issues at all.
 
My xbox 360 controller doesn't have this issue when plugged in. Most of my hdd's seem to. And I can't replace the cable on my usb 3.0 one bc it is proprietary. Try plugging in a USB 3.0 device, then hold the connector is thumb and index finger. Barely jiggle it. It should make the drive eject in Mac OSX.
 
I've noticed my external USB 3.0 drive has become detached inadvertently while simply moving the drive on my desk, WITHOUT actually removing the USB connector. Happened at least 3 times in a week.

I too suspect a loose USB connection on the RMPB, or a bad cable.

I am keeping my eye on it, and with other USB devices.
 
markp99 said:
I've noticed my external USB 3.0 drive has become detached inadvertently while simply moving the drive on my desk, WITHOUT actually removing the USB connector. Happened at least 3 times in a week.

I too suspect a loose USB connection on the RMPB, or a bad cable.

I am keeping my eye on it, and with other USB devices.
Click to expand...

Same thing here. Any tension on the cable seems to be able to drop the connection. I should add to my original post that, it isn't actually coming unplugged. It;s is just barely moving back and forth in the connector.
 
I've had the same problem with a USB stick that I have on my car keyring - so a lot of weight hanging on it. I accept that this is probably not a good idea, but I don't have a problem on my old MBP, my Linux box, my Dell at work, and any number of other machines I've plugged this into.

Even on my rMBP it only seems to be the USB port on the left hand side that's the problem, the one on the right works fine.

austinguy23 said:
Wirelessly posted

Hm, Apple made the media card slot shallow so as to leave more room for other components. I wonder if they did something similar with the USB ports. Do both ports have that issue?
Click to expand...

You may have something there. When this first happened I thought I hadn't plugged the stick all the way in as it appeared to be sticking out a long way, but it was in all the way.

Re. the media card slot, I've read aboout people having connection problems with those on older models, where they have to push the card to the side to get it to contact properly.
 
01mggt said:
It seems like it's VERY easy to cause the drive to drop connection. I haven't used my USB 2.0 drives much but I think my maxtor one also has the same issue.

If I move the computer around a little and put just a tad of stress at the USB connector, it will disconnect. I don't even mean it comes out or anything. It just seems to move just enough to cause issues. This already happened once under OSX causing me to have to repair the drive because of some corruption that occured since it was writing.

Has anyone else had this issue? I can't really seem to even see any movement on the connector. I can grab it with two fingers and move it a bit and cause it to lose the connection pretty easily. This wouldn't be as big of an issue if I were sitting at a desk. But I tend to move around a bit.
Click to expand...

I had this issue with my 2011 MBP and I noticed it was gone after I had ugpraded to the MBPR. Might wanna look into getting a replacement if it bothers you that much. I know it used to drive me crazy on my 2011 MBP.
 
01mggt said:
I do gaming while sitting on the couch and have my USB 3 enclosure with my steam installed to it. It's a Thermaltake Silver River 5G.
Click to expand...

This is not directly related to your problem, which I'm sorry you're having, but I have a question for you. Is the drive in your external enclosure a 5400 RPM, 7200 RPM or SSD drive? I would like to game off an external with my rMBP and I was worried the 5400 RPM drive would be too slow even with USB 3.0. What's your experience been like? Good luck with the port issues. Happens with my MacBook all the time, but I find a different USB cable sometimes really helps. Try to replace the Thermaltake's USB cable with another one you can get online. Maybe even consider paying a bit extra. Certain cables can make a more 'established' connection.
 
mac1984user said:
This is not directly related to your problem, which I'm sorry you're having, but I have a question for you. Is the drive in your external enclosure a 5400 RPM, 7200 RPM or SSD drive? I would like to game off an external with my rMBP and I was worried the 5400 RPM drive would be too slow even with USB 3.0. What's your experience been like? Good luck with the port issues. Happens with my MacBook all the time, but I find a different USB cable sometimes really helps. Try to replace the Thermaltake's USB cable with another one you can get online. Maybe even consider paying a bit extra. Certain cables can make a more 'established' connection.
Click to expand...

It's 7200 rpm Hybrid from seagate. It has an 8gb ssd cahce built in and is very fast. It loads and installs games very fast actually. Over USB 3 it's getting pretty much native speed as well. I highly suggest using this drive for running steam and such :)
 
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