Input delays after connecting a USB device

Sylon said:

I am getting huge input delays with both the keyboard and trackpad on my MacBook Pro, and when I use the Bluetooth keyboard and trackpad, whenever I connect a USB device. It doesn't matter what kind of USB device, whether it be my Game Capture HD, my external HDDs, or my iPhone and iPad. Anytime I connect these devices, I cannot move my mouse or use the keyboard for 10-15 seconds. And it needs me to try using them before they will wake up and start working. If I connect a device, and not touch the computer for a few minutes, when I try moving the mouse, I'll still get nothing until I try messing with it.

It's pretty annoying, especially right this moment when I'm trying to install iOS 6.1 beta on my iPad and iPhone. With the few restarts that the device do during the process, these delays are annoying.

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With all those accessories attached, it seems like your system is making constant adjustments to make sure everything runs as smoothly as possible. Open activity monitor and check the memory usage.
Also go into system preferences and make it so that the HDD aren't put to sleep whenever possible because having them continuously running might be better than the frequent demand to sleep them and then remount them.

And which version of the 13" MBP is it? Is it the 2011 you have in your signature? Is it the early/mid/late 2011 and is it the i3/i5/i7?

Sylon said:

Thanks for replying, I'll check out Activity Monitor to see if anything spikes. I have the hard disk put to sleep when not in use only when on battery power, however this issue happens both when on battery and when plugged in charging.

My MBP is the late 2011 mode, 2.4GHz i5 processor with 8GB of RAM for what its worth.

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How many devices do you normally have plugged in when this happens? Or does this happen even if you only plug in your iPhone/iPod/whatever?

It might not even be revealed in Activity Monitor. In fact, I think you might be testing the limits of your USB Host controller or it is not working properly. <---This is just a guess, of course. The reason it's my guess is due to the fact that USB, regardless of how many ports you have, will be limited to 480 Mbps transfer. So if you're connecting multiple hardware accessories to the usb ports that require a lot of bandwidth(like your Game Capture HD) the available bandwidth will be drastically decreased. Consider also that your included keyboard and trackpad are also utilizing the USB host controller and so are your bluetooth keyboard and mouse.

So to be sure that this is the problem, I would try resetting the PRAM. Again, I could be completely wrong, but it seems like you're pretty demanding on the USB side, so maybe switch something to firewire or TB if you can and see if that helps at all as well.

Sylon said:

I only connect things one at a time. And the delay is only for about 15-20 seconds once I connect a device, after I try moving the cursor or tapping a key on the keyboard. Functions on the computer itself still keep going, like programs functioning and stuff like that, just that the mouse cursor and typing stop after I connect a USB device. After several seconds, they start working again.

The problem occurs, even when the laptop is solo, not doing anything other than being on. When I connect anything, from a small empty thumbdrive and my iPhone/iPad, all the way up to the Game Capture and external HDD (only 1 at a time of course). I'm always afraid of frying USB ports, I've done it before, so I try to not overdo it.

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Then something is wrong with the host controller and I think you need to reset it. And is it always on? How often do you shut it down?

Sylon said:

Ok I think I figured it out, thanks to your help. Shutting down the computer completely for a few minutes fixes the issue. The Game Capture causes it. Why other devices have the same issue after I connect the Game Capture is still unknown. But at least now I can fix the problem.


I wonder if a powered USB hub will prevent the Game Capture from causing the issue. What do you think?


Edit: well, I might have been wrong. After trying to update my iPhone via iTunes, I just had the same issue again. And my Game Capture was never connected. Now I really don't get it.


Edit #2: Well, so much for the powered USB hub idea, didn't help.

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hmm, I still think something is definitely wrong(obviously). Try reseting the SMC and then reseting NVRAM. Maybe just a shut down isn't enough.

Sylon said:

Alright, how do I do that?

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SMC
Reset the SMC of a MacBook or MacBook Pro’s with detachable batteries:
* Shutdown the MacBook/Pro and remove the battery
* Disconnect the power adapter, hold the Power Key for 10 seconds
* Release the power key and reconnect your battery and power adapter
* Turn your Mac on
* Let boot as usual.

Reset SMC of a MacBook or MacBook Pro’s with an internal battery:
* Shutdown your MacBook/Pro
* Connect the power adapter to your Mac
* On the MacBook/Pro’s keyboard, hold down the Shift+Control+Option keys and the Power button at the same time
* Release all keys and the power button at the same time
* Boot your Mac as usual


NVRAM/PRAM
Resetting your PRAM is a common troubleshooting technique when a Mac is misbehaving. I’ll cover how to reset PRAM in addition to information about PRAM to help you understand when and why you’d want to reset it.

Resetting the PRAM
You reset the PRAM by rebooting a Mac and then immediately hold down the Command+Option+P+R keys, you will then hear the Mac reboot sound again, signifying your PRAM has been reset. You must hit the key combination before the grey screen appears otherwise it won’t work.


By the way...do you happen to dual-boot Windows?

Hi!

sorry for digging out this not-so-fresh thread. I might have some insights into this very problem, as I am affected by it as well (Early 2011 13" Macbook Pro, Mountain Lion). Things I have noticed:

• The delay only affects input devices like the built-in keyboard or touchpad (already known)
• It seems to be possible to skip that delay if you are actively using the touchpad whilst plugging in an USB device. Simply moving the cursor around seems to be sufficient
• I suspect a faulty driver for an USB device to be the root cause of this delay. For instance, the LEGO Mindstorm driver (by National Instruments) seems to add to that delay
• Rebooting does not help at all (already known)
• Harddrive spin-up is not the cause, as my MacBook uses an SSD and that input delay happens even if I connect my DSLR (not in Mass-Storage mode, but PTP)
• I did not notice any spikes in CPU usage in activity monitor when that delay happened

On my macbook are the following additional USB drivers:

• LEGO Mindstorm
• 3DConnexion SpaceNavigator
• A no-brand USB MIDI driver for an old MIDI keyboard from MIDITech
• Wacom USB driver for Graphire 3 tablets

Any familiar driver in that list? Those might cause the delay.

Did resetting SMC, NVRAM/PRAM help at all?

Greetings

Hi!

I was not able to reproduce the issue for some days now. I now suspect MacPGP or MacFuse or ntfs-3g to be the culprit. Especially the latter two seem to be plausible candidates who might have caused this delay. They don't support Mac OS X Mountain Lion.

Hope this helps!