Hey everyone, my friend was over and wanted to use her external hard drive with my computer... and I discovered that my USB ports on my MacBook no longer work. The appear to charge iPods and give hard disks a little bit of power, but my computer will not mount any disks (including iPods and jumpdrives) attached to it. System profiler says that an iPod is attached, but disk utility does not acknowledge any type of disk. I tried two different external hard drives (my room mate has the same one as my friend) and two different iPods (older nano and newer one) and a jump drive with no success. I also tried the disks and iPods in Windows and in the Boot Camp startup menu. Does anyone have any suggestions short of going to the Apple store in downtown Chicago and probably paying a lot of money (although my computer is still under warranty)?
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Help! My USB ports don't work!
- Thread starter maxrobertson
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Did you try rebooting?
If System Profiler is detecting that a device is attached, your USB ports are fine and the problem is elsewhere. I've found that it can sometimes take over a minute for a volume to be detected the first time it's plugged into a Mac, especially if it's a PC drive. Other times it shows up in seconds.
If System Profiler is detecting that a device is attached, your USB ports are fine and the problem is elsewhere. I've found that it can sometimes take over a minute for a volume to be detected the first time it's plugged into a Mac, especially if it's a PC drive. Other times it shows up in seconds.
Yeah, I tried rebooting. I also tried to see if they came up in the boot camp menu and in Windows (which I have installed) and it didn't happen any of the times. Also, it didn't say that a disk was attached, only an iPod. Also, I just checked a mouse. It gives me mouse power (the light turns on - laser mouse) but it does not move the cursor, but the mouse does turn up in system profiler. I left my iPod connected to the computer for about an hour. Nothing happened, but it did get charged.
Hrm, you may have partially fried the USB controller, its still putting out some power. If you can't get it to work after a few tries you may need to have your logic board replaced. If your under warranty its not a big deal.
Ugh, that sucks. Will I have to pay for it if I go to the Apple store? Is there anything I can do to minimize the trouble I'll have to go through? I know for a fact that I didn't do anything to it, so I shouldn't be blamed, right? Thanks for your help.
Oh, I also don't think I have any receipts for it since I bought it online. I think I might have PDF'd the ones on the internet at the time, but I don't know if I have any physical receipts. Will that be an issue? I bought it from Apple.com if that makes a difference.
Oh, I also don't think I have any receipts for it since I bought it online. I think I might have PDF'd the ones on the internet at the time, but I don't know if I have any physical receipts. Will that be an issue? I bought it from Apple.com if that makes a difference.
Apple won't charge you if you take it in to the Apple Store for them to check what it has. If you are still under the one-year warranty or bought AppleCare, then they won't charge you for the repairs but if they have to repair it, they might charge you. It all depends if they think its a big problem, which it is.
Hey, thanks. I AM still under the 1 year warranty, so they won't charge me? I mean, I assume that's the way it is, but you never know. I got a little confused by your wording. I do think it's a big issue because I need to use a mouse and update my iPod and stuff haha.
Unless there's actually physical damage Apple will not charge you for any repair and this would include parts as well.
At this point this should be a wake up call for you to buy AppleCare before your 1 year is up. Don't make excuses that it's too expensive, just wait until you are out of warranty and something goes wrong.
Sorry, I just reread and got confused too.
Since you are under the one year warranty, don't expect to pay anything.
If you weren't under the warranty, then you would have to pay.
Luckily, you are under the warranty and you should go to the Apple Store and have it checked out before the one year warranty expires.
Oh hell yes. I actually have it set up to bug me about that every time I start the computer up.
Thanks for the clarification. I guess I'll be setting up an appointment and going down there this weekend... or.. soon. I don't know how long it'll take to get it back & I have some papers to write.
Thanks for all your help everyone.