Mac Mini crashes when usb storage device are plugged in

[iamfaiz]

The Mac Mini has been going through this strange cycle where anytime I plug in an external hard drive or a flash drive it forces me to hold down the power button to turn it off. If I try booting the Mac Mini with the HDD or flash drive plugged in, it refuses to boot...

anyone else have this problem?

 

[spinnerlys]

Have you tried an SMC reset yet? http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1543

Or did you repair permissions?

What you experience is called a Kernel Panic. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1392

What USB flash and HDD do you have?

 

[JustGretchen]

If it continues after SMC reset, I'd say head on down to your local apple store, but be sure to make an appointment first.

 

[raziel777]

I would try an archive and install first.

 

[kolax]

Are you using Parallels Desktop or Fusion (virtualisation software for running Windows). I found that I could get a kernel panic in the older version of Parallels Desktop when I plugged in a USB device.

Either that or it is a sign of a dodgy logic board, as kernel panics are nearly always hardware related.

 

[michael.lauden]

I would try an archive and install first.

if you archive and install some of the app preferences will be saved - therefor your problem might still be there.


have you tried trashing prefs (i.e power managment, anything USB related, boot related)?


/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration



you could boot up while holding Command+V to enable verbose booting and see what's going on.


also it might help if you posted what's going on in your console...



if we can't help on here past tonight i think you should bring it to the Apple store, if they can't help - go ahead and format+reinstall a fresh copy of OS X