MBP mid-2015 USB port underpowering ?

[Guilla]

Hello everyone !

I recently noticed that my external cooling fan for my MBP only had 2 out of the 4 fans working. You got an option to only make 2 fans working. But I got it on "4 fans mode", but still only 2 fans are working. It is hard to know when this has started to happen since, due to current world's situation I had to move out from my house to another one, and used another cooling fan.
Anyway. I thought the cooling fan device was faulty.

So I tried to plug it to my GF MBAir to see. And surprise, on my GF MBAir the 4 fans were working, full speed ! Flawlessly on both USB ports.
Whereas on mine, on both USB ports it is the same : only 2 fans (and rather slow).

I then concluded that, maybe the issue is from my MBP ?

I try resetting PRAM and SMC, with no change.

I sometimes noticed that my external SSD was disconnecting by itself randomly, I thought it was the cable, but even when changing the cables, it is still doing it.
Although this test lead me to think that it may be my laptop the issue !

Another thing to mention, when the external fan is connected to my USB ports, when I go to System information -> USB. It is not listed in the Bus USB 3.0 used. I only got "Internal Keyboard, Trackpad" and "USB Bluetooth Host". As if my MBP is not even understanding that something is plugged in (that's what I understand from this at least, I may be TOTALLY wrong haha).
Whereas when I plug my external USB hub for example, it detects it. But do not detect the external fan (even if I plug it to the external USB hub, although it detects my other devices connected to the USB Hub 2.0, such as my iLok for example). Odd right ?


Have you ever encountered such similar phenomenon ?

I am asking because due to current's situation, it is hard to have a check up done at the Apple Store in my region at the moment.

P.S. : I will soon try to find the external charger of my external USB Hub, see if this solve the issue. Although, since I am using external sound card, this USB thing is still a problem that I need to solve.

Thanks a lot for your help !

G.

SETUP :

MBP Mid-2015 Retina 15"
2,8 GHz i7
RAM 16 Go 1600 MHz DDR3
Graph : Intel Iris Pro 1536 Mo
Internal SSD 512 Go.
MacOS Sierra 10.12.1
2 USB Ports at 500 mA

* Test running when the external Fan is the only device used !*


- I would like to avoid updating as much as I can in order to keep full compatibility to the software I am using currently -

 

[Audit13]

The fans don't require a driver and that is why the fans don't appear as a USB device.

 

[Guilla]

The fans don't require a driver and that is why the fans don't appear as a USB device.

Oh makes perfect sense indeed.

So that's sorted thanks !

Although why are they "underpowered" on my MBP in comparison to my GF MBAir then in your opinion ? (hard to say but if you have anything else to investigate that I haven't already investigated myself).

 

[Audit13]

Not sure why the USB port isn't putting out enough power.

This happens when on a charger and with a full battery? Any other USB devices connected at the same time?

 

[Guilla]

Not sure why the USB port isn't putting out enough power.

This happens when on a charger and with a full battery? Any other USB devices connected at the same time?

No other device is connected. And it does it when charger is on full battery too.

 

[Audit13]

No other device is connected. And it does it when charger is on full battery too.

One way to test it would be with a multimeter?

How old are the fans? If you manually spin the fans that are not working, do they stay spinning?

 

[Guilla]

One way to test it would be with a multimeter?

How old are the fans? If you manually spin the fans that are not working, do they stay spinning?

2 years old max. But it's working, it's just not working completely when plugged on my MBP (but working perfectly on the MBPAir of my GF).