Rear USB ports stopped recognising wired keyboard after Time Machine backup (fixed)

[familychoice]

Hi,

Very weird issue happening with my Mac Mini (M1). After backing up with Time Machine to an external SSD, my Apple USB keyboard which was connected to the rear USB socket has stopped working. It works (randomly) with the USB hub that's connected if I relaunch the finder, and other drives work fine connected to the rear socket, but the keyboard isn't being recognised with the rear sockets.

I've had the recognised Time Machine issue that's been reported where it doesn't eject the disk correctly and needs the Finder to be relaunched, but it's never caused an issue like this before.

I'm on Big Sur 11.7.10 - wondering if an update would fix the issue, but not confident that Time Machine has backed things up correctly if it goes wrong.

Any advice greatly received!!

 

[Fishrrman]

Try this (take EVERY step presented)

a. shut down Mini -- all the way off
b. disconnect USB mouse
c. pull power plug from the wall outlet. Let it sit like that for a couple of minutes (this resets SMC -- serial management controller)
d. plug power cord back in
e. press the Mini power on button
f. after the power light on front of Mini lights, RE-connect the mouse cable.

Does this make any difference?

Another thought:
If you have TOO MANY USB devices connected that require "USB bus power", the Mini may shut off one or more ports. Could it have shut off the mouse?

 

[familychoice]

Try this (take EVERY step presented)

a. shut down Mini -- all the way off
b. disconnect USB mouse
c. pull power plug from the wall outlet. Let it sit like that for a couple of minutes (this resets SMC -- serial management controller)
d. plug power cord back in
e. press the Mini power on button
f. after the power light on front of Mini lights, RE-connect the mouse cable.

Does this make any difference?

Another thought:
If you have TOO MANY USB devices connected that require "USB bus power", the Mini may shut off one or more ports. Could it have shut off the mouse?

Thanks for the reply.

It’s a Bluetooth mouse.

I did a full shutdown/reboot previously, but the keyboard refused to connect until the very last minute after plugging/unplugging about 30 times, then eventually via the USB hub - so I could then finally login. If I now change sockets on the hub (it has 3 USB-A connections) it doesn’t connect unless I force a refresh on the Finder, and then only sometimes, and doesn’t connect at all from the sockets on the back.

But other devices work with those sockets, the keyboard works (sometimes) with the hub, so there’s some weird connection glitch that was caused by the faulty Time Machine drive eject.

I’ve just got hold of another (non-Apple) USB keyboard though which seems to work, so I’ll try what you suggest, if that doesn’t work I’ll update the OS.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[familychoice]

Try this (take EVERY step presented)

a. shut down Mini -- all the way off
b. disconnect USB mouse
c. pull power plug from the wall outlet. Let it sit like that for a couple of minutes (this resets SMC -- serial management controller)
d. plug power cord back in
e. press the Mini power on button
f. after the power light on front of Mini lights, RE-connect the mouse cable.

Does this make any difference?

Another thought:
If you have TOO MANY USB devices connected that require "USB bus power", the Mini may shut off one or more ports. Could it have shut off the mouse?

Update: no change, the Apple keyboard still no longer works via the back sockets, and has stopped working via the single hub socket it was working with after I tried switching it around.

On the plus side, the cheap Windows USB keyboard works in all of the ports, so I’ll update the OS and see if that revives the Apple keyboard/USB socket connections.

The obvious answer would be that the Apple keyboard is faulty, but since it works (sometimes) via the hub (which provides less power than the rear sockets), and was working absolutely perfectly before I disconnected the Time Machine drive, I fee it’s more software related.

 

[familychoice]

Update: fixed.

Installing a newer version of the OS has fixed the socket/keyboard issue. So not a hardware problem as expected, but the Time Machine drive removal seems to have corrupted the previous system. Somehow.

Not impressed with Apple support, mind, who cut me off when they put me on hold, and when I contacted them (same case ID) again they had made no case notes whatsoever, so I had to go through the whole process all over again.