USB ports not working with all devices

[fenjen]

Hey guys,

My Macbook Pro seems to have some problems with certain usb devices. I have a flash drive which works just fine, but when I put it directly into my Mac, it will just not register. If I put a hub in the same usb port and put the flash drive in there, it will just work fine.
I also just received my Wacom tablet today, and wired, it works great, but my Mac will just not see the wireless dongle. The dongle works just fine though (I tested it on another Mac and a Windows PC).

Does anyone have an idea as to how I could fix this?

 

[Silverrune]

Hey guys,

My Macbook Pro seems to have some problems with certain usb devices. I have a flash drive which works just fine, but when I put it directly into my Mac, it will just not register. If I put a hub in the same usb port and put the flash drive in there, it will just work fine.
I also just received my Wacom tablet today, and wired, it works great, but my Mac will just not see the wireless dongle. The dongle works just fine though (I tested it on another Mac and a Windows PC).

Does anyone have an idea as to how I could fix this?

Sounds to me like your motherboard isn't outputting any power to your USB ports. That is assuming that the Hub you have is taking power from the wall. That is the only thing I can think of. Have you tried doing a PRAM and SMC reset? Not that has anything to do with motherboard issues. But is helpful when trying to solve port problems.

 

[fenjen]

Sounds to me like your motherboard isn't outputting any power to your USB ports. That is assuming that the Hub you have is taking power from the wall. That is the only thing I can think of. Have you tried doing a PRAM and SMC reset? Not that has anything to do with motherboard issues. But is helpful when trying to solve port problems.

Well, other usb devices like my mouse and basically everything just work. I can charge my iPhone just fine through my Mac and the wacom tablet draws power from it as well. I have tried doing the resets though, but it didn't work.

Strange is though, that the wacom wireless stick never works with my mac, but sometimes works with my girlfriend's Macbook air. Sometimes it just doesn't recognize it but then sometimes, when I plug in the charger and plug the wireless receiver in and out a couple of times, it will suddenly see it and after that just work fine (even if I plug it out and in again).

 

[Silverrune]

Well, other usb devices like my mouse and basically everything just work. I can charge my iPhone just fine through my Mac and the wacom tablet draws power from it as well. I have tried doing the resets though, but it didn't work.

Strange is though, that the wacom wireless stick never works with my mac, but sometimes works with my girlfriend's Macbook air. Sometimes it just doesn't recognize it but then sometimes, when I plug in the charger and plug the wireless receiver in and out a couple of times, it will suddenly see it and after that just work fine (even if I plug it out and in again).

It might be a driver issue. The drivers the mouse uses are most likely Windows only. The MBA has found something compatible on the computer that might work and is using it. Or so I am assuming.

 

[fenjen]

It might be a driver issue. The drivers the mouse uses are most likely Windows only. The MBA has found something compatible on the computer that might work and is using it. Or so I am assuming.

Well it sometimes works on the air, but other times not. If it doesn't work it also doesn't show up in the system info thing (not sure how it's called in English). So it seems like it doesn't even get detected then.