Will not allow me to use USB devices on account of "too much power being drawn"

[taticassel]

Hello,

I just bought a Macbook Air four days ago and have been loving it to death, however today I have run into a USB problem.

I had been using the superdrive to and a thumb drive to transfer files over from my old setup. When I took the thumb drive out to load it up with new files, I got the below message when I tried plugging it in again:

"Because a USB device was drawing too much power from your computer, one or more of your USB devices have been disabled."

So I removed the superdrive and I am still receiving this message when I plug in my thumb drive.

**I have been plugging these devices directly into the computer without a USB hub.

I have already followed the Apple directs for resetting the SMC(??) and I have had no success. No matter what the item is, whenever I plug anything into the USB, I receive this message.

What should I do to get this sorted?
(This is my first Mac so I'm still learning how to use it. Please bear that in mind with responses. Thanks!)

 

[jamesr19]

You probably aren't using a USB hub but if you are, that could be your problem. Plug it directly into the Mac.

Since you've probably already tried that, try plugging it into your other computer. If you get the same message USB key is broken else try and format it to FAT32 and see if it works in the MBA

 

[taticassel]

I haven't been using a USB hub. I have been plugging the devices directly into the computer.

 

[IngerMan]

are you getting the same error with the thumb drive on Both usb ports?

 

[taticassel]

Yea, I'm getting the same error on both ports. I'm not sure if this sounds odd or not, but I also feel like there's a bit of resistance when trying to plug it into one of them too now.

 

[IngerMan]

I would look at both ports on the MBA and your current drives. What if a piece broke off on the external and is stuck in the MBA. Also if you had a 3 external thumb drive to try or try the current ones on a different machine. It looks like a trip to the apple store could be in order. It would not be the first time that the USB drive on a MBA have failed.

 

[taticassel]

Thanks for the replies.

I was really hoping to try to avoid going back to the shop since it'll be a days endeavor on the trains, but if it can't be avoided it can't be avoided.

I just tried the devices on my PC, and they work just fine...

I just looked at the ports and it doesn't 'seem' like there's anything there, (but I also don't really know what I'm looking for)

 

[taticassel]

New details:

I tried plugging my PC mouse into the port on the right, it is unresponsive. When I plug the thumb drive into it, I get the error message.

When I tried plugging the PC mouse into the port on the left, it worked, but after trying it a couple times it will no longer let me plug it in.