Robert Brewer2

Q: Problem with 27" LED display and Logitech Unifying receiver

I am borrowing an Apple 27" LED Cinema Display and using it with a mid-2010 MacBook Pro. I also use a Logitech Performance MX wireless mouse, which uses the tiny USB Logitech Unifying receiver.

My previous monitor was a 24" DELL DVI, which was working fine (using a Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapter) with the receiver plugged into one of the monitor's USB ports. However, with the Apple 27", I have encountered a nasty problem if the receiver is connected via the monitor either by direct connection or via my Apple wired USB keyboard (connected to the monitor).

If I boot with the Mini DisplayPort and USB connected to the MBP, everything is fine. If disconnect my MBP from the monitor and then later reconnect it, various problems occur:

* the USB keyboard and mouse stop working
* sometimes the trackpad stops responding
* iChat & Skype stop responding to input (beachball, and shown as not responding in Activity Monitor)
* All attempts to restart fail, including shutting down via "shutdown" shell command and killing WindowServer

After much gnashing of teeth, I tracked it down to the Unifying receiver. If I leave the receiver plugged directly into the MBP, I can connect and disconnect the monitor without incident.

Has anyone else encountered this problem? It appears to be some interaction between the monitor and the receiver. I'm guessing it has something to do with the USB peripherals embedded in the Apple 27" monitor, perhaps the microphone or iSight since both iChat and Skype would access those devices.

Thanks.

MacBook Pro 15" 2.66 GHz, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Dec 15, 2010 3:27 PM

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Q: Problem with 27" LED display and Logitech Unifying receiver

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  • by Juras Lacis,

    Juras Lacis Juras Lacis Jan 6, 2011 10:10 AM in response to Robert Brewer2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 6, 2011 10:10 AM in response to Robert Brewer2
    Robert,

    Just saw your post after searching for info on the unifying receiver and the LED ACD. Yes, I've seen this problem for a couple months now. My setup includes a Apple 27" LED Cinema Display, whose three USB ports connect to my Apple extended keyboard, Wacom table (Intuos 3), and iPhone. One of the keyboard's USB ports connects to a Logitech Unifying receiver.

    The problem I've been having is that every now and then when I plug in the display, the external USB keyboard (connected through the display) fails to work, and shortly thereafter the system starts to crash. Sometimes I can force a shutdown via the terminal, other times the system's unresponsive. I'd tried using different USB ports to see if it was a hardware issue, but looking in USB section of System Profiler, I saw that the display popped up correctly on either port. One odd thing was that when I removed the ACD's USB connection from my MBP, sometimes Systems Profiler wouldn't report that it had been disconnected, even after a refresh. This would usually precede a crash upon the next insertion of the USB connector.

    I hadn't looked at this for a few weeks (I just put up with the occasional crashing), but today I tried booting into safe mode, which solved any crashing problems or any issues with not recognizing the external keyboard. When I looked over which extensions could be causing the problem, I figured that it might be the Unifying receiver, so I unplugged this, restarted without safe mode, and tried plugging and unplugging the USB cable. No problems now, and System Profiler updates the USB status correctly.

    For me, it looks like the solution is keeping the unifying receiver unplugged until after I've plugged in the display's USB connection to my computer. This is a little inconvenient, but not so much so for me -- I typically use the Magic Mouse for most work, and I only switch to the Logitech when doing design work. Might be more of a pain for others who use their Unifying hardware exclusively.

    I'll post again if this approach isn't working for me, but right now it looks like the Unifying receiver and ACD aren't playing well together -- I'll be keeping my Unifying receiver unplugged until I need it. Likewise if you or anyone else is figuring out how else to address this problem, I'd love to hear about it.

    Thanks for posting,

    Dean

    P.S. On a side note, I have the Unifying receiver plugged into a NEC PA-271W display on my wife's computer, and I haven't seen this problem for her. However, she only occasionlly unplugs the display's USB connector from her laptop (whereas I do it daily), so the setup hasn't been tested very rigorously. Based on this observation, I'd say the problem's with the Apple display, not with the receiver.
  • by Arkonova,

    Arkonova Arkonova Mar 8, 2011 7:33 AM in response to Robert Brewer2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 8, 2011 7:33 AM in response to Robert Brewer2
    Hi,

    I am experiencing the same problem here with a logitech unifying receiver and an Apple Cinema Display 27''.

    Everything is fine if the unifiying receiver is plugged directly in one of the MBP USB ports.

    But if the receiver is plugged on the back of the Display, or on the Keyboard – which is connected through the display, various problems occurs. Typically when waking up the system or disconnect and reconnect the USB chain.

    This seems to be an easy to reproduce issue.
  • by graydl,

    graydl graydl Apr 19, 2012 1:28 PM in response to Robert Brewer2
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 19, 2012 1:28 PM in response to Robert Brewer2

    I have the same problem with a late 2011 MBP and a Thunderbolt display.  I have a unifying reciever plugged into the monitor connected to a MX Performance Mouse.  Works fine if booted with the TBD plugged in but if I start the MBP up without the TBD connected and later connect it, with or without sleeping the computer, the mouse will not respond and shutdown typically hangs requiring a hard poweroff to recover.