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Level 1

4 points

"usb device drawing too much power" error message pops up occasionally

The error message goes on to say that the port it is connected to will be deactivated. I already lost power in my cinema screen's usb ports, so this message makes me really nervous (I only have 2 usb ports in the back of the computer). It seems to occur after several hours of computer usage, and nothing else has happened yet. The only usb devices I have connected are an inkjet printer and a 9x12 Wacom tablet. Anybody have an idea what's going on, and if there's anything I can do to prevent a failure?

G4 MDD 867, G4 Q'slvr 733 & iBook G3 900, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Jun 18, 2010 5:44 PM

16 replies

Jul 2, 2010 11:51 AM in response to Cm Tong

Hi, Cm Tong -

Make sure the hub is a self-powered one, i.e. that it has its own power supply independent of the computer. Some that are self-powered also have a small selector switch which allows the selection of either bus-power or self-power; it is important that the switch not be set to bus-power.

As far as the inconvenience of using the port in the back of the Mac, that can be offset by adding a not-long USB extension cable, so that the effective port is handier. The extension cable that came with some Apple keyboards (with early G4s, for example) can not be used for this purpose - it is keyed for use only with the keyboard.

"usb device drawing too much power" error message pops up occasionally

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