Thunderbolt 4 Ports not providing enough power to support external thunderbolt devices

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Thunderbolt 4 Ports not providing enough power to support external thunderbolt devices

I just purchased a MacBook Pro 16" with the Apple M1 Pro chip. I have a Samsung SSD Thunderbolt and an Apollo Solo Audio device that is thunderbolt aswell. When both are connected I receive the following alert - "Accessory Needs More Power - Disconnecting other accessories may allow this to work". When I only have one of the devices connected everything works fine.

I do not see the High Performance Option on the battery options - is there another way to setup power setting so that I can use all my thunderbolt ports?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 12.1

Posted on Dec 30, 2021 8:36 AM

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Answer 1

Dec 30, 2021 12:41 PM in response to rickg31

Those are the "right" kind of ThunderBolt cables (0.8 meters or less) to transfer data as fast as Thunderbolt is capable while maintaining the ability to deliver the most power as well. Longer cables or fiber-optic ThunderBolt cables may have different speeds and/or deliver power differently and sometimes not at all.

Consider moving one of the cables so that they are on opposite sides of the computer. This should move one to each ThunderBolt controller, and give you the most power possible.

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Answer 2

Dec 30, 2021 12:46 PM in response to rickg31

Is the Power Adapter connected when you do these experiments?

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Answer 3

Dec 30, 2021 3:35 PM in response to rickg31

This is a divergent thought--

Could it be that these devices are trying to use only 'default' power? By that I mean the old fashioned 0.5 Amps at 5 Volts provided/used for USB-2 devices?

ThunderBolt can deliver much more power, BUT -- it needs smart devices that negotiate USB Power delivery levels higher than 5 Volts and higher than the default.

Are these devices visible on nay USB busses in

 menu > about this Mac > (system report) > USB ??

...The reason I ask is that it is a tradition to provide both bid and asked power amounts there.

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Answer 4

rickg31 Author

Level 1

11 points

Dec 30, 2021 4:25 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

I was able to get it to work after updating firmware on the Samsung SSD drive however I don't believe this power issue is resolved as after reboot/power cycle I am running into the same error again.

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