Mac Studio and USB Hubs- Odd Problems

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Level 1

35 points

Mac Studio and USB Hubs- Odd Problems

In short, it seems that I can only connect a USB 3.0 hub (with all USB-A plugs) to the rear Thunderbolt ports.

I migrated from a 2013 Mac Pro (trash can) and figured my Anker USB hub would work fine. It would not show up at all, just blinking lights and weirdness. Individual USB devices all work fine plugged in directly, but that hub and the one built into my display do not work. The hub still worked with my Mac Pro. So I bought a new hub (Xcellon). It also wouldn't work at first via the USB-A ports, but happened to come with a cable that would connect it to USB-C ports, so I tried that. It worked! But only on the rear ports. It's not recognized in the front two. So it seems that if I want a simple USB-A hub (for things like scanners, printers, charging devices, etc) I HAVE to use a rear Thunderbolt port via a cable that uses that plug. Is this normal? Do I just need to catch up with the new tech?

* One extra bizarre note is that I tried the USB-C cable on my old hub and it also worked, but after a reboot of the computer, the only way for it to be recognized was to unplug from the port on the hub and plug back in. Not the case with the new one. Can anyone explain these weird USB behaviors?

Thanks!

Posted on Jun 1, 2022 9:32 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 1, 2022 7:50 AM in response to Xandy

You can look at power bid and asked. It is shown in:

 menu > about this Mac > (system report) ...

on the USB pane, once you dig down to each device, power requested and power available are shown.

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Answer 2

tbirdvet

Level 6

17,030 points

Jul 1, 2022 6:31 AM in response to Xandy

The rear USB-C ports are all TB. Those ports can support higher current (load) than the front USB-C 3.2 ports. That is probably why some hardware will not work on the USB-A or USB-C front ports.

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Answer 3

Xandy Author

Level 1

35 points

Jul 2, 2022 2:49 PM in response to Dminorsound

Yup, when the hub was plugged in via USB-A it also made my mouse unresponsive in bursts. I do not think this is a problem with the USB hubs. It works FINE on all my other Macs- 2 laptops and a Mac Pro (all Intel). But the M1 seems to not want to play nice with hubs via the USB-A ports, which seems like that's exactly what they're there for! I don't know if this is just a change in the hardware on the M1 and we just have to deal with it or if Apple can introduce a software or firmware fix. But something is definitely wrong with the M1 and its USB-A ports with hubs.

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Answer 4

lkrupp

Level 7

22,099 points

Jun 2, 2022 5:41 AM in response to Xandy

The only explanation I can offer is that I never assume anything about new hardware and old peripherals, both of which have firmware that may or may not like each other. Even existing third party hubs and such may or may not be fully compatible with the M1 architecture but the bottom line is... who knows.

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Answer 5

Jun 30, 2022 8:31 PM in response to Xandy

I am having a similar issue. Brand new Mac Studio and my 4 year old AUKEY powered usb hub don't seem to be compatible. When the hub is plugged in via USB-A it isn't recognized but causes my trackball (plugged into the remaining USB-A port) to become unresponsive for short periods.

Apple support chat placed the blame on AUKEY and said they'd need to provide a firewall update for the hub, but they don't have any for Mac on their website, so who knows if this will be resolved.

I have 2 printers, a vinyl plotter, USB microphone, Time Machine backup drive, and a few SSD drives that all need to be connected. I know it's a big ask, but this machine is far more powerful than the late 2014 iMac it replaced and should be up for the task.

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Answer 6

Jul 1, 2022 7:49 AM in response to tbirdvet

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Mac Studio and USB Hubs- Odd Problems

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