Unable to use USB-powered devices with MacBook Air M1 2020
I just bought this MacBook Air M1 2020 (Ventura 13.2.1), and I got the official Apple USB-C to USB Adapter to plug in things like an external hard drive, or external DVD/CD drive. Little things that are powered by the machine they are plugged into to work.
But they aren't working. My WD Passport for Mac will try its best, blinking its indicator light at me, but the drive doesn't show up in the Finder sidebar.
My Samsung Portable DVD writer will sometimes work, but mostly it just sort of pulses in an attempt to read the disc, or it will work for a while and then stop, so then I can't open it to remove the disc without plugging the usb into a wall socket. (Oddly it seems to have more trouble with Japanese import music CDs, but that may be a coincidence.)
I changed the system settings in Privacy & Security>Allow accessories to connect to "Always"
I'm not getting any error messages about USB devices not having enough power, or using too much power, or anything.
Are my MacBook Air ports having issues, is it a bad adapter, or is there a fix to make the MacBook Air power the devices consistently?
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 13.2