macOS 13.3 - USB devices become unusable after a few hours

Hello again @hero_a,

I've lasted almost a week now without any hangs. The change I made was to replace my USB webcam with a different one. I made this change on the hunch that the 100% CPU use in makequeues was due to some issue in USB causing queries to USB to get into a bad state. The spindump I took showed what I think was a load of kernel threads stuck within makequeues.

There's nothing special about the suspicious webcam and I've been using it for probably a year or more. I can only assume that some change in Ventura means that it doesn't recover properly from whatever issue the webcam is causing.

Of course, it could be that I've just been lucky for a few days in a row - but my instinct is that the issue is fixed.

You didn't mention a USB webcam in your system description but I would guess that a USB device in your setup (one of your external drives?) is triggering the issue in the same way.

I'll let you know if anything changes but, for now, cautiously hoping I'm done with this.

3 months have passed since I rebuilt my Mac (full wipe and OS reinstall). No crashes since then. I guess this means it is a software issue rather than a hardware issue but I can't provide further analysis other than that.

For what it's worth, a reinstall of macOS without a full wipe did not fix the issue so seems like it's quite low level.

Update (wish I could update the original post)

I've changed my setup to the following (reference original post for original setup):

• Wacom tablet connected via Bluetooth
• Reconnected one of the external hard drives (Time Machine drive) (USB A)
• Connected MIDI Keyboard directly (USB A)
• Connected Focisrite audio interface directly (USB A)
• Removed USB hub from Thunderbolt/USB-C port

This was yesterday midday. Waking the computer this morning has not resulted in the odd behaviour. It could just be a coincidence, but if not, perhaps the USB hub could be the culprit (it's a brand I've never heard of, maybe it just got worn out). Or the other hard drive, which I have not reconnected yet (this drive is over 5 years old).

It's still possible none of the hardware is at fault and something in 13.3 is glitchy. I'll post another update if the problem happens again or when I test the USB hub and other hard drive.

My issues all cleared up with the 13.3.1 update.

Hello Hero_a,

Thank you for that detailed description and excellent details. I have a few questions. You mention two external drives, a watch charger, a USB HUB, Tablet, and MIDI board off a hub. Do those Hubs and HDDs have their own power supply or do they all draw power from the USB bridge in your iMac? I suspect you are pulling to much power through there and this may be causing a kernel panic. Additionally, I have ran into similar issues using USB hubs that draw power from the internal USB bridge.

I would suggest removing any hub that is connected and drawing power from the iMac. If this improves the situation then you may want to look into accessories that do not draw so much power from the internal USB bridge.

Here is some nerdy answers that may help

https://superuser.com/questions/1291715/is-there-a-limit-to-how-many-usb-devices-connections-you-can-have-on-a-mac

If a USB device doesn’t work with Mac - Apple Support

https://web.archive.org/web/20170115133810/https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204377

Thank you

Mikel S.

[Personal Information Edited by Moderator]

Hello LenJC57,

That sounds like you performed a SMC reset. The underlying issue is a power one, if that resolves it. In this article the instructions for a SMC are listed as a valid step to try. If this only temporarily resolves the issue, either there may be a failing USB bridge or your mac is compensating quite well for the amount of power being pulled through the USB ports.

If your Mac sleeps or wakes unexpectedly - Apple Support

I went nuclear on this. I completely wiped my Mac and then reinstalled MacOS 13.4 from scratch.

Since doing that I have had no more hangs.

Bad news is I don't really know what caused the issue. Good news is that it is fixed.

I did have a couple of failures to wake after sleeping at night or over weekend. I didn't see issue when USB all disconnected. I noticed my USB mouse had RGB that never seemed to go out so wondering if that wasn't sleeping properly. I've replaced mouse and no overnight hangs since then either.

So, to fix just completely rebuild you Mac and replace your USB devices. Simple. :)

I'm having a very similar issue to this except it doesn't only happen on wake up... it has been happening at least once a week at any random time of the day.

I tend to sleep my Mac at night and rarely power off.

Intel Macbook Pro 2019. MacOS 13.3.1.

No External USB drives connected.

USB Hub (via apple USB-A+HDMI+Power dongle) with mouse, keyboard, camera.

Initial symptom is that mouse and keyboard stop working (still getting power).

Fan runs fast and (if I'm quick) I can see makequeues taking high CPU.

Soon after spinner comes on - mouse still responds.

If I try to shutdown, loads of processes complain they are not responding

In the end I force poweroff. Everything fine on reboot.

Last step I've taken (because of link to makequeues) was uninstall all printers and delete their apps from ~/Library/Printers. Then reinstall just one printer (Canon Inkjet via Bonjour).

I'd love to figure out what is going on; anything I can do to help?

If you have a second monitor try unplugging it or if you have any external devices unplug them. My issues were caused my a second monitor and as soon as I unplugged it everything was fine. Only had this issue with Ventura. Previous OS was fine.

I had the same problem as everyone else in terms of makequeues consuming 100% CPU leading to overall system instability and hanging, and I resolved it by uninstalling macOS Security Response 13.3.1 (a) and reverting to 13.3.1 (with no "a").