Two USB ports not working at the same time

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Level 1

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Two USB ports not working at the same time

My Macbook Pro has two usb ports. I need both to work at the same time - one for my card reader and one for my external hard drive. Prior to today the two have worked but now only one USB port will work - it can be either one - but always the one that I first put either the card reader or external hard drive in and then the other USB port will not work. Has anyone had this issue and if so do you know how to resolve it.

Many thanks,

Montiga

Mac Book Pro, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Sep 15, 2010 10:10 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 15, 2010 10:16 AM in response to Montiga

yes .. I had it before .. the external hard drive was pulling too much current causing others to fail .. try two usb devices without the hard drive to isolate the problem .. if the problem persists it might be something else

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Answer 2

Allan Jones

Level 9

77,816 points

Sep 15, 2010 12:10 PM in response to Montiga

It's fairly easy for the USB buses in notebook computers to get overwhelmed when we use the computer as a desktop machine. If the external drive is bus-powered (does not have its own power brick) then you can get an inexpensive self-powered USB hub (has a power brick) to go between the external and the computer. That usually fixes the power demand problem for external drives.

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Answer 3

Montiga Author

Level 1

0 points

Sep 27, 2010 1:30 PM in response to Allan Jones

Many thanks for this. I am not quite sure what a power brick is. I am currently using a lacie hard drive which has two leads coming out of it - one is a lead into the mains electrical socket and the other is the usb into my computer. Would this power brick be something in addition to this? If so, are you able to recommend one? Many thanks,

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