Apple Event: May 7th at 7 am PT
My imac (os 10.6.8 2.5GHz i5) will not recognize my USB flash drive when I plug it into any port. Disk utility will not see it either. What do I do? I plug it into a friend's macbook and it is readable and writable there with NO PROBLEM... what's up with
If Disk Utility won't see it, this probably won't work, but is this checked?
Yes, that is checked - and I also relaunched finder. It just doesn't work. Strange. Because like I said - the usb flash drive works in my macbook pro at home, and in my colleague's macbook at home. Any other ideas?
Troubleshooting steps :
- Turn iMac off (Leave Off)
- Unplug Power Cord from Power Outlet or Back of iMac (Leave Unplugged)
- Hold Power Button on Back of iMac for 10 Seconds (While Unplugged)
- Let Go and Plug back in
- Turn computer on and see if USB Stick now reads
- If it doesnt read plug in other USB Port and restart iMac
- Open Finder and see if its listed under devices as unknown or other name
- If still unreadable (Try plugging in other USB Device)
- If other USB Device reads fine then its something with USb Stick only
Plan B:
- Plug USB Stick onto other Macbook
- Go to Disk Utility/Format USB Memory Stick as
- Safely Remove and Plug into iMac (See If It Reads)
- If still no read then your USB may not be readable with your Operating System or may be unreadable to the firmware specifically of that Operating system
- Compare with other Macbook and see which Operating System version the other Macbook may be under ie. (Version 10.6.8 or 10.5.8) etc if its different then u may have to return item and try other brand
- Try all the above and let me know
It also doesn't show up under About This Mac->Hardware->USB, I assume. Does any USB info show on other devices (iSight, Bluetooth SD card reader if you have it)? The fact that it won't work in any USB port suggests it isn't the ports if other data shows up.
Getting desperate here, but can you take the drive back to the Macbook and reformat it with that Disk Utility?
Insert drive, select in list on left, choose Erase, one partition if it asks, give a name if you don't want Untitled, Format = Mac OS Extended Journaled, click Erase and/or click OK.
My Dad has the same issue with his 21.5 imac bought in october of '11. tried logging into the diag partition and no response, just like with disk utility and sys profiler. Tier 2 phone support stated to bring it in to the store.
after showing the genius the issue, i brought the thumb drive to other 21.5 and 27 inch imacs..... guess what same issue. drive does not show up. pop it into a mini next to it and bang, its found.. i have a support case open with apple. supposedly its supposed to have gone to a engineer in Cali. if any news ill report back
fyi, tried pny, sandisk, and lexmark all the same... but external hard drive, printer, and UPS all work fine on USB, and the drives work fine in my MBP
iMac USB flash drive problem
