Q: Macbook Pro USB Ports stopped working completely

We're running into similar situations with a 2012 MacBook Pro that has recently been upgraded from 10.85 to Mavericks 10.9. Sometimes in the middle of the day the mouse will die, or the printer is unrecognizeable. We've tried swapping ports, using powered and unpowered USB hubs, and it still happens frequently enough to be a nuisance. Sometimes the optical mouse light will shine but the mouse doesn't move, or the external keyboard won't type. Restarting seems to resolve the issue, but it's not really FIXED. Is there some kind of bug with Mavericks that I need to know about?

I have this exact issue with my current 2013 15" retina and with my previous 2012 13" mac book pro.

Both of my problems have come from integration with an avid mbox mini 2 plugged directly into the mac and also via a usb3 hub. From the research ive done It appears that some usb2 devices cant communicate correctly with the onboard usb3 ports that come built into the laptops. Communication glitches can cause all the ports to shut down and they will not come back online unless i do a full restart, which is extremely frustrating.

Apparently a workaround solution is to connect a usb2 hub to a normal usb3 port and plug any usb2 devices into the usb2 hub. This has worked for some people that have experienced similar issues to me. I'm yet to test this method, which is the last resort for my mbox. pretty dissapointed in the whole experience with my laptop and with the mbox.

I too have experienced the exact same issue, mine is a mac book pro 13' got it two years ago and did some real damage to the charging unit back in may when I spilled water on it. I took it into my university tech guy and he fixed the charging unit and everything was fine. Then I was playing video games just a few months ago and the mouse quit working because both of the USB ports went out. I have tried reseting the PRAM and SMS and disconnecting the battery and nothing worked so I assumed it was a physical problem with a circuit or something like that. Then my brother plugged in his fit band and it started charging so that ruled out the theory above. So then i tried anything from external hardrives to ipods and mouses and nothing would work through the USBs. I have no idea what is going on and I am wondering if anyone had any luck downgrading the software to whatever was before Mountain Lion because everything of mine is up to date and I am running out of ideas.

Thanks in advance!

So it seems this is not an isolated problem. I had the same issue with my 2012 15" MBP, went to Genius bar, they plugged it in, did reset and diagnostics, problem was solved. Few weeks later one of my USBs stopped working again. Is this covered by warranty?

Hi,

I'm having the exact same problem.

After Installing my wifi card into my Mac Pro all my USB ports stoped working. It seems like some power management issue on the usb ports as my mouse is visible but very sluggish. The keyboards and hard-drives are not even active.

Can't find a way to work this out.

Thanks a lot

I'm having the same issues.  What I mean by that is, I have (and noticed the same issue with this particular model) a Mid 2012 15" Macbook Pro.  I replaced the 500GB Hard drive with a 256gb SSD and replaced the Ram with 16GB of Corsiar Vengance Ram.  No issues before or after for about 4 months.  I bought a Razer Mouse and had no issues with it (in case you think it was the issue).  After those four months of upgrades, I noticed that the USB's started going out, almost as if when my mouse would not respond i would have to move the cable or unplug and replug to get it to work.  Than one day it stopped working all together.  Now here's the wierd part though, even now I can plug in my External Hard Drive that is made specifically for macs and it works JUST FINE.  ANYTHING else and it won't work, for either USB.  This model only comes with TWO USB ports.  Again, nothing works except the external Hard drive.  So with that reasoning, it can't be a hardware issue.  Using that reasoning I performed ALL the above steps and nothing changed.  I reset my computer, reinstalled, disconnected the battery, reset the PRAM, SMC, I literally did everything I could and NOTHING has changed.  I KNOW this has to be a software issue due to the fact that in EITHER USB, it reads my hard drive that is not even powered except by the USBs.  I hate how when you ask for help online, all you get is information that you can easily google up or see on the website anyway.  Isn't Apple support suppose to help you TROUBLESHOOT things that you can't NORMALLY DO BY YOURSELF?  SUCH AS LOOK IT UP ON THE WEBSITE?  Very frustrating because I'm stationed in Germany right now and to the nearest Apple store is about a 40 Euro trip in gas, than paying them whatever they need, just to find out that it was either nothing, or something I have to pay for, or turning in my laptop to get it "fixed" or "replaced".  I'm not just surprised but SHOCKED that Apple won't admit that there needs to be a recall on the Mid 2012 Macbooks 15" which is what they are still selling at FULL PRICE at our PX here in Germany.  I would love to see a Apple Genius come on here and give me advice on how to fix it besides telling me the obvious or saying "turn it in"  And what?  What are they gonna do?  I would like to know even if they won't let ME do it, just so I know that they ACTUALLY have a fix for it,  instead of REPLACING a motherboard (the whole computer).  If they admit what the problem is than they would have a HUGE recall on that item and that's why they probably aren't helping out much online and suggest you just "bring it in".

Well, what you say is true, unfortunately I can't really help you, as I took my MB to an apple store and they changed the motherboard under warranty. So this issue seems to be more complicated, and you should try to contact apple directly and demand an action.

@ Wolverine85,
Yeah, that does sound like a software/driver/etc. related issue. If you're still having the issue, try to save all of your valuable data to an external hard drive, and clean install the whole operating system. Then after reinstalling the OS (if the USBs work), try to reinstall all of your programs one at a time (restarting your computer after each one) until you see which program causes it to stop working.

Sorry we can't be more helpful, these communities are almost entirely user-run so it's highly unlikely that you'll meet an actual employee of Apple on here; but if you do want to speak with an Apple person, you can go  to http://www.apple.com/support/contact/   and setup a phone call or one of their other contact options.

Hope everything works out well,

Vlad

ok, I have  a 2012 Mac 15" running 10.9.3   After updating to 10.9.3 i've found that both my USB ports no longer "work".  I plugged in a older Seagate USB drive, and the light flashes periodically but the drive does not show up in Finder.  I took it to the Apple store and the Genius said that for $280 they would send it off to replace the USB ports as they are "not working".  Well, being a propeller head i stated that it is highly unlikely that both ports would die at the same time, and i also stated that since they were receiving intermittent power, then the ports themselves could not be the problem.  so, i did not let him "send it off".  After reading Wolverine85's post, I decided I would try something.  I plugged in my old Nano using the Apple USB cable and VOILA, up came iTunes and it began to sync with the now charging Nano.  ***????  Nano shows up in Finder too...  This is CLEARLY a software issue that has been introduced along the way.  Wish Apple would do somehting about this....

Message was edited by: dad2n2

I'm still having a similar issue.  I don't think it's software related on mine.  I believe it's hardware related.  I have 3 Macbook pro 13" 2011 and they are all having the same issue.  I'm getting kind of angry.  On Monday i'm going to raise **** with apple. 

I have been having this same exact issue. Have you found a resolution to this by any chance?

Updated to mavericks, lost my USB drive closest to my headphone jack.... reset pram, the smc or whatever, restored disk permissions, etc. Laptop is out of warranty, and I refuse to pay for phone support, apple store is an hour and a half away, too..

-MBP  Mid-2012 non-retina 13"

I work in a I.T. Dept. I have three MacBook Pro laptops. The laptop is a MacBook Pro (13-inch Mid 2012.) I've had no luck with the USB ports working. The end user had a external Apple Keyboard and Mouse plugged into the laptop. The laptop was new out of the box. The USB devices worked for about a two weeks then they just stopped working. Seems like a manufacturing defect. Maybe Apple should check FOXCONN's quality control or lack of QC..

Sure wish I was able to swap out these crappy Macbooks with a Dell... !!  MacBooks over priced pieces of garbage!!

Nothing better that a Dell laptop with Windows on it... haha

I know this is a really old thread, but I just wanted to share a little more information on this problem that might help.

I too had the issue of intermittent USB disfunction. For me, it usually involved one of the two USB ports on my early 2008 Macbook Pro, but it varied as to which port would fail. Sometimes an SMC reset would fix the problem for a while, but it would always come back.

What I have discovered, is that the BATTERY makes a huge difference in this situation. I don't know exactly why (probably has something to do with how the system pulls power from the battery and the charger at the same time), but if you are like me, and have purchased a replacement battery, especially a THIRD PARTY battery (Apple wants $100 plus for a new battery...), then you may see these issues. In my case, the replacement battery fits slightly more snug than the original. Under normal operation, everything seems fine. It charges and discharges fine, the system shows no problems with the battery, etc. Some unpowered devices still seem to connect/function. But, if I press slightly under the battery while doing a sleep/wake cycle - bingo, the USB port with this issue comes back completely.

I also had the same USB problem when my original Apple battery was failing, so I suspect that it's the power from the battery that is causing the issue. So if you have replaced your battery, give the above a try. It's certainly not a "fix", but at least it would help to confirm that the battery, and its connection to the laptop is at issue.

I noticed that most of the posters in this thread had/have older laptops, so the likelihood that they have a replacement battery is high. It should also be said that anytime you do a major upgrade, you should reset your SMC. Many people report terrible battery life right after an update for this reason. This battery issue can also affect general sleep/wake cycles, shutdowns/restarts, and even the system clock after waking.

Hope it helps.

same here    , usb port no works in a unibody MacBook Pro retina      *****     how they can't fix it without change the main board?  and why a good number of mac book pro unibody have the same problem      why apple no care about this    they have the records of  how many comp with some models and types are broken    coz is  a factory issue    why they no care   because we all can't go together to a court  !   this is a dirty bussines   like that   !   how much money they pretend to do with this parts what they know already ll be broken in a period of time or after some software upgrades        no cool at all