Q: macbook pro usb ports not working

not working for me did both smc reset and pram reset and still no rear usb port mid 2012 MBP reinstalled 10.8 still not working.

Had the exact same issue on a mid-2013 MacBook Air. CMD+ALT+P+R solved the problem - thanks.

I have done all of this stuff and my USB ports still don't work. Yes I have tried plugging different things into them. ie. my ipod and hard drive. Nothing is working.

This worked!  My hero!

Since a couple of months ago I am experiencing a weird related problem with one of the usb ports of my MacBook Pro late 2011. When I restart the system in the normal automatic way, the port that is located closer to the screen stop working right after the loading of the drivers (I can monitor that it works by looking at the lights of an attached mouse). I can also confirm that the moment that it stops is right after loading the drivers, since the same happens while booting in the verbose mode.

Strangely enough, if I boot the machine through a false recovery mode, that is with cmd-R combination keys and then choosing the same usual drive to boot from, the port works normally.

Could someone give me a reasonable explanation and perhaps a cure to this behavior? Do the booting with cmd-R keys look for different drivers than the automatic one?

Any other suggestions (I have tryed everything recommended on hardware reset -smc, nvram, etc.-, so I am preety confident that it is a software problem but I would not like to go on reinstalling the full system to try)

By the way, I run OS X 10.7.5

Just came here after a search (problem: MacBook Pro, early 2011 / 'rear port'), and the above did the trick for me 

Thanks ever so.

This work.. reset my NVRAM and PRAM doesn't solve the issue.

Thanks a  lot

PrAM reset.....never heard of it but glad I found it here. Thank you!

Thank you - I have a MacBook Pro Late 2008 with X Lion 10.7.5, I discovered the front USB Port was inop.  After the SMC Reset both are now working again.

Thank you

You're welcome.

Hi,

I'm having the same problem. I did the PRAM & SMC Reset (bought my macbook pro late 2011) & none of the resets are working. Everything worked earlier today & now nothing is working. Any suggestions? It is showing up in my disk utility, but won't let me access anything. This is my back-up hard drive for my whole computer, so wiping it and trying again isn't really an option (as I've seen from other posts). Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

Hi kct,

This is such an old thread, I would start a new one. Include the OS you're using and what brand of HD and how old it is. Also, does it mount/show up on your desktop and you just can't copy data to/from it, or does it not even mount?

I'm having the same problem. Firstly, last year one of my ports stopped working, it would simply not mount, didn't show up any usb drive. And secondly, today my other usb port is having the same problem, which is frustrating because I work a lot on my computer and on adobe softwares but I can't back up my stuff or transfer files through my usb drives or to my computer.

I wish I can solve this by simply downloading something or another suggestion without having to go to a computer store to try to fix it and pay a lot of money, or in another case, have to buy another mac pro. And I don't have money for that right now.

Can you please please tell me something that I can do??

Hi J,

If you've read through this whole thread and nothing works, I would put your external HD in a FireWire enclosure so you can back up to it via FireWire.

I would also start a new thread so your question gets more attention, as this is an old thread.

I found that booting into recovery on startup solved the problem on my MBP late 2013 with Mavericks. NOTE: I did not actually run any of the recovery operations. I just initiated the process. See this link:

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht4718.

By the way, my problem was isolated to the USB port on the left. The one on the right next to the HDMI port was fine.