My Macbook Pro Retina's USB port on the right side not working at all

Retina Macbook pros have week connectors for the I/O board data cable (part# 923-0666 on my MBP 15" 2014). This is the data cable connecting the I/O board (which has all the connectors on the right side of the MBP) to the Logic board (mobo). The tiny connector teeth on the cable itself are very easily damaged and could go unnoticed by Apple QA. Once they're in the socket it's unnoticeable. Damaged connectors on that cable will lead to everything on that right side (USB, HDMI, Card reader) either behaving erratically or not working at all. This is a photo of the connector I'm talking about.

https://d3nevzfk7ii3be.cloudfront.net/igi/UmdAWDmcCTI6iXVL.huge

Not saying that's it, but this connector has given me grief, and then none of the connectors on the right side work properly.

Sorry for the dumb question but how are we identifying the "right" and "left?"

Is the port next to my right hand the right port or is it, as in shaking hands, that the port near my left hand is "right."

In either case, the port near my left hand is ferquently dropping its connection with my OWC HD, and without a restart for my MBPr 13", it will not reconnect.

I also have a problem with the USB port on the right side of my Retina MBP. The USB3.0 port on the left side works fine, even with high speed external SSD enclosures, like the OWC Mercury Extreme Pro 6G which enables me to copy large files at a sustained rate of 160-170MB/sec. Wow USB3.0 and the Mercury SSD is a FAAAAST combination connected to the Retina MBP.

However, like the forum entries about the USB3.0 ports in general on the new Retina MBP, the USB3.0 port on the RIGHT side is plagued with dropping intermittently, disconnecting my external hard drives while copying large files AS WELL AS disconnecting while just sitting there connected to an external hard drive and doing nothing.

Therefore, since I don't feel like returning my Retina MBP and waiting weeks for a replacement, I have chosen to only use the left side USB3.0 port for now.

I have my suspicions about why the right side USB port might be more problematic than the left side one. I found this older post on the internet about how "Not all USB ports are created equal on MacBooks..." that talks about how on older models of MacBooks one of the USB ports shares a USB hub with multiple other devices like the iSight camera etc. therefore making it less tolerant of heavy traffic or something like that. (http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2008/05/the-macbook-all/)

Therefore, I wonder if the right side USB port is sharing a USB internal hub where-as the left side one is more 'dedicated' and therefore in my case able to handle the high speed transfers/traffic I am throwing at it with my external SSDs.

I have also read that USB3.0 in general, on non-Macs, has had trouble for years. For instance, some forum entries on Apple Support Communities and other non-Apple forums has made mention that 'they' are not surprised at the problems encountered on USB3.0 external hard drives connected to the Retina MBP because Windows laptops have had a lot of flakey problems with USB3.0 for 'years'.

Also, I have recently purchased a "Buffalo" external Thunderbolt 1TB drive from OWC and have been doing Clones onto that drive for several weeks. I use SuperDuper to clone >600GB of data on my 768GB Retina MBP several times a week. And, I have (knock on wood) not had any problems with the stability of my externally connected Thunderbolt drive.

So, in my case, I am racking it up to high-speed stresses on the USB3.0 ports at least in part...and perhaps the possibility that the LEFT side USB port on the Retina MBP is more dependable and/or a more dedicated USB port than the right side one.

This doesn't really solve your problem, but it may at least help you feel like you are not alone.

[SOLUTION] UPDATE FOR USB3.0 Problems - Seems Solved with Mountain Lion Upgrade:

I upgraded to Mountain Lion yesterday and my USB3.0 problems seem to be fixed:

o The Mountain Lion Upgrade process went quickly and smooth. It took less than 30 minutes with one reboot.

o Mountain Lion seems to run all my primary programs, which include typical Mac apps and VMWare Fusion running Win7 64bit VMs (I am not a graphic designer, rather I am a Windows-based software developer & demoer)

o After Mountain Lion Upgrade: I have transferred 80GB+ files (e.g. vmware images) via both the right and left side USB3.0 ports

o For the FIRST TIME since receiving my 2 Retina MacBooks a few weeks ago (one low end and one high end rMBP) I can successfully copy to an OWC Mercury Extreme SSD (the fastest in the industry) at sustained rates of 170+ MB/sec without drops or other problems that previously plagued my rMBPs, prior to Mountain Lion, especially the right side USB3.0 port.

o To be clear, I am perhaps one of the few that have more than one Retina MacBook Pros to test/troubleshoot issues with and it is encouraging that I am seeing consistent issue symptoms and solution resolutions on both rMBPs.

My USB3.0 Experiences Summary:

o LEFT USB3.0 Port: Prior to Mountain Lion upgrade I was able to successfully copy large files to and from USB3.0 attached external hard drives via my LEFT side USB3.0 port

o RIGHT USB3.0 Port: Prior to Mountain Lion upgrade I was UNABLE to copy large files to USB3.0 attached external hard drives via my RIGHT side USB3.0 port

o RIGHT USB3.0 Port: Prior to Mountain Lion upgrade, external hard drives of ANY type (SSD and non-SSD) connected to the right side USB3.0 port would periodically and intermittently disconnect and reconnect, with unpredictable results, while sitting idle and/or while copying files, and in order to recover I had to "Force Eject" and then manually reconnect external USB3.0 hard drives.

I would sincerely appreciate comments from others Retina MacBook Pro owners regarding whether or not you have seen similar symptoms before and/or after upgrading to Mountain Lion.

Thank you!

Actually I also have a strange problems with LEFT USB in my MBPr, although I am on Mountain Lion (actually the only thing regarding USB I did while on Lion was to update to Mountain Lion): devices connected to left USB port periodically disconnect and reconnect. Right now I am charging my iPhone and hear a "plug-in" jingle very few minutes accompanied by a "new software" message from iTunes. Previously I used this port to move some photos from CF card and had seen "improperly ejected" message a few times - just to see my CF card coming back in finder half-second later.

Right USB is working properly.

Even after updating to X8.1 the problems with BOTH USB ports persist.

Isn´t anyone at Apple checking their products before releasing them?; one should expect from a >3.500.- € Laptop that at least the USB ports are working!

PS: Maybe someone responsible with Apple´s discussion forum "design" can make it possible that after signing in one is redirected to the page of origin (sign in) and not to the main discussions page!!!

Hmmmm

I thought I was theonly one having USB problems on a MBPr!!!!!

Both my ports have always seemed to work okay, with both USB 2 and 3 devices BUT I had intermittent dismounts when connecting more than one drive to my left USB via a USB 3 hub.

Sometimes it works fine and a singel drive connected seems to be okay.

However, connect a second drive to it and I will frequently get both drives dismount and remount.

I thought it was a cable or hub issue but it is now sounding much more likely it is my MBPr from comments here!!!!!

This problem persists with 10.8.1.

Robin

Today, i noticed that on my rMBP the right usb doesn't work with all the devices i try to connect.

For example a wired mouse i just bought doesn't work with the right usb but does work with the left one. My wacom tablet works with both usb ports...

Chivote, Thank you for sharing your experiences with the right side USB port.

I continue to have more problems with the RIGHT side usb port, while the left usb port seems to be more reliable, at least regarding externally connected USB hard drives.

While my USB ports have worked much better for USB3 external hard drives since Mountain Lion, I still get more reliable performance on the left side USB port for USB3 external hard drives.

Sometimes when I transfer large amounts of data (>50GB) via a USB3 externally connected hard drive, connected to the RIGHT usb port, it will drop/fail and force me to reconnect or reboot to get it to work properly.

In addition, if I leave two USB3 drives connected to both the left and right ports, sitting there doing nothing, the RIGHT USB port will drop with an "improperly ejected message" after an unpredictable amount of time.

I don't even bother with the right side USB port anymore when I'm transferring files to/from a USB3 external hard drive. The left USB port works more reliably for me.

Tunderbolt externally connected hard drives have been reliable for me. I have had no issues with my external Buffalo Thunderbolt hard drive. I got it at OWC, although I think you can get it from multiple suppliers.

Just purchased MBPr and right side was working with Apple super drive, then quit. Now, I can't connect anything to the USB port on the right side. Is taking it in the answer? Or is it a mainboard issue that could be resolved with a software reset??

I'm also having problems with the USB. Very often (though not consistently) when I'm connecting and USB device while another is connected to the other USB port, the device that was already connected is reconnecting.

In rare cases even my (internal) trackpad and keyboard become irresponsive (I understand they are connected to an internal USB hub), leaving me no choice but to force reboot the machine.

Fixed wth issue with my retina macbook pro and my usb 3 western digital drive. The drive would disconnect on the right port when being written to. I just installed the latest firmware from western digital from their download section. It notes in there that the older firmware had issues with intels usb controller which the macbook pro retina uses.

I plan on taking mine in. I have several USB devices including an Apple USB keyboard. All work in the left side of the MBPr 13 inch. Only the SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 thumbdrive works in the right port, several other thumbdrives, USB 2.0 don't. When I'm in Parallels running Windows 7 (unfortunately my employer has software I must be able to run) it gives me a message that if I put the thumbdrive in a faster USB port, I will get better performance. Nevertheless, it still doesn't show up in devices on My Computer.

Mountain lion MBPr15: right USB port is unreliable in that some USB sticks will not mount at all but others and other types of devices seem ok.

Not sure if I can take it in due to the time the whole repair might take and unlikely success.

Is there any USB diagnostic tool that we can use to report on what is happening when the ports are activated.

Like lsusb or something?

Will