Macbook pro retina drops wifi when usb 3.0 stick connected

Update.......Buy a USB 3.0 extension cable

Anker refunded me in full and let me keep the device, however i decided to purchase a USB 3.0 extension cable to test my theory of breaking the direct connection between the mac mini and the USB hub. It arrived today and it worked no matter where i then placed it, even right on top of the mac mini as i predicted, the earthing issue explained above within this thread can be solved by simply having a cable in the middle breaking the direct connection, this also saves having to do the 1mm-2mm pull out trick which can only be annoying or be recipe for disaster.

So in summary, if you want to use a USB 3.0 hub with mac mini with no issues, just buy an extension cable to break the direct connection and prevent the electrical earthing/2.4 ghz wave issue.

Came back here via an email link to vinceremedy's second response, and it wasn't here. It was a followup to his first assumption that an extension cable would solve the problem. He verified it worked. Thanks to his efforts and higherdestiny's we have a superior solution to anything Apple has offered up. You guys are to be congratulated. We bow in your direction.

Upon my response, vinceremedy's second response magically appeared. Apple? Really? I'm on your side, but seriously, this does not constitute, "It just works."

OMG... I can't believe this. I just finished migrating my mini to a new one, thinking the WiFi/BT board was going, only to find it had the same problem once I put it back under my Thunderbolt Display. Google'd and sure enough, found this thread. My issue seemed to be related to a 4-port Amazon Basics powered USB3 hub and a late 2014 mini. Seems to be regardless of where the hub is positioned...if it's plugged in, WiFi tanks.

Thanks higherdestiny I could not believe that this worked! I do agree there is some grounding issue, I ended up getting some plastidip and putting some on at then end of the usb tip so that it works each time. For what the cost of these machines are, this is an issue that Apple needs to address.

Thank you so much for posting this remedy. My Anker hub was causing the wifi on my Mac Mini to drop. The trick involving slightly moving the USB connector worked fine but as I had a USB 2 extension available I tried inserting this between the hub and the Mac and all was fine. So if you're not bothered about having the USB 3 speed boost you can use any old extension cable. I didn't buy the Anker for its USB 3 capability but just because it had good reviews and I needed spare USB ports. All sorted - thanks to your advice!

🙂

Best

Chris

Hi All, the post by higherdestiny and an earlier response from Apple suggest the problem is really related to a lack of proper screening in the macs that allow RF interference from usb devices, specially hubs. I bought a new Sabrent usb 3 three port rotating hub for my MBP. When connected it kills the wireless network. If you start off a ping in terminal to some device you should see a time of between 3 to 9 ms depending on where the ip address is located in the world. Plug in the usb hub and the time shoots up to 10000 to 20000 ms plus lots of dropped packets sometimes all dropped packets.Pull the hub out slightly and it works much better. A few dropped packets and some longer times up to 15-20 ms.

I wrapped the hub in Alu foil and inserted it back. No dropped packets but a few longer times of 15 ms. Conclusion, a shielding problem on the mac aggravated by the RF from the hub. Can't see how this can be resolved without opening up the hub and Alu foiling the insides. BTW the exact same behavior on either of the two mac usb ports on the MBP retina.

The Sabrent hub is not "CE" approved so is also a suspect in this problem.

Wow, thank you!

On my early 2015 13" MacBook Pro retina, attaching the Vantec NST-266S3-BK NexStar USB3 drive enclosure (Samsung EVO 750 in there, the Vantec supports UASP) kills my wifi connection. I can see a ping to 8.8.8.8 suddenly dying when I attach, and starting back up when I remove the drive.

Following the advice of the OP, if I carefully insert the USB so that there's a millimeter between the plastic housing and the laptop body, my network connection stays up.

I have the drive itself as far away from the laptop as possible (about 40cm) to the right, but the problem still manifests.

At the moment, this strikes me as Apple being quite sloppy. However, I'm planning to test this same drive on my super cheap and plastic Linux-running Acer laptop to make sure.

It seems I'm having the same issue with my MacBook Pro.

It would drop off my wifi network when connecting my usb hub.

Tried what you suggested except I propped up the USB connector so that pressure off the connector was pushing down instead of up. My wifi is back again!

Sorry, no solution - just a confirmation that i have exact same issue here. When i just use a USB-C adapter for my previous USB storage keys, the wifi drops. with 100% accuracy. When i remove it again, the wifi works again.

How. Very. Lame.

I'm a big Apple fan, and bought my MBP w. touchpad etc., 3 minutes after it was released, but I'm deeply disappointed with the many small flaws. I think Apple is actually starting to loose their grip, after having *perfect* products for so long. Very sad actually.

:-(

I raised my issue with apple support

They got me to do some sort of power reset

Power Reset - for USB distribution etc

Shift, Control, Option, Power

Screen with go blank or black

Seems to have resolved my issue

Hi Jaon Saggy,

Could you explain how you resolved the problem ?

Hi Christopherblahblahblah,

In the process of trying to fault find and after we had tried some other possible solutions, the Mac support guy asked me to hold down Shift, Control, Option, Power. (hold down shift, control, option at the same time then hold down the power while still holding the other keys down)

The mac appeared to turn off. I switched back on again. From memory I think I was asked to do this process twice. We couldn't replicate the issue after that so it was assumed that this corrected the issue.

As I understand it, I believe it is meant to reset power distribution including usb a bit like flicking a trip switch on a power circuit breaker.

I did have the issue again a few weeks later and I did this power reset again (but only once) and all appeared to come good again. My process has been if USB items don't work after switching my laptop of and on again then I do this power reset. My laptop is generally plugged into an external monitor via HDMI and my USB powered hub most of the time.

Something else worth mentioning; when my laptop is charging, if I move my fingers across the metal body next to the trackpad it feels "textured" when removing the power cable from the laptop it goes smooth. It's like the charge is going through the actual body! I sometimes get small shocks from the body of the laptop when it is charging and my arm is resting on the corner of the laptop. None of this happens though when the laptop is either unplugged or plugged in and fully charged with the green light. Perhaps it is related but not sure. I have spoken to someone at work about the shock thing and he noticed it from time to time on his mac.

Hope this helps and I would be interested to know if anyone else gets these little shocks.

My Mac Mini late 2012 also facing the same issue. WiFi and Bluetooth drop on and off when attached with my USB 3.0 HUB. Thanks higherdensity solution that solved my problem...