Yosemite killed my USB 3.0 ports, rMBP 15" 2012

Hi everyone,


I installed Yosemite last night.


2012 retina MacBook Pro 15", 2.7 GHz Intel Core i7, 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3, NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB


USB 3.0 on the left side stopped working. Re-selected the startup drive (System Preferences > Startup Disk > Restart)


Still not working. Cleared the PRAM (Command+Option+P+R during restart, 2 dings, release)


USB 3.0 on the right side stopped working. Both USB ports now not working.


Reset the SMC (left-side Shift-Control-Option Keys with Power Button)


Did not fix the issue.


Anyone have any thoughts or ideas on troubleshooting?


Thanks / Josue

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Yosemite (10.10), 15", 2.7 GHz i7, 16GB DDR3, 750 GB

Posted on Oct 17, 2014 11:00 AM

Reply
3 replies

Oct 17, 2014 11:23 AM in response to Josue.Alvarez

After several restarts, the USB 3.0 port on the right side of my rMBP is working again. The USB 3.0 port on the left side is still not working. It is however, providing some level of power, as the LED light on my external portable hard drive WILL light up. However, it is not providing enough power to charge an iPhone 5. The left USB 3.0 will not recognize an iPhone or iPad, but something is getting through because it is lighting up the LED indicator light on my external USB 3.0 drive.


Odd and strange.


Thoughts? Logic board issue? Not related to Yosemite now that the right port is working?


Thanks all!

Oct 18, 2014 4:30 AM in response to Josue.Alvarez

Long story short:

1/ I’ve been through 3 macs this year, my 13” MBP, my 17” MBP and now my 15” rMBP.

2/ In between my 17” and 15” I installed the tonymacx86 USB 3.0 drivers on my 17” machine in order to make the USB 3.0 ExpressCard I bought work with my USB 3.0 devices.

3/ After going through he Tonymacx86 install on my 17", the computer started to recognize the ExpressCard as a native USB 3.0 hub.

4/ It worked.

5/ Later in the summer I bought my 15” rMBP, and did a ‘transfer’ install from the 17” to the 15” in order to keep all my software, apps and files.

6/ Unfortunately, in doing so, the system “carried over” these Tonymacx86 drivers for the internal USB 3.0 hub from the 17” to the 15”.

7/ There appeared to be no problem with Mavericks up to 10.9.

8/ However it appears that after I installed Yosemite, something about Yosemite does not jive with these drivers. Unfortunately, it appears that Yosemite does not automatically install all new device drivers on your mac. I think what’s happening is that Yosemite “thinks” I have an ExpressCard slot installed on my current 15” machine, and is just leaving it alone.

9/ So now I'm stuck with NO working USB 3.0 ports on my 2012 15" rMBP.

10/ So, I think rather that install any new updates from Tonymacx86, I would really just like to install the original Mac OS X Yosemite or Mavericks drivers.

UPDATE - UPDATE

Downloaded appleusbxhci.kext for Yosemite beta build 2, used Kext Utility to install it, and it gave me back both ports - but only as USB 2.0.

So, I did a clean install of Yosemite, which brought back the Generic USB host controller driver.

Ran Kext Utility again, but this time, only to repair permissions, not to install appleusbxhci.kext, restarted and then boom - both ports started working again as USB 3.0!

Checked on a system report and instead of the Generic USB host controller driver, it lists the AppleUSBXHCI driver.


So, it's working. Whew!

May 2, 2015 7:50 AM in response to Josue.Alvarez

Using Time Machine to migrate my documents and applications from a Mavericks MacBook Pro (early 2011 i7) to a new MacBook Pro (early 2015 i5) caused the same problem for me. The USB ports stopped working immediately after reboot. Thinking it was a hardware issue I got a replacement MacBook Pro from the store, but then the same thing happened again when I restored from Time Machine. I put in a call to Apple and under their guideance repeated the process. Same result.


Looking at the System Report I could see that the the AppleUSBXHCI was no longer being used and that the GenericUSB driver was being used instead.


I ran Kext Utility from Tonymacx86 to repair permissions (no installations, etc) and then rebooted. Result! Both USB ports working again.


Josue, thanks for taking the time to document your solution above. Really helped.

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Yosemite killed my USB 3.0 ports, rMBP 15" 2012

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