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"USB Devices Disabled" notification always showing

Hey guys! Some help would be much appreciated.

A few months ago my macbook pro (early 2011) took a fall and ever since the USB ports are not working and every time I try to connect something the usual message "USB Devices Disabled - Unplug the device using too much power to re-enable USB devices" appears. I took it to be serviced, they asked for more money than I could spend to change the logic board. Instead I found a Thunderbolt to USB adapter and moved on like this.

Recently, I installed El Capitan and ever since the installation the "USB Devices Disabled" notification does not go away. It pops up, I click "Close", it goes away and a few seconds later it's back on. It stays there for EVER.

Any ideas as to how to solve this?

Many thanks!

MacBook Pro (13-inch Early 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 1, 2015 11:04 PM

35 replies

Clem2121

Level 1

0 points

Oct 31, 2015 7:01 AM in response to risbov

I tried resetting my SMC and even brought my Mac to the Genius Bar. They ran diagnostics and basically one of my USB was fried. The message occurred in both Yosemite and El Capitan, so it wasn't an OS issue.

It's not a complete fix but it is a decent workaround. If you Disable Notifications and set it to start at 4 AM and end at 3:59 AM (how to do here: OS X Yosemite: Turn off notifications), you won't see the message anymore. It's not a fix, but it is a workaround if you don't care about seeing notifications.

dougdini

Level 1

0 points

Dec 15, 2015 3:36 AM in response to Leonidas Kalantidis

I lived with this after upgrading to El Capitan, none of the suggestions worked. Fortunately, the latest update (10.11.2) seems to have solved the issue for me - no more pesky notifications.

Dec 16, 2015 6:52 AM in response to dougdini

I tried just about everything to fix this problem on my 27" iMac running Yosemite. This included reinstalling the OS, testing the hardware, running disk repair, resetting the SMC, and resetting PRAM...and nothing worked. In my case I got the message whether there were any USB devices plugged in or not. I noticed that the computer was also quite sluggish at times.

I finally downloaded and ran one of the free virus checkers (Bitdefender) and found that indeed there was a little something going on. Since deleting this thing there have been no further USB disabled notifications and the computer is running significantly faster.

Dan

Apr 30, 2016 12:16 PM in response to Spiroslp

yes but that just prevents the message. What about if you want to charge your iPhone via USB?

Aug 14, 2016 3:22 PM in response to Leonidas Kalantidis

I had the same problem and I believe my problem was a bad lightning cable. Once I changed cables, this problem went away.

"USB Devices Disabled" notification always showing