07-13-2009, 02:52 PM

Hi

I have a Mac Mini 1.33 HHz PowerPC G4 with OS X 10.5.6

One of the USB ports is behaving strangely.

If I plug in a flash drive or a webcam, these simply fail to operate (i.e. the USB flash drive does not appear, the webcam does not appear to be connected).

However, if I go into System Profiler and click on USB, the correct info about whichever device is plugged into the port appears (i.e. if the webcam is plugged in, it reports the name and details of the webcam and says it is active).

Also, if I plug the printer in to this USB port, it always works.

Any ideas what the problem may be? I thought it might be a physical problem with the port, but given that the info is showing up in the system profiler, and the printer is working, this seems unlikely, I think?

The equipment I am plugging in works on other devices/ports.

Thanks!

07-13-2009, 07:11 PM

Might be a matter of the mini losing its port definition. Try resetting the PRAM and NVRAM: See the following Apple KB article... Link

Regards.

07-13-2009, 09:26 PM

Thanks for the suggestion - I have just tried this and it has not solved it, unfortunately. Any other ideas gratefully received!

07-14-2009, 07:56 PM

The only other thing I can think of is that particular port is not always providing enough power to properly enable the device you have plugged in.

The printer works because it's self powered and does not rely on the USB port for its power. Devices will show up in System Profiler but not able to power up - therefore, will not mount on the desktop.

I use an Apple aluminum keyboard with my MacBook when I have it at home. The keyboard has two USB ports. Neither of my external hard drives will mount when plugged into these ports, however, my printer works fine. Both drives mount when plugged into one of the main USB ports on the MacBook.

Regards.