OSX not recognizing usb devices.

[dalewilson]

I have an iMac running OSX 10.6.5.

There have been no hardware changes recently. The only software changes are the periodic updates from Apple that I install faithfully.

Recently it stopped recognizing USB devices that have mass storage except for one -- I have a Seagate Free Agent drive that it's quite happy with. it won't recognize my camera (Cannon) my Android Phone (Samsung) my digital recorder (Tascam) or my usb flash drive. I plug them in and NOTHING HAPPENS on the Mac side. (The devices know they're plugged in.)

Things that I'm pretty sure of:

It is not a problem with the devices. They work with other computers. They have FAT file systems, etc.

It's not a problem with a particular port. I have tried all of 'em, with and without my external USB hub. Also in addition to the Seagate drive which works I have a wireless keyboard & mouse that connects via a USB receiver. I'm using the keyboard now to type this message -- hence USB works.

Yes the devices are getting sufficient power. My phone happily charges while OSX refuses to admit that it exists. My phone and my digital recorder both know that they are connected as a USB mass storage device to a computer.

Disk Utility doesn't show the device. Finder doesn't show the device. IPhoto does not show the camera (it used to a couple of weeks ago.)

Restarting the computer with or without the devices plugged in doesn't change things.

So what do you do when "It just works" doesn't work? Is there any way to manually tell OSX that it should pay attention to the USB device I just plugged in.


I'm stumped and can't think of anything else to try. Suggestions? Miracles?

 

[chscag]

Have you tried a SMC reset? Also try resetting the PRAM.

 

[eggman]

Hi dalewilson
I have the same trouble with camera. did those suggestions work? or did you find another solution?

 

[Lex_Mandrake]

Similar Problem

I'm running 10.6.8
Installed the Seagate Freeagent Goflex software, called NTFS, in order to use an external. It didn't work, but it was a friends hard drive so it didn't matter much to me. I uninstalled the software using appzapper.
Then I noticed when I plugged my thumbdrive in it didn't show up. Not in finder, not in disk utility, but it is recognized in system profiler. (if only that allowed me to use it)
I've noticed when I restart/start my computer leaving the thumbdrive in, it cannot load the account login page, however when I unplug the thumbdrive the account login page appears at once.
I started trying other thumb drives and none have worked. I have a firewire external that works just fine and a USB Fat32 external which also works fine (or as well as one can expect Fat32 to work).
I've tried restarting.
I've tried SMC reset and PRAM reset.
What has seagate done to my beautiful computer!

 

[chscag]

It's likely that you did not properly uninstall the Seagate software. AppZapper or other removal utilities generally do not work to remove applications that install kexts (kernel extensions). Install the Seagate software once more and use their uninstaller or their uninstall instructions to remove it.

 

[Lex_Mandrake]

Unfortunately the Seagate NTFS driver will not install unless the Seagate external is plugged in, which I have since returned to my friend.
Is there a way I can find the kernal extensions and tear them out?
And even if this software is uninstalled, will that mean my OSJournaled thumbdrive will be recognized again?

 

[chscag]

My next suggestion is go to the Seagate web site and see if you can find information on how to uninstall their NTFS software. The drive probably does not have to be plugged in. Once it's properly uninstalled, your thumb drive will probably be OK again. At least in theory.

 

[Dr.]

How Seagate Goflex is a horrible product

It's sad how when I google how to solve the problem of how the Seagate Goflex portable hard drive (the one that promises to work between PC and Mac).
I purchased the product at Best Buy, who sadly did not read any online reviews before promising me the world, and since using it only once, have had all the problems most of you have complained about.

I would like to point out that I was looking for a parker storage hard drive and my previous one of 500 Gb by Western Digital works just fine with both PC and Mac.

Anyways, my camera no longer works and nowhere online is a solution.
Also, because no company would like to admit that their products have problems, how to completely uninstall anything they put on my computer is not easy to find (I have not thus far) on the Seagate website.

If anyone has found a solution to how to get the camera working again or having the mac recognize the hard drive and make it work the way we intended I would very much appreciate it.
Also, if someone from Seagate is reading this, do take actual responsibility and accountability.
Complaints about your product are on many forums and you can be sure that I will be doing to opposite of recommending anything you make, simply because you are not at all helpful in solving the problems your hardware causes.

 

[calete]

Works for me

The "Have you tried a SMC reset? Also try resetting the PRAM."; I've done the SMC reset and voila!