weird annoying problem, need urgent help please!

need help please! USB and audio problems, is there a good and bad USB port?

i really need some help with a problem on my macbook pro. (sorry if this thread is in the wrong area btw!)

i turned my macbook on a couple days ago to show someone a track ive been working on and when i played it the audio seemed to be crackling/hissing while sound was played so i closed logic and opened itunes, still hear the crackling so i shut it down, still no change when it was back on, i plugged the usb from my audio interface into the other usb port and luckily it was fine.

yesterday it happened again and is still doing it and i really cant find a way of fixing it as the speakers are fine, when i play an instrument through the audio interface its fine, the usb lead is fine as i tried another and no change, its literally only when any kind of sound is played from my laptop.

also ive noticed today one of the usb ports seem to not be recognising anything now! my audio interface..memory stick..usb mouse.. nothing! this i very frustrating as im doing a music degree and unable to continue my work because of this. does this mean that the usb ports are broken or something?! if so how do i get this fixed?/how expensive will this be!

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im not sure if any of this would be related to the above problem but over the last few months ive noticed the battery seems to last 4hrs at max, if i watch a film from full charge it will say only 1hr of battery left which is wrong because it ends up lasting for about 20 minutes. also when its running on the battery it gets quite hot (a lot hotter than another macbook pro i compared it to) from the top left corner roughly down to the caps key and across to the F key, quite a large area, but when the power lead is plugged in its fine and cool.

ive had this macbook for over a year now, think i got it a couple months before the one that came out with the thunderbolt port (gutted on my timing!)

thanks in advance for any help, much appreciated.

specs:

15" macbook pro
Model Name: MacBook Pro
Model Identifier: MacBookPro6,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i5
Processor Speed: 2.4 GHz
Memory: 4 GB
version: 10.6.8

really need some help!

What is "interface"? First of all, I've generally found that if you ask your question in a manner in which it's easy to understand the problem, you'll get more people involved in trying to solve it for you. Writing a large'ish and meandering post usually doesn't get much involvement.

To that end, you have an issue with audio playback and crackling. Is that with the speakers on the MBP? Have you tried external speakers or headphones and do you still have that problem?

If a USB port is failing to recognize any devices, one possibility is indeed hardware failure, but could be damage of other sorts as well.

You said you bought this MBP over a year ago, so you're probably beyond the 1 year AppleCare warranty, did you pay to extend that for another two years? If not, and it does turn out to be a logic board problem, that can be quite expensive to fix.

To that end, if you do have at least one functioning USB port, you can always purchase a powered USB hub and plug your devices in through that..

What OS are you running?

Raz0rEdge said:

What is "interface"? First of all, I've generally found that if you ask your question in a manner in which it's easy to understand the problem, you'll get more people involved in trying to solve it for you. Writing a large'ish and meandering post usually doesn't get much involvement.

Click to expand...

hi, thanks for your reply, sorry its a USB audio interface which i use to connect my macbook to my speakers. i thought it was quite a strange problem so i thought it would be more helpful if i fully explained whats happened, sorry if i didnt explain it properly.

Raz0rEdge said:

To that end, you have an issue with audio playback and crackling. Is that with the speakers on the MBP? Have you tried external speakers or headphones and do you still have that problem?

Click to expand...

the speakers on the macbook are fine and so is the headphone output, i only get the crackling when sound is played through the interface which plugs into the macbook via USB. this leads me to believe the USB ports aren't functioning properly especially as one of them stopped working last night.

Raz0rEdge said:

If a USB port is failing to recognize any devices, one possibility is indeed hardware failure, but could be damage of other sorts as well.

Click to expand...

could this have been damaged by how hot it gets when running off the battery? it sometimes would get near to the point you couldnt hold your hand under it. (although the past week it has been cool because it has been plugged in the whole time)

Raz0rEdge said:

You said you bought this MBP over a year ago, so you're probably beyond the 1 year AppleCare warranty, did you pay to extend that for another two years? If not, and it does turn out to be a logic board problem, that can be quite expensive to fix.

Click to expand...

unfortunately no as i could only just afford the macbook, rather expensive things!

Raz0rEdge said:

To that end, if you do have at least one functioning USB port, you can always purchase a powered USB hub and plug your devices in through that..

Click to expand...

i am currently using one of these USB hubs for an external mouse and midi keyboard but i have to plug the interface straight into the macbook as it wouldn't work properly in the hub.

Raz0rEdge said:

What OS are you running?

Click to expand...

version 10.6.8, come to think of it i havent had a software update in a while..

update: from more research quite a few people are saying that the 2 USB ports produce different amounts of power, the left they said doesn't have much power and the right has more and is for self powered devices.. does this sound right to anybody? apparently it says something about this in the user manual which i dont have with me to check. heres an article i found about the 2 USB ports being different click here to view

if this is correct ive been using a microphone for recording the last few days that requires Phantom power and the audio interface was plugged into the left USB port.