Certain USB and firewire devices no longer recognized

Question

I am going to make a solid attempt to communicate the problem, I'm led to believe that there are some configuration settings that need to be corrected to solve this, though I am not able to find it.
The problem:
(what led up to it) My SSD was knocked out of commission do to plugging in a 'newer technology' 7-port USB hub that had its power supply disconnected. The computer froze, then would not boot. Applecare originally suspected the logic board but found the ssd was knocked out. They reported everything else was fine and the laptop was back in my possesion. I sent in the SSD for warranty replacement and put the original hard drive in. This is when the problem I am having now started.
For some some, a Lacie Rugged FW/USB drive shows up as an unknown device. The USB logitect c910 webcam will not register at all, and the Saffire 6 USB sound card is receiving power with the amp inputs/outputs working...but does not show up in the system preferences for sound. -- There is a second 2TB USB drive (also a rugged lacie) that mounts to the desktop occasionally, but on most reboots it doesn't show up, even in disk utility. When it does show up it appears to be working fine.
As a note:
- ALL of the above mentioned devices work properly on my father's PC.
- USB devices like my iPod, 8gb flash drives, new Belkin slim 7-port hub, all usb midi controllers, and an external CD burner work without issue
What I have already tried (several times):
-- repairing disk permissions and repair disk in disk utility
-- updating to the latest software, and installing the correct drivers for the sound card and webcam. The lacie external hard disks have no drivers for Mac
-- reseting the PRAM
-- reseting the SMC
-- plugging them in one at a time, in all ports, and ensuring they all have the correct power supply and working USB cable
-- upgrading from snow leapord to lion to mountain lion on the disk had no effect
-- by luck, I managed to boot up from the 2TB drive which contains a recent clone backup of the SSD. The same problem exists.
Before I ever submit a question, I make a solid effort to research past threads. So far, I have found no additional troubleshooting advice beyond the 7 steps I have tried as covered above. I am still awaiting the replacement SSD drive from owc. Again, the problem devices are:
- Lacie Rugged FW/USB 500gb external drive
- Logitech C910 webcam
- Saffire 6 USB sound card
- Lacie Rugged 2TB USB external drive (sometimes it shows up)
All have the correct supporting drivers, all 4 are recognized in my father's PC. None of my closest friends own a Mac to test them on theirs. I'm led to believe the problem may be configuration settings-related..though I currently cannot locate where such settings might be. Otherwise I have no clue what the problem is.
I apologize for the length of this post, but my intention is to minimize misunderstanding and rule out the options I've already tried. Any insight on this is appreciated as my music productions depend on both hard drives and the soundcard. Thanks for your time and attention. If any more info is needed I will be more than happy to try to provide it.
-Matt

Answer 1

Hi,
Thanks for your post! I took my ibook to an apple shop on monday to which I was told that the panic kernal that occured interrupted my software update and that the best thing to do would be to reinstall tiger. I did that, erasing and installing, and the problem seems to have dissapeared. I just wish I had read your post first! What was interesting was my mouse worked in the USB port but stuff like my memory stick didn't appear in disk utility. I also tried to replace the interrupted software updates with the Power PC combo one but that would not mount. I am not sure what all these means but if anyone has a similar problem to what I had, I suggest reinstalling the OS. Seems like a pretty weird and rare problem to have tho!