IMac USB mystery

Hello forum,
I've been using Macs for over 10 years now, so far never had a problem which couldn't be solved but now it seems I've reached a point where this is no longer the case.
Have a new iMac (21.5", 3.1GHz, 1TB Fusion Drive) since a few days. Everything's working fine, apart from the USB ports. A few examples below:
- iPad working perfectly fine (i.e. charging and being recognized in iTunes) when using an original Apple Lightning cable
- iPad very quickly alternating between "plugged-in" and "plugged-out" mode constantly when using a non-Apple Lightning cable (tried no name ones as well as Belkin ones - same result). The same no name or Belkin cable however works fine when charging iPad using the (original Apple) wall plug
- iPhone works perfectly fine with all three cables (no name / Belkin / Apple Lightning)
- 2.5" USB 2.0 portable hard drive works perfectly fine
- 3.5" external hard drive (in case, externally powered) works perfectly fine over FireWire800 via Thunderbolt adapter
- the same 3.5" external hard drive does not work over USB 3.0 (external case has 2 FW800 and one USB 3.0 port). Whenever I plug it in using the USB 3.0 it appears in the Finder for a few seconds, then an error message pops up saying I should unmount the drive properly before ejecting. It also shows up in the disk utility within the first few seconds but then disappears. Have tried a few cables and all four USB ports and it's the same for all of them
Have examined the external HD on FireWire in Disk Utility and everything is in order there
Have searched the web quite extensively and many people seem to have problems with USB 3.0 drives when the Mac goes to sleep, but my problem pops up immediately after I plug the drive in. When I first tried it I thought the USB ports might be faulty but they work perfectly fine with the iPhone and the old USB 2.0 external HD
Any thoughts on this? Thanks in advance

Thanks for your response. As it turned out, I discovered I was able to duplicate the problem on my iBook at my house, which pretty well ruled out a cause in either the iMac or the phone line at the client's house. Consultation with the ISP determined that it was probably due to how I had the connection configured, i.e. using "[email protected]" rather than simply "username". For some reason, 90% of the time that would work, but 10% of the time it wouldn't. So I've corrected that, and we're hoping the problem won't recur. (The tech also suggested entering the DNS numbers, rather than allowing them to be retrieved automatically; he said "Macs require that," though I doubt this is true -- certainly not for EarthLink, which I use.)

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The Great iMac FireWire Mystery

I'm stumped on this one and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions.
A couple of months ago I replaced my mother's mirror door G4 (2x1GHz) with a 20" 2.16GHz Intel iMac (the last of the all-white iMacs). Her G4 had an 80GB and a 60GB internal hard drives, with the 80GB being the boot drive and the 60GB being accessed exclusively by Retrospect to do incremental backups on a nightly basis and a recycle backup once a month. This system worked quite well for the past couple of years.
Her iMac has a 250GB internal drive. I added a Newer Tech miniStack v2 200GB hard drive which I have connected via FireWire. Using the same Retrospect-based system, backups are performed regularly. However, there's a fly in the ointment. Occasionally and for reasons unknown the computer will unmount the FireWire drive all by itself. This happens regardless of whether the computer is idle or in use. Power cycling the drive will remount it and all is well afterwards -- until the next time. It seems to happen about once every 2-3 days. The drive can be connected for 2-3 days at a time without any problems, but then it just disappears. Poof.
Things to remove from the list right off the bat...
1. The miniStack drive is fine, having performed its duties on several other computers in the past and operating flawlessly in the same capacity on other computers (including a MacBook Pro and an aluminum iMac).
2. OS X is set to sleep the drive when it's not in use. Since the incremental backup process takes less than five minutes a day to complete, having the drive spun up 24/7/365 makes little sense. The drive happily spins up when Retrospect does its thing (assuming the drive is still on the desktop at that time, of course) and the drive happily spins down shortly after Retrospect finishes (again, assuming...). A suggestion of "turn drive sleep off" is not acceptable for this reason, and for the fact that the other computers that the drive was attached to also had drive sleep enabled and didn't have this problem.
3. The OS X installation (10.4.10) is very clean, having been installed when the iMac was installed. There are no "haxies" or anything weird like that installed. The only "modification" to the system is enabling the DEBUG menu in Safari. When I put the iMac into target disk mode and boot my wife's MacBook Pro from the iMac's hard drive, the miniStack drive does not show this problem. If the OS X installation was to blame then the MacBook Pro should also have lost the drive.
4. I've also gone the other way, booting the iMac from the MacBook Pro's OS (10.4.8 and 10.4.10) in target disk mode. The problem remains on the iMac.
5. The iMac itself has been checked out by Tekserve and the Apple Store, both in Manhattan, and has been pronounced 100% without error or problem. The iMac also passes the hardware test provided on the Apple CD and the TechTool Pro diagnostic. All other aspects of the computer perform flawlessly.
6. The FireWire cable has been replaced, and both the old and new cables are perfectly functional with all other drives and computers tested.
7. With one exception, other FireWire devices on the iMac seem to work flawlessly in all other regards. I've tried two camcorders, an iSight webcam, a friend's FireWire-to-MIDI box, a DVD burner, and a FireWire CF card adapter. All perform perfectly. The one exception is a 60GB portable FireWire hard drive. This drive performs exactly the same way on the iMac; that is; you can connect it and use it without a problem, but if you keep it connected for 2-3 days it too disappears from the desktop just like the miniStack drive. (I had a 2GB CF card connected to a FireWire CD card adapter, and it was mounted on the desktop as a formatted Mac volume. This card stayed on the desktop for five days without a problem, so the problem seems to be localized to actual hard drives and not just mass storage devices.)
8. The iMac performs perfectly in target disk mode. I had it in TDM connected to the MacBook Pro for several days and it never disappeared.
So, I'm at a loss. My current "fix" is to connect the drive to the iMac via USB and that seems to be working. That seems to indicate that it's a FireWire problem but I've never heard of one so specific to one particular category of hardware before (e.g., hard drives). Regardless, that doesn't solve this mystery. Yes, the drive works under USB....but why not FireWire like it should?

I have been having similar problems with a Mybook FW HD disappearing and remounting at random intervls. I am in the process of replacing it with a Fantom 1000.( I have a 300G Fantom with an Oxford chipsest that has been completley reliable for > 2yrs attached via FW400).
The Fantom 1000 mounted immediately with FW800, but as it was Fat32 formatted I decided to erase and reformat with MacOS extended using disk utility. I haven't been able to mount the final product, although it is recognized and described by the System. Disk utility can't verify or repair due to a formatting error.. I should mention that disk utility never gave any indication that it had finished the formating.. the blue barber pole was still spinning after 12 hrs
How long should it take to format a 1T disk?
Anyway now I am trying using a FW400 port and am about 1 hr into it...... next I will try USB and if that fails I will try to return to FAT 32... I should have quit while I was ahead
My question .... is this a FW problem, a Fantom problem or a formatting (Disk utility probem)

IMac USB no longer recognizing 3rd party phones (BlackBerry, Android, or Symbian).

Hey everyone, this is my first post to this community support group.
Last week, using my iMac, I attempted to install the Ubuntu OS onto my Nexus 7.
I followed some online guides on how to do so, and realized that I was not up to the task. The process involved various things, although the one I suspect created my current problem was inputing Terminal commands (unfortunately, I can not recall the commands I entered).
Not only was I unable to install the Ubuntu OS on my Nexus 7, but now my iMac does not recognize any 3rd party phones (Android, BlackBerry and Symbinan) that are plugged into the USB ports. Prior to this Ubuntu attempt, my iMac recognized all phones plugged into it's USB ports.
A few things:
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2) The Disk Utility does recognize any phones as hard drives, when they are plugged in via usb.
3) I've tried using the phones' interfaces to switch them from USB mass storage, to camera, to charge settings when plugged into the iMac with no effect.
4) I've tried plugging the 3rd party phones in different USB ports with no results either.
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Try doing both a iMac SMC and PRAM reset, it may take several attemps for it to work.

Re-2013 27'' iMac USB 3.0 troubles-.

Hi guys
the 19th of October i got my brand new 27'' iMac i5 3,2GHZ, 24GB Ram, G-Force GT 755M, 1TB..
got it home, powered it, updated it's software but NO Mavericks yet - being a work machine, i always wait a while to update OS until i'm sure... so it's running 10.8.5.
then i transfered all my data from a Time Machine back-up, all went well...
   after reading Apple's own recommendations, i started by plugging one of my NewerTech Guardian Maximus Raid1 enclosures via supplied USB 3.0 cable - this, if i understood correctly, ''sets'' the iMac's USB ports to USB 3.0...
then i connected a second G-Max also via USB 3.0, both enclosures mounted fast enough ! wanting to make sure all was OK, i launched iTunes ( my music is stored in 1 of these boxes..) & then......my 1st Beach Ball & system freeze happened
tried all sorts, always the same system or app freezes, beach balls & subsequent Force Quits - which by the way DON'T seem to always work specially if they are of the ''Finder not responding'' + relaunch Finder variety
tried unplugging everything, start from scratch - same thing happened. again i unplugged everything only this time i plugged in my Logitech powered USB 2 hubs first THEN the G-Max's to the hub + everything else & it worked fine
not wanting to deal w/ USB 2 speeds, i bought an Apple Tbolt/FW800 adapter & it all works now - problem is, one of the reasons i sold my late 2009 27'' iMac & bought this machine was to benefit from it's USB 3.0 capabilities.....
trusting these USB 3.0 tantrums AREN'T caused by my new iMac, i contacted OWC to check if there was a new firmware for my G-Max's, they sent me a link to the latest, a friend equipped w/ the required Windows laptop to install said firmware update ( in this day & age !?.. ) came over, ran the update but a dialog box opened stating both my G-Max's have the exact same firmware version as the update itself....
having Googled these USB 3.0/Mac issues, among other things i came across some stating Bluetooth MIGHT or HAS something to do w/ it so....got a corded Logitech mouse i keep for emergencies, switched off Bluetooth &....same thing ! :-b
following an Apple Support Comunities user's advice here, i tried also resetting the Pram, the SMC, etc....but nothing changed
meanwhile having ordered a 3rd G-Max enclosure, i connected it & miracle of miracles - it works without a single occurrence !? not only that but in the system report itn displays differently :
1 of the old G-Max connected
both of the old G-Max
the new G-Max & it's Blackmagic Disk Speed Test results
by the way, do these figures seem about right ? i also copied a folder of 49GB of video files to it & it took 11 minutes to do so...
the enclosure is loaded w/ a pair og Western Digital Green Caviars ( i didn't know they could cause problems in Raid arrays when i bought them but have NEVER caused any really..)
   please note that on the System Report screenshots above, only the new G-Max enclosure is correctly identified, could this have anything to do with it ?
as i said elsewhere, i'm not terribly worried about these ''USB 3.0 tantrums'', my feel being it must be nothing more than a few ''teething troubles'' between different USB 3.0 implementations which i hope will go away as new drivers/software updates come along, etc.....still, the fact is i would REALLY like to be able to use my iMac's USB 3.0 ports & benefit from them
so in a nutshell :
1 - old G-Max's to iMac via USB 3.0 cable = system/Finder/app freezes & beach balls + can't run Balckmagic Disk Speed Test
2 - G-Max's to iMac via Tbolt/FW800 adapter = all good
3 - G-Max's to iMac via powered USB 2 hub = all good
4 - new G-Max to iMac via USB 3.0 = all good
any help, info, links, suggestions, etc....would be MOST WELCOME & appreciated
   a great week-end to all & many thanks
Nuno

after a series of emails to OWC Support, OWC confirmed the ''old'' G-Max enclosures ( January & May 2012..) have a different chipset than the new one so i can only conclude either the USB 3.0 standard changed in the meantime or they found out the old one were causing too many problems ?
what OWC suggested is that i return my old enclosures to them & for $40 each, they would update the firmware which if i lived in the States i would consider BUT :
1 - i live in Europe so posting them to & from OWC would be prohibetively expensive ( enough to buy the newer version or almost ?.. )
2 - since OWC sent me a link of their latest firmware available but that turned out to be the exact same fimware version the older enclosures have installed AND running/installing it DIDN'T solve the issues, it strikes me more as a bet rather than a sure thing !?
3 - who's to say this won't be necessary again say in another year ? hardly practical & rather expensive
in the meantime i've contacted Macupgrade.eu whom i bought them from ( an Euro vendor of all things OWC..) to see if this can be done through them, specially considering they offer a 3 year warranty for the G-Max enclosures..
if not, i might as well forget about it & forget about OWC products in the future if indeed the only way to solve bigger issues is to spend more money than the items are worth posting them across the planet
this of course leaves me a rather strange after taste considering that some of the reasons to buy these enclosures were OWC good rep to begin with + the fact they were advertised as being USB 3 - the fact they changed the chipset in them & that the new one does work properly w/ my 2013 iMac to me is proof there was something not quite right to begin with specially considering that Apple, although not infallible, usually gets these things right from the word go..
oh well, in the meantime i'll keep on ''wasting'' one Thunderbolt port to run them via FW800, something i can't help find comical

Imac usb ports stopped working?

i was using a new 10 usb hub, imac said something about draining power and then froze now only one of the three usb ports worked.
i have reset PRAM and SMC
completely unplugged power and still the two ports do not work..any help

Hi, is his what you tried...
reset FW bus, same goes for USB reset...
Reset the Firewire bus
If your Firewire or USB isn't recognizing any device. A solution which has worked for some whose hard drive became invisible in 10.4 was simply to follow these four steps to reset the Firewire/USB bus:
1. Shut the machine down.
2. UNPLUG the power lead to the computer and any firewire/USB drive or devices.
3. leave it for 10 minutes.
4. Connect back up and reboot.
http://www.macmaps.com/firewirebug2.html

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The USB ports all seem to work with the mouse and keyboard. Any other suggestions? (I have reset PMU.)

Try resetting the SMC, if it doesn't work the first time do it 2-3x. Also try doing a PRAM reset.
_SMC RESET_
• Shut down the computer.
• Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
• Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
• Release the power button.
• Attach the computers power cable.
• Press the power button to turn on the computer.
_PRAM RESET_
• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
• Turn on the computer.
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Is the new iMac USB 2.0 Bootable ???

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Is it possible to boot the new iMac from an external USB 2.0 device ???
If it is possible, how do I use the install disks that came with my new iMac to install a copy of Mac OS 10.4.10 onto an external USB 2.0 hard drive connected to my new iMac ??
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Hmmmm....
Hum hum
Thanks for the quick reply and good morning !!
No problem and good afternoon
My internal drive is 500 gigs and the external drive is only 120 gigs.
Will cloning using CCC or SuperDuper still be an option or is there some way I can start up the iMac from the DVD and select the external drive as the install destination and do a fresh install of 10.4.10 ???
If the used space on the internal hd is less than 120GB then yes, you will be able to clone it to your external 120GB hd. If it's more, then, obviously, you cannot.
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Aluminum iMac USB port dead?

Hello,
I think one of the USB ports on my Aluminum iMac (2.0 GHz) has stopped working. When I plug in my iPod into this particular port it no longer recognizes the iPod, however when I move the iPod to another port it is recognized. The port worked fine last week. I've tried other things in this port (e.g. USB hard drive), and it's the same thing.
Could this still be a software issue, or is this pretty much a hardware problem?
Is there any other troubleshooting I can do before calling Apple?
Thanks for any help.

Hm thanks for the idea den.thed
So how do I then see that something is slowing everything down?
Here is my tree
http://img408.imageshack.us/my.php?image=picture28et1.png
What I find mostly strange is that apparently there are 2 "USB BUss" which are not being used.
No idea where those are sitting, because all my 3 USB Plugs in the back of the iMac are used up.
Maybe they are 2 free ones in my Mac?
Then what also suprises me it that there is another USB Hub in my USB Hub?
I only have one USB hub, that hub as oyu can see has 2 leaves.
One an external harddrive, the other leaf is a USB Hub with the iPod and another external harddrive.
And as mentioned above I don't know where to look now for the thing that is slowing everything down.
How do I recognize that?
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Strange Imac USB issue you won't believe

Hi,
Hope someone can help me, this is nuts.
I have Intel based Imac running 10.4.11. I have had it for 5 years with no issues until a month ago.
Long story but lots of troubleshooting and attempted to install new hardware, printer, external Hard drive etc.
Bottom line.
The USB ports on the monitor will only run my Keyboard and the mouse. Nothing else. Shocker is that anything I plug into the keyboard works but if I plug them into the USB port directly, nothing works. How can that be? Same port on the computer but I have to go through the keyboard.
I now have a Powered 7 port usb Hub hooked up to the keyboard and all is good.
Any ideas on how this can be happening and what are the long term risks. Is my computer going to die anytime soon. Stressing the port on the keyboard, etc.
Oh and one more weird thing that just started happening. The monitor will occasionally go from screen saver to back on rather than to sleep...... and one in 5 times I shut it down it hangs up. I need to unplug it and all is fine for a few shutdowns then it happens again.
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Beat Regards,
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Sorry that the SMC reset didn't get the ports working correctly.
Also have a look at > http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1317
and from that article try:
+1. Shut down the computer.+
+2. Disconnect all devices and all other cables, except the keyboard and mouse cable(s).+
+3. Disconnect the computer from the power outlet and wait for 3 to 5 minutes.+
+4. Plug the computer back in and turn it on.+
+5. Reconnect the device(s) (one at a time if there is more than one) and test. Test with each port if you have more than one.+
In step 3 wait at least minutes 5 or longer.
Does the keyboard work in another port? If so, move the keyboard to another port and try the hub or other device in that port?

First time starting up iMac, USB keyboard not recognised

i have tried to set-up my imac, however the keyboard is not recognised and says that i have to turn on my bluetooth keyboard when i have a USB keyboard and it will not go on to the next step.

Hi manocchio1994,
Thanks for contacting the Apple Support Communities. I understand your keyboard is not recognized when connecting if for the first time and I know how frustrating that can be. There is a fantastic article available for USB keyboard troubleshooting I would recommend.
None of the keys on my keyboard work
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1996
Troubleshooting your Apple USB Keyboard Step-by-Step
If your keyboard keys still aren't working after trying the steps in USB Basic Troubleshooting, try these steps, in order, until you've come to a resolution.
▪ Unplug all devices from your computer, including your mouse and keyboard, as well as your printer, scanner, cameras, iPod, external hard drives, and hubs. (Warning: Some devices, like iPods, may require you to perform steps before it is safe to unplug them.) If you have a hub, don't forget to unplug it as well.
▪ Plug your keyboard and mouse back into your computer firmly and securely. Take special care to make sure that the connector is completely in the port. (USB plugs fit into ports one way only, and won't plug in if you try to plug them in upside-down.)
▪ If that still doesn't work, try plugging your keyboard in to the other USB ports. Be sure to try them all. Check to see if the keyboard's Caps Lock light turns on when you press it, and try typing in one of your applications, such as TextEdit.
▪ If your keyboard works in one of your USB ports but not all, your computer may need service to resolve an issue with its USB port or ports.
If your keyboard doesn't work in any of your computer's USB ports, it appears that your keyboard isn't functioning properly and needs to be replaced. You can order this part online. Order a replacement keyboard.
If needed, I suggest resetting the System Management Controller as well. Those steps can be found in the following section of this article.
Resetting the SMC for Mac Pro, Intel-based iMac, Intel-based Mac mini, or Intel-based Xserve
Intel-based Macs: Resetting the System Management Controller (SMC)
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht3964
Thanks for reaching out,
-Joe

Windows XP running on iMac, USB Printer not detected on Windows

Hi all,
I'm pretty sure this is not a Mac issue, however I've been trying to understand this problem and I didn't find a proper solution, maybe some of you can help with that.
The situation is:
iMac running Mac OS X 10.4.10 working fine with a Xerox Printer 8550 connected with a USB cable, however, in the same system my colleague has a Windows XP installed with BootCamp, the problem is that Windows Xp cannot detect the USB printer, have you heard anything like that before?
Any help is welcome.
Thanks in advance.
Kind Regards
Alatryste

should be only driver problem?
http://www.support.xerox.com/go/results.asp?Xlang=enUS&XCntry=USA&prodID=85008550&ripId=&Xtype=download

IMac USB mystery

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