Mini doesn't always connect bluetooth and external (USB) drives on boot

I have had a new Intel mini for 4 months now (we also have a PPC G5, which we love). In the last few weeks the mini started to not connect my Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, nor recognize some of my USB peripherals when booting up. When this happens, it also makes a repeated "startup sound - bong!" echo when the start button is pressed. I have two external USB drives, one 500GB Phantom and one 500GB WD MyBook. When the Apple logo appears at boot, I can see the activity lights flashing on the drives as the BIOS interrogates the USB connections, but after the Leopard start up desktop appears, the only drive shown is Macintosh HD, the mouse pointer is at the top left of the display and will not move, nor will the keyboard do anything. I have read every post on this subject and tried all of the resets suggested. Sometimes this works after a few attempts, sometimes it takes 6 or more tries - disconnecting all cables, and turning the computer on again and again. Occasionally the WD MyBook drive appears on the desktop, yet still the Bluetooth is unresponsive and the other drive absent. I am getting frustrated having to disconnect everything and trying to boot this thing up, sometimes for one hour or longer before I can use it properly (all of my work is on the external drives).
There MUST be a firmware update for this by now, because I see that I am not the only one experiencing these problems, and this is obviously some problem with how the BIOS is communicating with the bus.

Hi amyta pdx-
I'd be careful jumping to conclusions or the troubleshooting process may get clouded. For one thing those WD drives are junk and most people using them eventually have problems.
What happens with everything disconnected from the Mac except a mouse connected to a USB port on the Mac and the monitor connected to the video port only?
Luck-
-DP

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If you want help, please start your own thread here:
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=1339&start=0
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Hello Troubleshooters,
I am a new forum member. The following is a post I sent out last month but no one has as yet solved my problem.
Could you try for me please?
Thanks, Major Mac.
SOS... Please help me solve this problem that occurred suddenly.
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Neither can I see any Printer, Flash Drive, or any external Drive whether plugged into a USB or Ethernet Port. Only my Canon Camera loads onto the iPhoto Application via USB, and my Internet link via Ethernet.
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I apologise for the late reply guys. My service provider was experiencing some tech difficulties and I had no connection for most of today.
Thanks to Roam, Cornelius, BDAqua, Kappy and K. Shaffer. Your Tech info and suggestions tremendously increases my learning curve.... I notice, even among each other (;
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Message was edited by: macjack

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The large print: please read the Community Participation Rules before posting. Include as much information as possible: model, machine type, operating system, and a descriptive subject line. Do not include personal information: serial number, telephone number, email address, etc. The fine print: I do not work for, nor do I speak for Lenovo. Unsolicited private messages will be ignored. ... GeezBlog
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Hi - my 2011 Mac Pro no longer recognizes devices in the usb ports, I've been told it's the logic board. is there a way I can connect the iomega external hard drive to it through the firewire or thunderbolt ports?

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jrburrows wrote:
Ok, fair enough. But since Job's death - Apple's control on leaks has been terrible. I got the new iPhone, and I like it - but it hasn't made nearly as big as an impression as previous ones. Because of the vast ammount of leaks. With the iPad mini leaks, it's 99% sure to come out next week.
Apple uses many manufacturers and it's massive also websites prefer to report on Apple whether true or false because it brings more hits.
Amd by "others" I meant other people on iPads - not other devices/manufacturers. It's possible to do so, I just want to know how. I honestly don't think we'll ever be in a Post-PC era until all tablets allow us to use USB in the way computers do.
No, USB is not the future, you missed the memo about cloud and wireless computing?

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I don't think this will be a complete answer to your question, but may point you in the right direction.
I have a similar setup (same OS X and iTunes versions), but my library is on a network attached 2TB harddrive (vs a USB 2 drive). Mine works fine, both syncing (which you don't have a problem with) and streaming. It's possible that iTunes doesn't like the USB 2 drive, but I don't know. Are you able to watch TV shows on your PowerMac after having moved the files to the USB drive? If you can watch content on your laptop but not on your AppleTV, it suggests the Apple TV doesn't like the USB drive.
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If you select an item in your iTunes library and press the Delete button, it asks for confirmation thus:
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I hope this helps.

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