USB Port over current

I am getting an error message every 15 seconds that tells me: A USB device is currently drawing too much power. The hub to which it is attached will be deactivated.
It gives me the option to say OK, and I say OK, but the message keeps popping up. If I don't have the power cord connected it drains my battery pretty quickly.
The USB port next to the power plug quit working and then I started getting the message.

If this message is occurring without anything connected to the external USB ports it suggests a hardware problem, 1BGC.
It may be an issue with the circuitry itself, or with one of the devices that actually attach internally to the USB busses (such as bluetooth module, IR receiver, keyboard and trackpad, iSight, and card reader if present on your computer).
You could try PRAM and SMC resets, and turning off bluetooth, but I suspect this is a hardware issue.
One final thing worth checking may be that there is nothing metallic "stuck" in the USB port that isn't working. The Magsafe magnet could possibly attract a staple or some such into that area, I guess.
Cheers
Rod

Similar Messages

MSI Z97 Gaming 7 - USB Device Over Current

Hi everyone,
I just made my first gaming PC, using an MSI Z97 Gaming 7. Everything went well, all the wires are connected correctly, but when I boot the PC, and try the setup (by typing the F1 button), this message appears:
USB device over current status detected
and the PC shuts down after 15 seconds.
I tried to unplug the USBs ports of the Case, tried to unplug the battery for 15 seconds, tried to boot again but the problem was still there. I also inspected all the USB ports, and I don't see anything strange.
Is it possible that the mainboard is faulty? Is there anything I can do about it?
These are the specs, if they are usefull:
MSI Z97 Gaming 7
Intel i5-4460 @3.20
Gigabyte GTX 970
PSU XFX 650W XXX Edition
RAM 8GB HyperX Predator
1TB WD Black
256GB HyperX SSD
CM Hyper T4
I hope someone can help me

sounds like something is shorted,
USB ports damaged?
have you tried rear USB ports and different USB ports?
Quote
I tried to unplug the USBs ports of the Case, tried to unplug the battery for 15 seconds, tried to boot again but the problem was still there. I also inspected all the USB ports, and I don't see anything strange.
have you unpluged mouse and keyboard too? assume they are USB one too
else take out mainboard out of PC case and place it over non conductive surface, like wooden table
then retest
and do you have a different PSU to try too?

MOVED: MSI Z97 Gaming 7 - USB Device Over Current

This topic has been moved to GAMING Motherboards.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=251545.0

sounds like something is shorted,
USB ports damaged?
have you tried rear USB ports and different USB ports?
Quote
I tried to unplug the USBs ports of the Case, tried to unplug the battery for 15 seconds, tried to boot again but the problem was still there. I also inspected all the USB ports, and I don't see anything strange.
have you unpluged mouse and keyboard too? assume they are USB one too
else take out mainboard out of PC case and place it over non conductive surface, like wooden table
then retest
and do you have a different PSU to try too?

USB port "Over Power" with externally powered device

I have a Macbook Pro that's about 1.5 years old. Shortly after I bought the Mac, I converted my external hard drive (by Fantom Drives) into the backup for my computer. It worked fine for about a year, and then around six months ago I started experiencing problems.
First, it would unexpectedly disconnect from the computer, causing error messages. Then, when connected the drive to my computer (usually on the right side, since that seems to make a difference from what I've seen) I began getting messages that it was drawing too much power from the USB port, and therefore the port is shutting down. This is despite the fact that the drive is plugged in and drawing its own power (as evidenced by the fact that I can turn it on when it's not connected to the computer).
With my upgrade to Snow Leopard, I'm getting slightly differently worded but same in effect messages. Is this a sign that something is wrong with the hard drive, or is it a problem with my computer? I don't have another computer in my house to check to make sure it works ok on other computers, but I will try that as soon as I can.

Thanks for the welcome!
Yes, I get the same error, no matter what combination I try. Once it worked if I powered it up, connected it to the computer (followed by the error message), disconnected the USB cable from the drive and reconnected. Bizarre, I know, but I was trying anything and everything that I could think of. At least that one time, I was able to back up the computer (about 20 days ago, according to my Time Machine messages).
Also, the ports don't seem to be affected permanently--I can still use my printer, USB keys, etc. on them no problem.

2 day old MBP and already lost a USB port!!

I just bought a macbook pro yesterday along with a mighty mouse. Everything worked flawlessly until this morning. While I was working in Photoshop the mouse quit working. Since then it has given me the error message "USB device over current notice" even when there is nothing plugged in. As soon as it boots up I get the notice. It is only the right USB port that is giving me the problem. I upgraded to 10.4.6 but that didn't solve the problem. I searched around and haven't been able to find a fix. Has anyone had this problem and been able to fix it? Thanks.
MacBook Pro 1.83GHz Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Thanks for the reply. I was on the phone all morning with Apple and tried many different things to get the port to work and apparently its a problem with the port itself. I'll just have to exchange it. I'll go ahead and do a fresh install of the OS and let everyone know if it gets rid of the problem.
I bought it at CompUSA. When I took it out of the box I noticed that the screen had some smudge marks on it as if someone tried to wipe it off. It certainly didn't look "new". I'm guessing someone else returned the computer and they turned around and sold it to me. Hopefully I'll have better luck with the new one.

USB ports on Penryn MBP

I have a 250GB WD Passport HD that connects to a single USB port both for data and power.
It does NOT work on my 2.4GHz Penryn MBP. I tested the drive on other notebooks and it works flawlessly.
My question is: are the USB ports in current-generation MBPs "underpowered"?
mac.cardi

Hi Mac Cardi:
I just had a different experience. I just replaced my 2.16 Core 2 Duo 15" MacBook Pro with the latest. I have a little 80 gig Lacie (Porsche Design) external drive that needed both USB Ports on my old laptop to spin up.
The current Penryn MBPro I just got does the job with just the regular single USB cord; it doesn't need the extra one to provide power. By the way, this works with both the right and the reputedly-weak left USB Port.
It was one of the first things I checked out on this new machine, because I'm an Apple Certified Macintosh Technician and the diagnostics for the newest Macs must be run from a USB drive. They're too big to burn to a DVD.
So these ports don't seem "underpowered" to me. But maybe your Western Digital Passport needs more current than my little Lacie. YMMV
Allen

Keep USB ports powered when PC off

Hi,
I got my first iMac a few days ago and am missing a feature that my PC had. I have a razor mamba wireless mouse that charges in its own dock via USB. I would also like to charge my iPhone 4 from my iMacs USB ports over night. But when I turn off my iMac the USB ports power down, unlike my PC where the USB ports would remain active and charge my mouse over night.
Is there any way I can charge my USB components overnight without leaving the iMac on?

Hi AlmightySi
Welcome to Apple Discussions
A Self-powered USB Hub or Computer Sleep, an iMac can sleep 24-7 for weeks without a problem.
Dennis

USB OVER CURRENT NOTICE

I keep receiving this error message in a dialog box, repeatedly; so much so, in fact, that it is affecting productivity: "USB OVER CURRENT NOTICE - A USB device is currently drawing too much power. The hub to which it is attached to will be deactivated".
The only thing attached by external USB is the stock Apple mouse; in fact, this machine is plain vanilla, nothing-that-didn't-come-out-of-the-box stock Apple. I have tried resetting the SMC. I have tried a different mouse. I have tried no mouse. I have tried all the different USB ports in the back. I performed a shutdown and left everything unplugged for half an hour. There isn't any relevant help on Apple's support site.
Any ideas?

I don't know if this helps but...
I have five 24" iMacs in a education lab that keep telling me "USB Current Overload," even though only the Apple keyboard is attached. It seems they starting giving me the message the first time I turned them on. However, after a great talk with an Apple Tech person, we deduced that it must be a driver I installed on the five machines. We came to this conclusion because when I boot the machine from the OS CD, the problem doesn't happen. When I reboot from the hard drive, the message incessantly pops up, even with just the keyboard and mouse (that it came with) plugged in. On one machine in particular, the message pops up so many times that I can barely use the machine.
I have installed two external devices driver's on this machine, a Novation ReMote Compact SL driver and a TC Electronics 24 D firewire driver. I also have "frozen" these machines using DeepFreeze, which keeps students from installing things or chaning settings. My assumption is that one of these drivers is causing the bogus message. Since the computer works fine when booting up from the OS CD, this is the only thing that could be happening. Some other driver is causing the machine to think a USB device is drawing too much power. At least, I think this is what is happening. I'm still working on fixing this problem, but have not been successful yet with removing drivers.

USB Over Current Notice - Macbook Pro 2006

I had an external hard drive connected to one of my USB ports, and I think the AC Power adapter it was using flipped out. The drive no longer works at all. The port (front left) does not work with any devices (powereded or not) now, but the other two USB ports do (powered devices or not). I figured I'd have to take it in to the shop if I want to get the dead USB port working again. Or, is that something I may be able to fix? Anybody know?
Everytime I power up the computer now, I get this notice: "USB Over Current Notice, A USB device is currently drawing too much power. The hub it is attached to will be deactivated."
It must be referring to the front left port as a hub, right? And since the other ports are still working, am I correct in thinking that each port must be considered an independent hub from the others?
I find it notable that the dead USB port is reporting to continually be "drawing too much power." Maybe the circuitry is just fried so it keeps reporting it??? I have nothing plugged into the port in question.
Does anybody have any helpful ideas how I can remedy this issue besides taking it in to the shop? Anything I can do through software?
Message was edited by: Adam Berkey

time to re-think cost vis-a-vis reliability of these macbook pros
*BINGO !*
Plus,... when you live in the middle of nowhere -like me- and that the nearest Apple authorized reseller doenst give the Apple Care service ? (yes ! I swear, not a lie)
Plus, ... when calling the US complaining the bad Apple service in LatAm, there is no reply ..
Plus, ... no way to contact Apple LatAm ( its a continent, right ? ) Apple LatAm is the only location without phone number in the International Technical Support Numbers ..
I feel VERY VERY alone and frustrated. btw I bought the dearest computer in the world, in order to get the best quality and service
If someone could give me a phone number where I could complain about Apple Care in Argentina
I would be very happy
Thanks for your help/advice Apple people ! http://homepage.mac.com/rdsck/PhotoAlbum24.html

Mac mini shut down with USB and USB Over Current Notice

I just spent the day dealing with my mini shutting down when I connected my iphone. If I left it connected at restart, I got the infamous USB Over Current Notice. I tried all suggestions and finally used an apple connector instead of the one I had been using. Everything OK again... Other comments? It was very time consuming and frustrating.

Do you have other devices connected to USB ports ?
Try to connect with a powerde hub in between.
and look here https://discussions.apple.com/message/7191644#7191644

USB Over Current Notice - Nothing Connected

Hey all,
so recently i hooked back up my power mac and it worked well for the first couple months.
However, today i was not so lucky. I have a 20 inch apple monitor attached, and it has 2 usb ports. Those ports are almost always plugged in, but when i try to plug them in together, now i get the message 5 times in a row: USB Over Current Notice, A USB device is currently drawing too much power. The hub to which it is attached to will be deactivated.
After playing around with it for over an hour, I've drawn a couple conclusions. If nothing is connected: it will still pop up 5 times in a row. If I have just the keyboard in (and mouse connected to keyboards USB): the message pops up, however the hub (usb on monitor) is not deactivated. If i plug in my music streamer and the keyboard: message pops up and the hub is deactivated.
Finally my troubleshooting.
Resetting the SMU: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1436
Not sure if this is a late 2004 or late 2005 Power Mac G5, but i did it the 2004 way so far.
Resetting the PRAM: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
Both have not helped the problem, if the problem still exist I will take off the aluminum cover and reset the SMU or PMU or whatever else people suggest within the next couple of days.
Currently on my laptop watching it pop up every 30 seconds between me holding return (closing the 5 windows). ugh

Yes, it's likely the Monitor hub, a common failure point, disconnect the USB to the Monitor & get an AC powered USB2 hub.

USB over current notice and other problems

I have a 17" MacBook Pro (original 2.16 Core Duo) that has a USB over current notice pop up. The pop up says that the USB hub it's attached to will be deactivated. I'm trying to troubleshoot it but can't figure out what's causing it. What exactly does this notice mean? The ports all still work. The iSight doesn't work (not even recognized in System Profiler), and I know that's on the USB bus. Could that be the problem? I noticed the pop up seemed to occur with movement. I've found that I can recreate the USB alert at any time by applying pressure to the bottom case, in the center right behind the RAM cover. This may sound strange, but while trying to figure this out, I was pressing around on the top case to the sides of the trackpad, and when doing so it made a crackling sound. It did this again when I applied pressure and the keyboard and trackpad became unresponsive. Does anyone have a clue? Thanks.

Try http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090 to see if you can find the iSight problem.
If your iSight is still not recognized in System Profiler, you likely have hardware problems. (That hardware problem could also account for your problem "with movement" and the "crackling sound.") Contact Apple or an Apple-Authorized Service Provider for service. Tell your service provider about all your issues. My guess is that at least some are related.
If you can get your iSight working again, consider the info from these Apple technical articles:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25685
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1151
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA26511
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA25618
It seems possible to me that an unpowered (or possibly an underpowered) hub could be causing your symptoms. It also seems possible that a faulty power supply on a powered USB hub could cause bus current overload without your knowing that your hub is operating like a non-powered unit even though you have it plugged in to wall power. If you cannot check your hub's power supply, ask you Apple Technician to do it when you have your MBP checked.
EZ Jim
G5 DP 1.8GHz w/Mac OS X (10.5.6) PowerBook 1.67GHz (10.4.11) iBookSE 366MHz (10.3.9) External iSight

My 15" Macbook pro gives me a "USB over current notice," NOTHING PLUGGED IN

My 15" Macbook pro always gives me a "USB over current notice" on startup and VERY frequently throughout use (I'm talking every 5 minutes) without ANYTHING plugged in. My computer is ****** up, and will often freeze without being charged, (and thats a whole other problem) but I'm almost certain the USB over current notices happened well before that. I'm 99% sure its the USB on the left side of my mac, because i'd tried connecting my Ipod to that side and got no response. Plugging it in on the right side worked fine.
I'm not turning it into the apple store, it would cost much more to fix than to buy a new one due to it being dropped one to many times, but most problems i don't mind except for this!
if there's anyway to COMPLETELY deactivate my left USB port that'd be awesome. i have absolutley no need for it since it's already obsolete.
ALL HELP IS APPRECIATED. and I'll try to be accepting if there's no real way to fix this, i understand how f'ed up it is already.
-i believe i've already reset my PRAM (or was it PMU???)
and i dont know how to reset any other fancy shmancy mac lingo and i'm not the most computer sauve person, so baby speak will totally help.

Maybe "dropped too many times" is a clue. Take it in for repair.

FOR GURUS: Over Current Notice - USB device drawing too much power

Hi,
When I plug a USB extender cable to any USB port on any Mac tested so far, I get the warning:
"USB Over Current Notice. The USB device is currently drawing too much power. The port it is attached to will be deactivated".
In fact, that freezes the Mac mouse and keyboard until the USB extender cable is unplugged, and renders the used USB port unusable until the next restart.
What is going on? Such extender cable worked fine until Virtual PC was open with Windows XP XP2 in safe mode on an iMac G5 (20-inch) with Mac OS X 10.4.3. A 1GB flash pen was inserted, and its files were seen via "My computer". Then the flash pen was taken out (without properly ejecting it via Windows) and someone inserted a 2.2 GB USB hard disk, which froze the Mac and caused the reported problem from that moment.
So it seems that the USB cable is now somehow defective, but I wonder if it could be fixed, since it does not seem to have any internal circuit but just the USB connectors and cables. So I wonder what is going on...
Thanks.

¡Hola, Gabriel!
USB Overcurrent Protection issues arise when one or more of the USB devices draw too much power or, by adding a device to a USB hub, one exceeds the current budget for the entire chain. A detailed explanation can be found in this article, where it states:"Should the cumulative current drawn by a group of downstream ports exceed a preset value, the overcurrent protector removes power from all downstream ports. Overcurrent circuits are used to protect against catastrophic device failures, software errors that lead to devices turning on when the current budget has been exceeded, and user-caused events such as the shorting out of connector pins."See also "USB: Hub Description" for important information on self-powered vs. bus-powered UBS hubs.
Your Apple Pro keyboard is a bus-powered USB hub. Some displays continaing USB ports may act as either bus-powered or self-powered hubs: one has to consult the display's documentation for details.
• If USB Overcurrent problems arise using a bus-powered, third-party USB hub, try a self-powered hub or connect the USB device directly to one of the built-in USB ports on the computer itself.
• If USB Overcurrent Protection issues arise when a device is connected directly to one of the built-in USB ports on the computer itself, then the peripheral device or its cable is either damaged or defective.
Note that you can not put two bus-powered hubs in series. In addition to the article "USB: Hub Description", see also "Apple Pro Keyboard: Devices Connected to Hub May Not Work."
Good luck!
Dr. Smoke
Author: Troubleshooting Mac® OS X

"USB Over Current Notice" - Hard drive not connecting any more??

I have an internal hard drive which I put in an hard drive enclosure and have been using as a backup hard drive for the past few months...I just bought a bigger hard drive for my Macbook so I backed all my info up to my external hard drive and now that the new hard drive has been successfully installed, I can't seem to boot my external hard drive. When I plug it in I get the message "USB Over Current Notice. A USB device is currently drawing too much power. The hub to which it is attached to will be deactivated."
I've tried repairing disk permissions, I've switched out the USB cable, and I've tried it on my mom's (brand new) iMac. This thing is no longer working, and I'm not sure why since my upgrading my macbook's hard drive shouldn't have affected my external hard drive whatsoever. My Macbook is plugged into the power adapter, and my iMac is obviously plugged in to a power source as well.
Again, I've used this hard drive to back up both the iMac and the Macbook successfully in the very recent past, and all of a sudden it's not working - I'm not even using the full amount of space in the external hard drive. What is the problem here and how do I fix it? All my old files are on that hard drive and now I can not longer access them.

Sounds like your "new" external is operating as a bus-powered drive. The bigger internal may be drawing a larger amount of current--you didn't say what size either is and even within the same size, the current draw varies a lot. Between them you may be exceeding the available current. BTW, this can happen with large flash drives, too. I suggest you put your external in a powered enclosure or a powered 2.5"/3.5" open externals--I bought one, either option $20 to $30. Once it turns off the port it will take a while to be re-enabled with the load removed. I had it happen with a new mouse on an iMac keyboard port.
-Ken

USB Port over current

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