Mac Studio USB A problems
Hello there,
I was wondering if anyone might have found a proper "fix" yet:
When using my USB-A ports, I get random disconnects from devices on my USB hub, such as my SSD being reconnected all the time (like every second). Also sometimes after sleep some of the devices stop working. They are still being recognised, they just do not work. This sometimes affects my audio devices, sometimes my mouse, sometimes my keyboard (mouse and keyboard are Logitech devices, audio devices are from Mackie and Fifine). Even weirder, once some devices (but not all!) stop working, my "USB" section of the system information is completely blank:
Similar if I run
system_profiler SPUSBDataType
but instead of not showing any results, it will simply load forever and hang there.
However, if I run this:
ioreg -p IOUSB -l -w 0
it will display all USB devices just fine, including the ones that stopped working.
How "not working" manifests itself:
- Mouse/keyboard: no input detected. The mouse remains connected, the Logitech software does not report it as disconnected. Same with the keyboard. They typically stop working independently of each other though, sometimes the mouse stops working, sometimes the keyboard. Rarely both fail together.
- Audio devices: again, no input detected, no output possible. The devices remain there, are selectable in the audio selector of macOS, but YouTube will show a loading spinner on videos indefinitely and Spotify will report "Can't Play This Right Now" until I select another audio interface. If the mic stops working, it will remain selectable but nobody can hear me.
Switching to another USB-A port does not seem to fix this state. Switching to USB-C however seems to work.
USB-A ports keep causing issues for me with my mac Studio. No solution in sight, only the aforementioned workaround: using a USB-C/Thunderbolt to USB adapter it seems the problems go away. The only nuisance with that solution is: on reboot I have to switch ports around, because I can't log in when the keyboard is plugged into a TB port due to FileVault encryption. Which is not a huge deal breaker, but it is a clunky solution. Either I always have to change plugs on reboot or I have to give up security. Come on Apple...
It seems something went wrong with the USB drivers ever since Monterey and Apple hasn't managed to fix it in Ventura either. There are pages after pages regarding USB issues since Monterey: USB hub failing under Monterey | Apple Developer Forums
This has been a problem from day 1 with my Mac Studio unfortunately, which otherwise is a fantastic device.
Anyone has any clue what is behind this?