USB problem/Thunderbolt on Mac mini M4

Had the exact same problem.... now solved. The information herein might help others with troubleshooting.

I have an M4 Pro Mac mini and an Apple Studio Display. Have 2 Apple keyboards. One about 7 years old (Bluetooth) and another about 13 years old (Model A1243). Both have the numeric keypad. The older one has a USB-A connector.

I prefer the older Model A1243 just for the feel of the keys. But it would work intermittently when plugged directly into the Mac mini or the studio display (used Anker adapters). The front ports on the Mac mini worked best, but still were intermittent. Very frustrating.

Also have an OWC Thunderbolt-4 dock. Eventually plugged the dock into the Mac mini. This dock has a USB type-A port. This dock also comes with optional software for ejecting disks connected. But per OWC:

"When you install this app, a driver is also included for the dock’s high-power USB ports. The driver enables use of the Apple SuperDrive and USB Keyboard on these ports, and should enable them to charge 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation iPads as well."

Installed the dock driver and plugged the old USB keyboard into the Type-A port of the dock. The keyboard works perfectly! I've been using it for a couple of weeks.

So.... I am wondering if the issue has something to do with the power (or voltage?) being provided through the new generation USC-C and/or Thunderbolt ports for old USB devices. Note that OWC dock has its own power supply.

Anyway, hope this info helps.

Being that the cable works fine on the front port, how have you determined the issue is the cable? I am an engineer with 30 years of troubleshooting, so I'm seriously curious how the cable is the issue.

Also of note, that is absolutely not a male to female USB C so I will have to say that that is not going to work with my Yubikey, but maybe you had a different plan on how to plug that in, so I'm all ears.

The issue is a production situation - there are so many reports of this issue across so many platforms by so many users.

Re: “I have kind of the same problem. My external ssd mounted at the back of my Mac mini M4 works fine. All other ports do nothing.”

If that SSD is in a Thunderbolt or USB4 enclosure that cannot fall back to USB 3.x, that would be the expected result. The USB-C ports on the front do not support either USB4 or Thunderbolt. Just USB 3.x.

Thank you Sir. The only device communicating through the Xcellon hub is the Logitech wireless mouse. The wireless keyboard is Apple. No problem here. I may have to buy an Apple mouse and do without the hub. My old monitor uses a VGA cable and so I'm using a VGA/HDMI converter. No problem here...I hope. I went with Apple because I already had an IPhone because I use Rexton hearing devices. Apple: Don't let me down!

Ich habe gerade sehr lange mit dem Apple Support gesprochen!

Mein Problem: Die Logitech Maus MX 3S ruckelt und stottert was das Zeug hält wenn ich es an den hinteren Anschlüssen verwenden möchte. Vorn sind die 2 USB C bereits komplett belegt mit USB Hubs für meine Festplatten. Den Dongel der Maus in die Hubs geht auch nicht, ruckelt ähnlich stark. Einzig direkt an einen der vorderen Buchsen scheint zu funktionieren. Das habe ich allerdings noch nicht ausgiebig getestet.

Der Support verweist auf Apple Peripher Geräte und ist selbst ratlos. Meine Anmerkung, das es ja keine Apple Hubs für TB (hintere Anschlüsse) gibt, macht auch keinen Unterschied in der Beratung/Auskunft.

Alles in allem sehr traurig was da Apple auf den Markt gebracht hat.

(All dies, mehr als 7 externe Festplatten, Logitech Maus, Drucker, Scanner etc haben mit dem M1 einwandfrei funktioniert)

:-(

Ich hoffe jemand von Apple liest das hier mit!

John Smiley wrote:

Update - Replaced the long USB extender cable with adapters with a single "high speed" USB-C to Micro-B Cable (no adapters) and have been using the rear ports without "disconnect" error for a few days.

FYI, people need to make sure the length of their cables do not exceed a certain length or there can be issues with transmitting data & staying connected. Not all cables or adapters work the same....it is usually best to stick with high quality cables & adapters as well, but even if they are from respected manufacturers they can sometimes have compatibility issues with some devices/computers.

Good job, hopefully that is a long lasting solution for you.

I know this will be extremely annoying for some of you to read, but really do invest in quality cables. I've had similar issues with an audio interface. It was sometimes powered and working and sometimes simply not seen by the Mac Mini. Swapping the cables didn't yield satisfactory results until I swapped it with an Apple cable and suddenly no more issues. I now invested in a high quality audio cable to further limit latency problems and haven't had any issues since.

I've since experimented with different cables, and reached the conclusion that they are the source of the strange behavior. The interface requires simultaneously “high” power and data transmission, which I expect is the same of some usb hubs and drives that you guys are having problems with. The thing that is strange is that the cable is not outright rejected, but the Mac Mini seems to be throwing a coin to decide whether it will accept or not accept the device on a particular boot. It seems like a typical case of something the device wasn't designed to deal with at all and thus leads to some sort of “undefined behavior.”

Look carefully at the specs of the cable that you require, swap the cable with a better one. I know this sounds like “you're holding it wrong,” but it is what it is.

I'm surprised this thread has seen no posts since early February. I have a Mac mini M4 w/512GB drive and it is basically a brick due to this problem. I've had to completely remove my external USB drives, USB wired or USB wireless (Logitech) keyboards and USB label accessories since they all fail within 30 minutes or so. This is true with the front or back ports. I'm currently only running with a Thunderbolt drive plugged into the back and have to use a small bluetooth Apple keyboard which I don't like. I've reported this to Apple a week ago and they acted surprised and claimed they hadn't heard of the issue. They want me to take it to the Apple Store and I will but not looking forward to hauling all this equipment into the store to set up and wait 30+ minutes for it to act up knowing I'll be leaving there with no remedy to the situation other than possibly a replacement Mac mini that most assuredly will have the same issue. Aargh!

I am experiencing the same issue with my T4 SSD hub. I have attempted connecting it using three different T4 cables, but I am unable to establish a connection via the rear USB ports. The LED on the hub blinks continuously. However, when I connect it via the front ports, the LED lights up solidly. Consequently, I am unable to achieve the optimal performance of my Mac’s T4 speed.

I know we’re talking about the Mini here, but curious if anyone has heard of similar issues with the m4 iMac and USB 3.2 devices (I have not heard anything). I’m just guessing the TB port controllers are the same on both machines.

Trying to decide being the two machines, it’s $600 more for the iMac. In both cases, the CalDigit TS4 dock I own would be used for all USB 3 device connections.

I agree. It's a pet peeve of mine to have cables sticking out the front. I hope at some point this is resolved...

I bought this to help and got one before they sold out:

https://satechi.net/products/mac-mini-m4-stand-hub-with-ssd-enclosure

(I can use my USB-A keyboard without a converter, but still the cables are coming out the front...) Yes, first world issues, but something is wrong and Apple is not taking notice.

It’s actually the USB consortium that’s confused everyone. A Thunderbolt cable whether 4 or 5 is certified by Intel to meet the spec, so that means all USB standards up to USB4 (Tbolt 3 cables support USB 3.2).

USB cables are not certified and often not even marked. Look at the charging cable that came with your recent MacBooks…C to C, no markings and it only passes power, no data.

To figure out what a USB C-C (or C-A, C-B, etc.) cable can support I connect a peripheral using that cable and see what System Report displays for the USB connection. The cable that came with my Samsung T7 shows 10 Gbs rate, which is 3.2 gen2 as advertised. I have other USB-C cables that when used with the T7 show only 5Gbs data and one that shows only a USB 2.0 connection!

So when I need spares or something longer, I’ve bought TB4 cables. At least I know they will provide the maximum speed and power for any USB peripheral I might use.

The same on my side: external hdd worked fine since yesterday. I also tried to swap cables and connectors without luck. it only works with pendrive, so I think it can depends on power supplied either front rather than back. I also heard some strange electrical noise when putting on/off cables on front usb. I booked an appointment at Apple Store let's see what will happen.

Update -- I had disabled sleep on my M4 Mac mini, and that seems to have reduced the incidence of the KB/mouse becoming disconnected. However, it still happened a few weeks later. So I decided to punt and just go back to using my wireless Magic Keyboard and a new Logitech bluetooth mouse. I may get a wireless version of that wired Keychron mechanical keyboard at some point.

Not made by Apple, clearly. Try this one: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/MC9C4AM/A/thunderbolt-5-usb%E2%80%91c-pro-cable-1-m