USB C and A ports not working on Mac Studio

Question

Level 1

39 points

USB C and A ports not working on Mac Studio

2023 Mac Studio, 32 GB, M2 Max.

I have multiple devices connected to the USB C and A ports at the back: Speakers (USB-C), SSD for main files storage (USB-C), HDD for Time Machine backups (USB-A).

Recently, these devices have started disconnecting by themselves. I will see an error pop up: "The drive was not ejected..." etc. Or, the speakers stop working and the Mac Studio speakers kick in. I have to unplug, re-insert them to activate them again.

Can anyone advise why this might be the case? I am particularly concerned about the external drives as one of them is my Time Machine backup.

I have tried swapping the devices around, it doesn't seem to matter which A or C port I use, the problem persists.

Mac Studio, macOS 15.5

Posted on Aug 7, 2025 04:53 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 7, 2025 05:29 PM in response to Jamie Crain

Some drives are designed to degrade gracefully when the Mac sleeps, and drops its normal USB power to USB standby power levels.

Many other are not, and can not recover, and end up dropping out. when re-acquired, the directory shows as checked out, so the Mac declares "not ejected properly".

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One solution that users have discovered is to use a powered USB hub.

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Answer 2

Jamie Crain Author

Level 1

39 points

Aug 7, 2025 10:02 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

It's not just the drives, and there's no pattern to any of it that I can see.

Whilst I was typing this response, I physically pulled out the HDD from USB A. When I did, ALL connected devices to ANY port disconnected. The screen, speakers, wireless charger, SSD, webcam. All of them.

A restart brought them back to life. But I am about to have a major hardware failure???

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Answer 3

tbirdvet

Level 6

16,691 points

Aug 9, 2025 04:53 AM in response to Jamie Crain

This can happen primarily for different reasons.

Using sleep function can cause attached hardware to be ejected- Do not use sleep and just have display turn off after a set time

The bus is overloaded. Need to attach a powered hub

Poor cable design. May need to upgrade to better cable

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Answer 4

Jamie Crain Author

Level 1

39 points

Aug 9, 2025 07:52 PM in response to tbirdvet

Thanks, though I'm not sure it's any of those things.

I did a full shut down and restart, not sleep. On restart, the main screen (USB-C) did not come on, but the second HDMI screen did. Neither of the external drives turned on, and the desktop speakers didn't connect either.

I've tried connecting the drives via Belkin hub, and they won't appear in finder.

I feel like the hardware might be failing. I might try contacting Apple.

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Answer 5

Jamie Crain Author

Level 1

39 points

Aug 10, 2025 02:19 AM in response to Jamie Crain

I went to the Genius Bar today. They’ve taken it in for assessment as it’s not a problem they’ve seen before. I’ll get it back in approx two weeks so I’ll report back then.

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