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I bought my Macbook Pro new this year in Jan 2012; it is the 13" Core i5 SKU. The USB port furthest from the screen on the left does not work with storage devices, though I have tested it with a USB Mouse and it seems to work. However on hard drives, USB keys, and an Arduino it doesn't work.

I cannot sync my iPod touch with it either.

Does anyone know what this may be?

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  • All of the USB ports should work with any of the storage devices that you mentioned. Since your MBP is so new, you should bring it to an Apple store for servicing - there might be something wrong with that particular port.
    – JW8
    May 21, 2012 at 21:28
  • Comparable: Why might one USB port be problematic on a MacBook Pro? – but I can't predict whether answers there will be good for the question here.
    – Graham Perrin
    Jul 25, 2012 at 11:03
  • Thanks I will keep updated on your thread to see if the answers will help me.
    – h00j
    Jul 25, 2012 at 11:05
  • Could you detach every USB device except a non-working in the frontmost port and run "system_profiler SPUSBDataType" and show us the output?
    – bot47
    Aug 11, 2013 at 9:21

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Just reset PRAM and it will start working again. It has done it for me many times.

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  • Technically all recent macs have NVRAM and are less susceptible to have a USB port go missing. In the past this was something got rule out when the port didn't function at all as opposed with some devices but not others.
    – bmike ♦
    Dec 9, 2012 at 22:32
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The port may not supply enough power for the power hungry units to work.

You may have to use a powered USB hub.

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  • Unsure if you know what you're talking about. h00j writes about USB thumb drives and an Arduino. Both usually take way less than 500 mA which is the minimum an USB 2.0 port has to provide.
    – bot47
    Aug 11, 2013 at 8:35
  • I believe that I've read that some MacBooks cannot provide the full 500 mA on both USB-ports simultaneously.
    – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
    Aug 11, 2013 at 9:08
  • My old mid-2009 was able to do so. And I actually think Apple ramped them up for charging iPads with 1000+ mA max current.
    – bot47
    Aug 11, 2013 at 9:10
  • Power negotiation may still be broken. I would still like to know if it works when using a powered hub attached to the port in questin.
    – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen
    Aug 11, 2013 at 9:14

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