In this troubleshooting guide, we are going tooffer a number of tips for when your USB 3.0 ports aren’t working. Usually,there are only a few different causes for a faulty USB slot – we hope thatthese tips will help you to fix it by trying to solve each of these causes stepby step.
The tips we offer will be straightforward foryou to try for yourself, regardless of your computer literacy. Just make sureto read each suggestion carefully and follow the steps we recommend.
Connecting my usb flash stick doesn't do anything, I tried both ports but not working. I tried connecting an iPad, the iPad charges but it doesn't open show in iTunes for syncing. One thing to note is that Windows on VMWare recognized the devices when it is active, but not MacOSX. That means the problem is not hardware related. May 04, 2018 If the USB ports not working on your MacBook Pro or iMac is a recent issue, and there doesn’t seem to be any problem with USB devices, it could be that an app is conflicting with USB functionality. If you’ve downloaded an app from an unknown source, there is the potential for it to contain malware, which could also cause the problem. Jul 07, 2020 If Mac USB ports not working due to hardware issues, then you won’t be able to do anything by yourself. Take the device to the nearest Apple Support center and ask them for help. If the same has happened on your Windows laptop, then we recommend you to take the laptop to the respected brand’s service center.
Hopefully, once you have finished reading, youwill have pinpointed the issue and will have your USB 3.0 ports working again.
Make Sure Internal Cables are Connected
The first thing to consider is whether the internal cables are connected to your USB 3.0 ports. This will only matter if you have a PC and you are trying to use the front USB ports.
If you are struggling with USB 3.0 ports on the back of your PC or on a laptop, you can skip this suggestion. You will need to open your case to access the motherboard. Switch off your PC first and unplug it from the wall.
The image we have above, provided from ASUS,showcases what a USB cable looks like and where it needs to connect. The text‘USB 3’ Usually, you will find this at the bottom of your motherboard. Makesure it is connected – if it is, you’re good to go.
If not, you should be able to find the looseUSB 3.0 cable and connect it. If you can’t find one that looks like the imageshown above, it may be because your computer case does not have USB 3.0 portson the front.
Install the Latest Drivers
There’s a small chance you may need to updateyour USB 3.0 drivers. First, you must find out which drivers your PC actuallyneeds. You can visit the device manager to find out. Follow the steps below forguidance.
- Press the Windows Key
- Search for Device Manager
- Click Device Manager once it appears
- In Device Manager, look for Universal Serial Bus controllers
- Click the small arrow next to thetext to expand it
- Next, look for your USB 3.0 or 3.1driver name
In my case, it was the Intel USB 3.1 eXtensible Host Controller. Now that we have the driver name, we can search google for it. This lead me to an Intel website with the download link for Windows 7.
Make note that you are downloading the right driver for the right operating system. Before downloading, click the lock icon in the top next to the website address to verify it’s the correct source.
If there isn’t an available link for youroperating system, it may be because that manufacturer doesn’t offer driverdownloads and expects you to get it through your operating system. In thiscase, you can check for updates by following the steps below.
- Press the Windows Key
- Search for Device Manager
- Click Device Manager once it appears
- In Device Manager, look for Universal Serial Bus controllers
- Click the small arrow next to thetext to expand it
- Right click your USB 3.1 driver,and click Properties
- Click the Driver tab
- Click Update Driver
- Click Search automatically for updated driver software
Windows 10 may return a search for a newdriver, or it may tell you that you already have the best driver installed. Inthat case, move on to the next step below.
Update to the Latest BIOS, or Check USB 3.0 is Enabled in BIOS
In many cases, your motherboard will beresponsible for software issues related to your USB 3.0 ports or any otherports on the motherboard. For this reason, updating to the latest BIOS may fixthings.
To do this, you must first find yourmotherboard name so that you can locate the newest BIOS drivers on theinternet.
First, you can locate your motherboard name byfollowing the steps below.
- Open the Start menu
- Search for CMD
- Click Command Prompt when it appears
- In Command Prompt, enter wmic baseboard get product, manufacturer
- Take note of the results
In my case, you can see which product andmanufacturer I have. So, I need to search for a new driver for the MS-16P7motherboard from Micro-Star International (MSI). It’s quite simple to do – eachmanufacturer will have their own website for their products and there will besupport pages for each motherboard.
In my case, I had to search for the specificlaptop that used my motherboard when searching MS-16P7, but it didn’t take longto find.
Before you download, once again make sure youclick the lock icon to ensure you are connected to the manufacturer’s website.Download the BIOS.
Before we install the new BIOS, you should checkto make sure you don’t already have the latest BIOS. To do this, follow thesteps below.
- Open the Start menu
- Search for CMD
- Search for System Information
- Click System Information once it appears
- In the System Summary Tab, lookfor BIOS Version/Date
In the Valuefield, take note of the date listed and compare it to the date on the BIOSmanufacturer website. If the latest BIOS on the website is a more recent date,you can install it.
It is now time to install the new BIOS. Forthis step, you will need a USB drive.Locate the recently downloaded BIOS update on your PC. Extract it if it’s anarchive, and drag the containing files onto your USB.
This isimportant: You must make sure the files are at theroot level. They cannot be in any folder.
When you download a BIOS update, you will begiven a PDF or .txt file that explains the steps for installing the new update.
As you can see from the image above, thisfile, included in the BIOS archive, provided me with the steps I needed. Thereason you need to read this is because each BIOS will have different steps,but overall the process is similar.
You must switch off your PC, then switch it backon. During boot up, enter the BIOS by pressing a certain key as your PC isturning on, then look for the update BIOS option. You can find the right key inthe support material or on-screen as you boot up. If you need guidance, pleaseread the materials provided from your manufacturer.
Summary
That brings us to the end of our guide on howto fix USB 3.0 ports. I hope that you have found this guide useful. If you arestill having issues with your USB ports, please let me know and I’ll try toprovide my help as soon as I can.
Mac Won't Recognize USB, What Should You Do?
Commonly, when you insert a USB drive in the USB port on a Mac computer, the drive will soon appear on the desktop or hide in the Finder, letting you access, view, and manage data on it. Did you come across the situation that no matter how many times you try to connect the USB drive with a Mac computer, the USB drive is not showing up anywhere? Why this time Mac won't recognize a connected USB you may wonder. Though not a usual thing, the issue of an external hard drive or flash drive not showing up on Mac happens sometimes. What should you do in this circumstance? What are the effective solutions to make your USB drive show up again?
This page basically covers all the possible fixes for USB not showing up on Mac, which also applies to the similar issues of other storage devices like an external hard drive not showing up on Mac, flash drive not showing up on Mac, SD card not showing up on Mac, etc. Take a quick glance at the main content and directly jump to the part you're most interested in.
Workable Solutions | Step-by-step Troubleshooting |
---|---|
Fix 1~4. Some basic check and change settings | 1. Change the connection way 2. Change settings for desktop 3. Change settings for Finder 4. Check system information...Full steps |
Fix 5~8. Repair corrupted USB drive | 1. Reset USB ports 2. Repair in Disk Utility 3. Repair with the terminal 4. Reformat USB drive...Full steps |
Fix 9~10. macOS troubleshooting and manual repair | 1. update macOS and firmware 2. Manual repair service...Full steps |
10 Fixes for USB Not Showing Up on Mac
The reasons behind the problem of a USB device not showing up are various, including the USB port is not working, USB drive corruption, virus infection, macOS faulty, etc. So, to figure out the effective solutions for your own case, you need to take time to have some basic check, exclude the irrelevant issues, identify the potential risk, and finally solve it!
- Important
- As losing the access to data is the most direct impact of Mac not detecting a USB drive, you might need to perform USB data recovery on Mac.
Fix 1. Change the USB-to-Mac connection way
Have you tried to restart your Mac once or twice? Before taking further measures, don't forget the most efficient way to tackle commonplace hardware glitches that arises from time to time. If this operating system restarting fails to solve the current problem, move on to check the physical connectivity issue step by step.
Step 1. Plug the USB drive out from the not working USB port and change to the other USB port. Try all the available USB ports on your Mac.
Step 2. Did you use a USB connection cable or a USB-C adapter? If yes, take the USB drive out, and directly plug it in the USB port.
Step 3. Is there the other Mac computer available to you? If yes, try to connect the USB drive to this computer. Is it showing up normally?
Step 4. For SD card owners, the common way to connect an SD card to a Mac needs a card reader. If changing the USB ports did not work, try to change a card reader for a new round of tests.
![Are Are](https://blog.pcrisk.com/images/stories/blog/2018/mac-usb-ports-not-working-how-to-fix/reset-smc.jpg)
The four steps of troubleshooting a USB drive not showing up on Mac are very basic, however, quite helpful in most cases. Each step can help us exclude the issues of a bad/loose connection, a not working USB port, a lack of power, and other superficial phenomenons.
Fix 2. Change settings for Mac detecting an external hard disk on the desktop
Occasionally, your Mac has already recognized the USB flash drive but not shown it on the desktop. Thus, you should go to Finder > Preferences > General and make sure the 'External disks' option is ticked. Then you'll see the USB flash drive showing up on Mac desktop.
Fix 3. Change settings for Mac recognize an external hard disk in the Finder
Finder is the other access for us to check a connected external drive on Mac. If your flash drive or external hard drive is not showing up there, go to Finder > Preferences > Sidebar, and under Locations, you need to tick the option 'External disks'. By selecting this option, we can make sure that the connected external USB hard drive or flash drive will normally show up in the Finder.
Fix 4. Check the USB drive in System Information
When you cannot find the USB drive on the desktop or in the Finder, try to look for it in the System Information section, which is usually a hidden place for average Mac users.
Step 1. Go to Applications > Utilities > System Information.
Step 2. Check if the system detects the USB drive. Click 'USB' on the left panel, and you can also check the USB flash drive information.
Fix 5. Reset USB ports on Mac to detect a USB drive
Step 1. Restart Mac computer, press the Command +Option+P+R keys until the Apple logo appears.
Step 2. Press Command+Option+Esc keys to close all applications that are not responding.
Step 3. Plug the USB which is not showing up to your Mac computer. If it doesn't show up, click Apple icon and select 'Sleep'.
Step 4. Wake up the computer after a few seconds by pressing any key.
Step 5. Shut down the Mac, unplug the power cord, reattach it after 15 seconds.
If this doesn't work, we should suspect the corruption issue at this moment. Don't give up and try to do some repair by yourself.
Fix 6. Repair USB flash drive with First Aid if it doesn't show up
Step 1. Go to Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
- Step 2. Select USB flash drive on the left panel of Disk Utility, and click 'First Aid' at the top toolbar and click 'Run'. Disk Utility will repair any errors on the drive automatically.
Step 3. Select the USB drive and click 'Unmount' at the top toolbar, unplug the USB and plug it back in 10-15 seconds.
Fix 7. Check and fix errors in a not recognized USB with Terminal
Step 1. Open Terminal in Utilities, type:diskutil list and press Return.
Step 2. Find the disk number of your USB flash drive, type: diskutil info disk2 and press Return. (Replace 2 with the disk number of your USB flash drive.)
Step 3. Type: diskutil eject disk 2 and press Return.
Step 4. Type: diskutil list and press Return.When the USB disappear from the Terminal list, close the window.
Step 5. Close Terminal and open Console to inspect your drive errors.
Step 6. Click 'Errors and Faults' to check if there are any errors.
Step 7. Reconnect your USB flash drive back to Mac, if no error shows up, your USB flash drive is safe.
Fix 8. Save data and reformat the not showing USB drive
Disk reformatting basically solves many hard drive issues, including the not showing up USB, particularly the time when you are able to see the USB icon but files are not showing. USB drive showing empty makes no sense, so you have to reformat the disk and make it usable again.
Note that reformatting will erase data. As long as the data matters, you need to follow the standard procedure to ensure zero data loss. [1] Download EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac, the professional Mac data recovery software, to perform a full USB drive data recovery. [2] Reformat the USB drive in Disk Utility.
To format the USB drive in Disk Utility:
Step 1. Go to Utilities and open Disk Utility.
Step 2. Select the not showing up USB flash drive in the Disk Utility sidebar.
Step 3. Click Erase on the top.
Step 4. Finish the necessary information (name, format, and scheme) to format the USB flash drive.
Fix 9. Update your macOS and firmware
Did your Mac's OS keep updating all the time? Chances are that your Mac won't recognize a USB drive, especially after a macOS update. This time, take a close look at the settings whether your Mac is up-to-date. Equally, firmware updates address a variety of hardware issues and the functionality of the USB ports could well be one of them. So, keep your software and firmware up to date will likely make the USB drive show up as normal again.
Fix 10. Send the USB drive to a repair center
Nowadays even the branded USB flash drives are not expensive. If you've tried all the suggested troubleshooting methods, the USB drive is still not showing up on Mac, you have to accept the truth that it's severely damaged and beyond your ability to repair it.
Mac won't recognize a badly damaged flash drive or external hard drive since there is no way to show it up, even temporarily, which makes the data recovery difficult. The last chance for you to rescue data is to send the broken USB drive to a specialized data recovery service center nearby, and let the professionals try their best. You need to prepare for the manual data recovery cost, which is noticeably higher than the software data recovery. Hence, always try the cost-effective plan of using EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard to scan the USB drive for the first attempt.
Step 1. Correctly connect your USB flash drive to your Mac. Launch EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac. Start selecting the flash drive and click 'Scan' to let the software search lost files on it.
Step 2. After a quick scan and deep scan, all files will be presented in the left panel in the scan results.
Step 3. Select files you want to recover and click the 'Recover' button. Don't save the recoverable files to the USB drive itself in case of data overwriting.
Take Action to Make Your USB Recognized Again
On this page, we collected 10 practical fixes for you to repair not recognized USB drive. Don't worry if your USB or USB flash drive is not showing up on Mac.
Just pick up one of the listed methods and follow the guide steps to make your drive showing up and accessible again.
Usb Device Not Working
And don't forget to run EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard for Mac to scan and find all your USB data after fixing this issue.