USB issues on 2012 MacBook Pro

[Ben Bessett]

Ended up with a 2012 MacBook Pro 15in and it appears that the USB ports do not work. My first thought was that the logic board had problems but once the OS is up and running, I was able to mount an external drive without any problems via USB. Doesn't appear to be hardware I suppose.
The issue appears to only happen when trying to boot to a USB. Tried the SMC/nvram resets with no success. Any ideas about how to fix this?
My next attempt would be a firmware update which would be strange if that wasn't already on the latest because those should be automatically applied.
Just wondering if any other tech's have run into this.
Thanks!

 

[Krynn72]

What USB version does the macbook have, and what are the drives you are using? I'm assuming its the same issue with multiple, known-working drives? And you're holding ALT/Option to load the boot menu? Sometimes the drives can just take awhile to show up in there.

 

[Ben Bessett]

Hi the USB version? It has the latest firmware for the Mac.. Not sure what the USB version is. Same issues on all USB ports. Tried on several drive's --- never a problem booting and the result is always the same regarding booting to the USB even though the drive mounts once the OS is up.
That's when the problem occurs by holding down the alt/option key and all it finds is the boot drive. There is a weird issue going on for sure.

 

[eric76]

Hold down the option key and boot and see what happens.

 

[Krynn72]

Hi the USB version? It has the latest firmware for the Mac.. Not sure what the USB version is. Same issues on all USB ports. Tried on several drive's --- never a problem booting and the result is always the same regarding booting to the USB even though the drive mounts once the OS is up.
That's when the problem occurs by holding down the alt/option key and all it finds is the boot drive. There is a weird issue going on for sure.

I meant if its USB 2 or 3. I believe late 2011/2012 is when apple started making the switch to USB 3, so it is possible that a firmware upgrade could fix the issue if there were compatibility issues with these early models.

You could try to remove the hdd and plug it into a usb adapter. If even that doesnt show then you've at least ruled out any issue with it being the bootability of the flash/external drives. I'd check for a firmware/hot fix update after that. Beyond that, I cant think of much else that could be the problem.

Does the option to network boot show up?

 

[Ben Bessett]

Aww Yes USB 3.0. The 2012 models have that and maybe late 2011. Yes I can boot to internet recovery and actually was able to run AHT which passed but that doesn't ever really seem to tell you much in my experience. I did try without a internal HD and nothing happens via USB... It's just not happy booting to a USB of any kind... very weird.
Well I will keep you updated, thanks for the advice.