Mini Mac Power Loss

Posted on
Sun Jan 29, 2017 7:11 pm
benish offline
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Posts: 15
Joined: Jan 22, 2017
Location: Portland, OR

Re: Mini Mac Power Loss

I was having this problem too (Mac wouldn't start up with the Z-Stick plugged in). I tried the PRAM reset, which did not help. I got a replacement Z-Stick, and was still seeing the same problem. Then I tried changing USB ports, and now it works as expected. I moved from a port on one far end of the row of ports, to a port on the other end. Maybe a separate bus? Maybe something else on that bus was causing a conflict? In any case, for others seeing this issue: try a different USB port before trying a new Z-Stick. And maybe try unplugging all the other USB devices too, to reduce variables.

Thankfully I'm just getting started and only have 2 devices I had to exclude / re-include.

Posted on
Sun Feb 05, 2017 11:42 am
sfhome offline
Posts: 3
Joined: Feb 23, 2015

Re: Mini Mac Power Loss

I had the exact same problem on a Mac Mini with a Z-Stick Gen5.
Same very simple solution worked for me: moving the stick from the outermost to the innermost USB slot.

Posted on
Mon Feb 06, 2017 9:41 pm
srkinard offline
Posts: 320
Joined: Apr 10, 2016
Location: Austin, Texas

Re: Mini Mac Power Loss

As a companion piece to any time you reset the PRAM I would also perform the SMC reset...System Management Controller. Many times that combo solves lots of issues. And the changing ports performed sometimes will alleviate power-draw issues...I've seen various systems over the years that have one USB port that doesn't want to supply the same power levels as the other and during a verbose boot I can see it hangs on enumerating USB devices.

When I got my ACMT (Apple Certified Macintosh Technician...so we could perform our own warranty repairs in-house at my job) back in 2009 those steps were outlined as the normal troubleshooting steps for something like that.

Ross

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