iMac USB issue

[evs]

Got my first mac ever, a new iMac about a week ago. A few days ago I noticed that one of the three USB ports on the back of the machine is not working at all. I have called the store I got it from and they said bring it in and they will have a look. He said likely outcome is they will diagnose it DOA and order a replacement. The problem is that it is a custom build, so I am looking at another 10 days or so from the time they order it to get a replacement. Also factoring in all the setting up, reinstalling and stuff that I will have to go through again, that option is not very attractive.

Is there anything I can do on my own to see if it is a hardware problem or to try and diagnose it / fix it? If it was a PC the first thing I would do is go to device manager and see if the hardware is reporting anything wrong, however in OSX I can't find any option to manage devices in system preferences other than keyboard/mouse, hard disks and bluetooth.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mad jew]

You could check System Profiler in the Utilities folder, but I don't think there'd be much point...

 

[cyantist]

If they aren't working out of the box, I'd say it's going to be DOA.. There is no 'on/off' setting for the USB ports.. I'm guessing you got a bad board since I'm sure you've tried all the obvious things already.. Looks like you get to set up a shiny new iMac all over again in about 10 days or so..

Probably not the answer you were looking for..

 

[rainydays]

Try booting up from your install disc and put in a mouse in the defective usb port. If the mouse isn't working there's probably not much else to do.

If you depend on your computer for your work then you should ask them if you can keep it until you get the new one. I did it this time and it was fine with them as long as I signed a paper. Might be different since you bought it in a store though.

Anyhow, if you have an external HDD you can make the transition to the new computer a lot easier by backing up your current install with SuperDuper to a partition on the external drive. When you get the new one, just boot up from the external drive and use SuperDuper again to copy everything over.
That way you won't have to install every little app again.

 

[evs]

thanks for the tips guys

dont use the computer for work, so i can survive without it.