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devinw

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 3, 2018
4
0
Howdy friends! So, I occasionally connect my Pixel to the MBP and use the "Android File Transfer" app (which admittedly is an utter POS), but the odd thing is, the system will only enumerate the device and pop up the screen with the contents of the phone if I plug it into the 2nd (front most) USB-C port on this 16" M1 Mac Book Pro. If I plug it into either of the other 2 ports I get a message saying cannot connect to device.

Even weirder, I tried to plug and unplug the phone to the rightmost port 3 times in a row and on the 3rd time, the screen flashed pink and the system rebooted. WTF!?

USB ports all seem to work fine with other devices, though I do think there are some bugs with the M1 USB drivers because I'd been trying to solve audio crackling issues with a MOTU interface for months and finally found that connecting the device with a Thunderbolt dongle and Thunderbolt cable solved them all!

Anyone venture to guess why I would have this issue with only being able to plug the phone into 1 of the 3 USB ports?
 

BanditoB

macrumors 6502
Feb 24, 2009
482
258
Chicago, IL
The obvious conclusion is that the Pixel and the MacBook Pro are sworn enemies and they won’t work together! 😁

That being said, this is extremely odd behavior for what should be identical ports. I assume that you’re using the same cable at each location and are likely using the cable that came with the Pixel. One thing that you might want to try is to flip the cable over 180-degrees when connecting it to ensure that the ports are working correctly. This has been an issue with some of the Mac Studio ports which is repairable.

Other than that, do you have a different USB data cable that you can try? Keep in mind that some USB cables are designed for charge only, so you have to ensure that it is able to carry data as well.

As for the pink screen followed by a reboot, this has also been reported before when using the TB ports on the Mac. I’m not sure why they would be so temperamental, but they do seem to be overly sensitive to connection issues.

If you continue to experience problems, I’d run it by Apple Support to see what they have to say about it.
 

devinw

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Feb 3, 2018
4
0
Thanks for that info Bandito. LOL...yeah I thought the same. Must be the "Apple hates Google and Google Hates Apple" specially embedded IC chip doing it's thing! :D

I will try flipping the cable... I hadn't thought of that as they seem symmetric but I see what you're getting at. I am pretty sure I tried a couple of different cables, but like I said, when connected to the left front port, it works every time. I can transfer data to the phone no problem. The other 2 get the "fail to connect" error.

That is scary about the TB port crash. I hope Apple is working on this and it's not a hardware issue. I've owned tons of macs and 4 different macbook pros and never had such a violent crash from doing something as simple as sticking a USB cable in!
 
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