USB Devices FAQ

USB Devices FAQ

These articles apply to all of our products that use USB, including the Wheatstone M4USB microphone processor and Audioarts consoles with USB I/O.

Q. I'm moving back to using a Mac and it does not recognize that my mixer is plugged in. It did the last time I used my Mac. Do you know what could have changed?

A. We’ve heard the driver for the USB audio codecs used in the Audioarts consoles and the M4IP-USB Mic Processor Blade was no longer supplied in Sierra and later MAC OSes. Since we have limited experience with Macs, we don't know for sure whether this remains the case but that could be the issue. Otherwise, here are some USB troubleshooting tips specifically for Macs:

1. Verify the USB cable is securely plugged into the USB port at each end of the cable. Unplug the console cable from the Mac's USB port, wait about ten seconds, then securely plug it back in.

2. If following step 1 makes no difference, unplug all other devices plugged into the USB ports, then plug in the USB cable from the console or M4IP-USB Blade to see if the Mac then detects the device. Sometimes other devices will have a conflict and don’t “play nice” with the console/M4IP-USB connection. If you find this is the case, you may need to manually connect the other devices after plugging in the console, or there may be a driver update or other information available from the other device manufacturer.

3. Was USB working from the console and did it just stopped working? If it did work, what changed prior to noticing it no longer was working? Did you add a new device or install a new program? Could try reverting the computer to the way it was before the device stopped working. If it works again, there's an incompatibility between the console/M4IP-USB and whatever new device or program was added.

4. Check the Mac’s System Profiler. Open System Profiler from the Utilities folder in the Applications folder. From the Contents column on the left, under the Hardware header, select USB; the panel to the right will show all the USB devices that the computer recognizes. It may not identify them correctly by name, but it should have the right number of devices listed. If the console/M4IP-USB device shows up in System Profiler--even if it doesn't work, then it's usually a software issue. Your best solution is to try updating the drivers, creating a new user, or reinstalling the system software.

5. If the console/M4IP-USB device doesn't appear in System Profiler, the issue is more likely to be hardware—either the device or the USB port isn't working properly. In this event, continue to the next item on this list. With each of the following items, go back and check the System Profiler window (press Command + R to refresh the list) to see if the device appears.

6. USB port lacks power. If you have the device plugged into a USB hub or into your keyboard, plug it directly into one of the USB ports on the computer. If it works there, the issue is with the device to which it had been previously connected. The device may need more power than the port provides.

7. Not all USB ports in the computer are working. Check the device in all the USB ports on the computer. Also test each port using a good, working USB device. Sometimes one port on the computer will stop functioning, but others will still work. If this is the case, the computer may need to be serviced.

8. Check if the USB device is properly mounted:
   a. Open Hard Disk > Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
   b. Highlight the name of your device, if it shows Mount on top, click Mount so that it changes to Unmount.

 

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