This seems to be a common issue with macbooks i got rid of my macbook air because of it and i did a search and saw several post about it on several messages boards. Some people say its a loose board or something, i thought it was an isolated issue with just my machine and it appears to happen to several people.

I recently read a kind of scary statistic, that the normal USB connectors are only rated for a few thousand "mating cycles".

www.globalconnectortechnology.com

I use a bit of contact-lubricant (applied to the connectors on the cables, NOT sprayed into the ports on the computer), in the hope that the lubricant will prolong the life of the gold plating.

I know dust/dirt/grit will greatly shorten the lifespan of the gold plating and itself cause contact issues.

That sucks if thats true... I only been using that port for all my connections so that could be true... The other 2 ports work just fine it's just that one port.. I have apple care but I hate the downtime when I have gigs!

try this, store.caig.com i had a similar issue just put a few drops on a napkin folded, clean, wait some time then retry it. but i would say bring to apple care before using the deoxit. hopefully its just dirty and not cracked.

that stuff has done wonders, i used it on the back of my carts connections and headshell connections since i noticed the scope in serato wasnt as clean/large as it used to be.

Thanks for that tip...

Anyone else have this problem?? Bump.

other than that, i only had that issue with my denon dn-hc1000s and that because of a bad USB cable

Little update guys, looks like it was a bad USB cable...

Ordered one of those USB cables from DJTT:

store.djtechtools.com

Highly recommend this... now I can wiggle the hell out of it with no dropouts!

I had a similar problem with both of my (2008 Macbook) USB Sockets.

I ended up fixing the problem by shutting down my macbook and very gently bending the tiny metal usb grips (inside the usb socket) either with a tooth pic or a needle, as they had seemed to have become flat (due to unpluging devices regularly).

See this pic for info. tinypic.com

Good Working USB sockets should have the 2 metal prongs (circled in red) sticking up slightly, if they are flat then they won't grip the usb plug when inserted and will loose connection regularly (the prongs complete the circuit by possible providing a ground connection)

I also cleaned the connectors with a cotton bud/q-tip and some isopropynol alcohol.

Give it a try. Both my sockets are working fine now, no disconnections even when i wiggle the usb plugs inserted into the sockets :)

I hope this helps

SWEET! I just had this happen again.. I will try this... Thanks for the info!

H.O.L.Y S.H.I.T You are the man! I am extremely grateful dude, you made my damn day, I hadn't registered to any forum in perhaps 10 fucking years, but I had struggled with this issue for months now and your solution worked like a charm, I love you man, I do.

I had this problem with my brand new MBP, it was the top spec model. One USB was really loose, took it in and for done reason they replaced the casing. That caused both if the ports to be loose. They replaced the logic board which had the USB ports and same results. They ended up replacing it with a new one today and everything is good now.

This trick worked for me as well! My MBP is 3 years old and has had plenty of use in the USB ports and have been experience skips and complete dropouts (was happening to my external hard drive too though I thought that was the hard drive's fault... oops). I also did some research and found that USB connections are only really guaranteed for a shorter amount of time then we all probably expect, but you can extend the life.

Bending these prongs up is certainly a bit tricky (I had to use a really small screwdriver as toothpicks couldn't handle it), and it should go without saying that sticking sharper metal objects into places where you have a crucial connection should be done with caution, but I was able to bend them up and you can tell the connection was a LOT more snug. The cable still wiggles around a bit once plugged in, but for the life of me I couldn't get the connection to drop even when tugging and moving the cable around pretty hard (far more than should ever happen on a gig). I also took some time to clean out dust and dirt that I have neglected to do over the years which I think also helped quite a bit.

Proceed with caution, but know that this will likely fix the issue. Thanks Funkrenegade!