Unofficial archive. This is a read-only, community-run archive of the Apple Support Community. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Apple Inc.

Mac Mini M4 USB port not recognizing microprocessors

I have tried to connect several different microprocessors to my Mini M4. I've tried a RasPi Zero2, ESP32 and an ESP8266. Using Arduino v2.3.10, there is no port available. Using the same (data) cable on my PC everything works. The Mac is running MacOS 27.0.1 and I've installed Silicon Labs drivers. I have the USB cable plugged into the front USB-C direct to the board, no hub. Looking at System Report when I plug in and unplug the device shows no change in USB connections.

What else can I try to get this working?

1 reply

For the Arduino, please refer to this post: https://forum.arduino.cc/t/arduino-ide-macos-27/1460657/9. As far as I have been able to determine that one is the most useful.


Right now we may need to cope with installing Rosetta 2, but the Arduino devs have a pressing need to get away from it since Rosetta is definitely going away in the next macOS version. It will slam the door on Intel for good.


By way of suggestion I recommend lending the most credibility to ptillisch and ignoring well-intentioned ones from non-Apple users.


Pull quote, with emphasis:


"The vast and diverse hardware ecosystem created by the Arduino community surely has many other tool dependencies which are currently only available in x86 macOS builds. A complete migration of the ecosystem to native Apple Silicon support will require the actions of many entities not in any way connected to Arduino."


Also, please discredit any equally well-intentioned references to installing Homebrew, not only because it is not required, it has become a hopeless mess that will undoubtedly cause other problems now or in the future.


For that matter I have not found it necessary to install any drivers. Very briefly stated, if you need drivers for macOS "you're doing it wrong" and has been so for several years. That is not to say some older software might not need drivers for commensurately old hardware, but that has not been the case for the Arduino, not recently anyway.


Speaking of recency I have not had any time to devote to my Arduino projects, or the Raspberry Pi either. They are winter projects so that will change soon.


All the above aside though, something should appear in System Report. The problem could be much more fundamental.