Odd USB interface issue MAC

[radioloris]

My son researched like crazy and selected the Rebel T6 for his stop action animation through Dragonframe program. 

When he hooked it up to test it, our 2012 mac mini (with brand-spankin' new 1T Solid State HD running High Sierra) it threw up this error, and it does it on other computers as well.....

"USB Accessories Disabled: Unplug the accessory using too much power to re-enable USB devices." 

This happened more than once and even when the camera was turned off! Do I need ot get some sort of powered usb thingie (yet more $$$, YARG!) or is there some other strange solution? 

Thank you! 

<He really just wants to get to his animating, and this set-back is devastating!>

[TCampbell]

The camera doesn't draw any power from USB.  Even when connected via USB the camera draws its power from the battery (or you can get a special AC adapter, but either way it never uses power from USB).

I'm wondering if you have a defective USB cable (e.g. short in the cable) which could certainly explain the "you are drawing too much power" error.

The USB cable must have the 'data' pins (there are USB cables that only wire the 'power' pins but not data ... as they are meant to recharge devices such as cellphones).

The T6 does not come with a USB cable ... you would have had to use your own cable or acquire one on your own.  My guess is that you have a bad cable.

I usually like to have a long-ish cable when doing tethered shooting.  The well-known brand is Tether-Tools but I think they are expensive (a 15' cable is $35-40).  I bought a Monoprice brand 15' tether cable ... I think it was less than $7 on Amazon.  

Canon's official cable is this one:  https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/usb-cable-ifc-200u

The cable needs to be USB-A male (that's the most common connector and what nearly all computers use ... except for the very new computers that now have USB-C) and the other end of the cable needs to have a USB Mini-B male (not to be confused with "micro"). 

If you get a good cable and you STILL have a problem, the camera is may have developed a problem and needs attention (or if it's a 'new' camera, I'd exchange it.)

[RobertTheFat]

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@TCampbellwrote:

The camera doesn't draw any power from USB.  Even when connected via USB the camera draws its power from the battery (or you can get a special AC adapter, but either way it never uses power from USB).

I'm wondering if you have a defective USB cable (e.g. short in the cable) which could certainly explain the "you are drawing too much power" error.

The USB cable must have the 'data' pins (there are USB cables that only wire the 'power' pins but not data ... as they are meant to recharge devices such as cellphones).

The T6 does not come with a USB cable ... you would have had to use your own cable or acquire one on your own.  My guess is that you have a bad cable.

I usually like to have a long-ish cable when doing tethered shooting.  The well-known brand is Tether-Tools but I think they are expensive (a 15' cable is $35-40).  I bought a Monoprice brand 15' tether cable ... I think it was less than $7 on Amazon.

B&H sells very good USB cables (at least they've never given me any trouble) fairly cheap.

Canon's official cable is this one:  https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/usb-cable-ifc-200u

The cable needs to be USB-A male (that's the most common connector and what nearly all computers use ... except for the very new computers that now have USB-C) and the other end of the cable needs to have a USB Mini-B male (not to be confused with "micro"). 

Are you sure about that, Tim? My wife's 7D2, which I think is about the same vintage as the T6, uses micro-USB 3.

If you get a good cable and you STILL have a problem, the camera is may have developed a problem and needs attention (or if it's a 'new' camera, I'd exchange it.)

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[TCampbell]

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@RobertTheFatwrote:

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@TCampbellwrote:

Canon's official cable is this one:  https://shop.usa.canon.com/shop/en/catalog/usb-cable-ifc-200u

The cable needs to be USB-A male (that's the most common connector and what nearly all computers use ... except for the very new computers that now have USB-C) and the other end of the cable needs to have a USB Mini-B male (not to be confused with "micro"). 

Are you sure about that, Tim? My wife's 7D2, which I think is about the same vintage as the T6, uses micro-USB 3.

If you get a good cable and you STILL have a problem, the camera is may have developed a problem and needs attention (or if it's a 'new' camera, I'd exchange it.)

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Thanks for checking me on the cable accuracy... it's a smart thing to validate before buying the wrong one.

My 5D IV uses the new USB 3 cable (likely the same that your wife's 7D II uses) and all my previous Canon DSLRs use the USB Mini-B (on the camera side), so before posting, I looked it up.

This was a bit tricky because Canon doesn't list the cable as an accessory in any place that I could find and their "What's Included" link does not list the cable.  So I downloaded the manual (which DOES list the cable being included even though the website does not -- possibly it was included when the manual was printed but Canon no longer includes them??  I don't know).  

Anyway, the manual does indicate that it's a USB 2 cable and the interface drawing on page 28 shows the USB Mini-B port.  Page 317 shows the download instructions.

As with all Canon cameras that support WiFi and/or NFC, the WiFi/NFC must be disabled to use the USB interface (both USB and WiFi cannot be active at the same time.  Enabling WiFi implicitly disables USB.)

[radioloris]

Also, as far as I know the wi-fi is off, as it is a new camera out of its box and we did not go through any of the steps to enable it. Although my son double checked that it was off as well.

When I wrote canon support they just said to make sure the wifi was off and that that was probably why the camera was not being seen. I can't even get to the point of the camera being seen or not as it disables my USB port when it is plugged in and OFF.

WOndering if I got a serious dud?

[TCampbell]

If the cable is connected to the computer but NOT to the camera, do you get this error (could there be a short in the cable?)

If it only happens when the cable is connected to the camera, then I'd suspect the camera is defective.  But if it happens only when the cable is connected... the camera itself may be fine.

[radioloris]

well, I am going to need to do a bit more troubleshooting as now none of the UBS ports work... they seem to all be disabled. ARG!! It won't even recognize a mouse or keyboard plugged in now. Calling my computer shop first! 

[TCampbell]

Power off the entire mac ... then power it back up.

If you only have a wired keybaord & mouse (not Bluetooth) then you can force the computer to power off by pressing and holding the power button for a few seconds.  (this is not an ideal way to power off the machine, but if you have no other choice... it would work.)

[radioloris]

Thank you for your response. 🙂

We are using the cable that came in the box with the camera.

I have never encountered this alert EVER so I found the whole thing bizarre.