Think I just fried the USB ports

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leeferna · #1 Post by **leeferna** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 12:01 am

Plugged in a Treo before Hotsync was installed and the laptop just shut off (as if you pulled the battery). Now the USB ports don't recognize anything (Treo, flash readers, USB drives, etc.), so I assume that circuit is blown. Is this possible? Anything I could do to repair it myself?

IR0NMAN · #2 Post by **IR0NMAN** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 2:49 pm

Well, I don't think plugging a treo before hotsync would cause a circuit to burn... does power still goes trough the USB ports? Is your laptop still under warranty? if the circuit is blown, I don't think you could repair it yourself unless you're an electrical engineer

Good luck!

christopher_wolf · #3 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 3:09 pm

Even if you are an electrical engineer; you would have one hell of a time trying to point where the problem was. Then, trying to repair it. have you tried running PC-Doctor on the system, especially the USB Ports?

leeferna · #4 Post by **leeferna** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 3:54 pm

No, haven't tried PC Doctor. Don't have access to a floppy drive.

Its weird. The USB ports are listed under device mgr and if I uninstall them, they re-install automatically. But still cannot recognize anything plugged into the ports. Also, for some reason, the bluetooth devices have "disappeared" from the "Bluetooth Devices" under Control Panel. And, obviously, bluetooth doesn't work either, although strangely I can still enable and disable the bluetooth radio using FN+F5.

christopher_wolf · #5 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 4:14 pm

You don't need a floppy drive to use PC-Doctor; I am talking about the one that comes with the Preloaded Image on your HDD on the Thinkpad. That should be able to test various portions of the computer including the USB. It shoud be under Program Files. I don't know what type of Thinkpad you have, but I assume it is a T4X Series.

leeferna · #6 Post by **leeferna** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 4:32 pm

No, its a company-owned T42P, so they wipe the drive and install an image.

Wondering if it could be an ESD (electro-static discharge) problem. That would explain why the laptop shut off and had to be "reset" by pulling the battery.

christopher_wolf · #7 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 4:44 pm

Through the USB? That would have to be one heck of an ESD to blow away a circuit that can put out the kind of power a USB does; 0.5A maximum per port if I am not mistaken. Yup, if the company wiped the preload image...You can say bye bye to the PC-Doctor. The only other thing I can think of is to try it with a Thinkpad Dock and see if it can access a USB Device plugged into the dock. That may help in narrowing it down slightly to whether it is a USB port local problem or not.

#8 Post by **GomJabbar** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 5:41 pm

You can download PC-Doctor for DOS bootable CD and run that.

PC Doctor for DOS bootable CD - ThinkPad General

CraigR · #9 Post by **CraigR** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 1:57 pm

Hey leeferna,

I'm pretty sure I have the same problem as you although I'm sorry I don't have a solution for you. I was unplugging my digital camera from the USB port (I didn't do that SAFELY REMOVE HARDWARE thing) and the machine went dead. Not even the light showing that it was connected to the mains.

I couldn't power the machine back on or get any signs of life until I temporarily removed the battery. The machine booted up fine but now I find I cannot get anything to work in the two USB ports. I have a USB mouse, keyboard, memory stick etc. The machine does seem to provide power to the devices, they all flash lights on when plugged in, but the PC doesn't see them. I have run PC doctor and there are no reported errors. I have checked the status of the USB controller and hubs and am told everything is working properly.

I dont know a lot about USB ports, they seem to have 4 connections, I guess some are for power and some for the device communication. I can only guess that the device communications connections have been damaged.

I am away from home for 5 months living in Verbier for the ski season so I will probably just have to live with this problem until I get home and then I'll try to get IBM to check the port for me.

If I have any bright ideas I'll let you know. Not much help I'm sorry but at least you may take some small comfort that you are not the only one with this problem!

best regards,
Craig

davidspalding · #10 Post by **davidspalding** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 2:09 pm

Leeferna, can't your company IT dept. help?

Mr_Roboto · #11 Post by **Mr_Roboto** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:34 pm

I am afraid that I had the same problem. I have a USB HD that is only powered by the USB ports. I was in the middle of transferring a large file and my T42p just went dark. There were no LEDS, I could not power it up even after I removed and reseated the battery and the power connector. I thought that I was dead in the water. Then after about an 1/2 hour, I could turn the computer on but the USB ports were dead and there was a funny order coming from the vents.

I had to call the Lenovo's support line and ultimately had to ship my unit back for repair. I received a return box the next day, Tuesday Jan 10 and am hopeful for a quick turnaround.

This was probably not very helpful. I just wanted you to know that your are not alone with this issue.

Good Luck,

Rich

turbolium · #12 Post by **turbolium** » Thu Jan 12, 2006 8:57 pm

i had same problem on the dell the power would go to usb hd but it would not recognize it same for flash and mouse
the problem was in services it was messedup (i had xp for over year so the system was pritty dirty) so i just did a clean install of xp and usb worked again

CraigR · #13 Post by **CraigR** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:45 pm

Mr_Roboto

Yes I had the odd smell from the vents too!

Bother, I'm in Verbier for the Ski Season, I guess I will have to live without USB until the end of April when I can get it sorted. I'm not sure I want to try shipping it from Switzerland and getting it returned to my appartment.

I wonder why PC doctor doesnt report an error. Maybe it would if I tried the USB port loopback thing.

thanks for your comment.
Craig

davidspalding · #14 Post by **davidspalding** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 1:57 pm

Mr_Roboto wrote:... I could turn the computer on but the USB ports were dead and there was a funny order coming from the vents.

"Feed me, Seymour!"*

Sorry, Mr. Roboto, I couldn't resist. ... "Releasing the magic smoke" is a sure sign of hardware failure, and I'm frankly surprised as all heck that a TP would do such an innocuous thing like a USB port.

Did any of you guys with smokin' USB ports perform any overclocking, fan controlling, or other hardware tweaking? Not accusing, just curious.

* from LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

CraigR · #15 Post by **CraigR** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 3:31 pm

davidspalding,

Nope nothing untoward at all. I use this laptop for work and dont mess with it.

I had finished uploading half a dozen pictures from my camera to my HD (not a USB HD) and was just unplugging the USB cable when it happened. The system has not been overclocked, no memory upgrades, in fact the only change from original configuration other than software was I created another partition on my HD.

Craig

christopher_wolf · #16 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:05 pm

I actually had one USB Port, I think, fry itself on my Widescreen Dell today; I am pretty sure that is what happened, as it won't recognize a USB scanner that I plug in there or any other USB Device.

davidspalding · #17 Post by **davidspalding** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:39 pm

Oooooh, you have one of the WS Dell LCDs? (drools) ... Just curious, is it a powered USB hub in there?

With all these USB ports frying this week, I just had to check the MS site for new vulnerabilities. Sure 'nuff, there's another ... "Vulnerability in TNEF Decoding in Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Could Allow Remote Code Execution (902412)."

christopher_wolf · #18 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 4:46 pm

davidspalding wrote:Oooooh, you have one of the WS Dell LCDs? (drools) ... Just curious, is it a powered USB hub in there?

With all these USB ports frying this week, I just had to check the MS site for new vulnerabilities. Sure 'nuff, there's another ... "Vulnerability in TNEF Decoding in Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange Could Allow Remote Code Execution (902412)."

LOL, Widescreen Dell Laptop; not monitor...though I wish I had one of those too. It just acts more than funny when sometihng is plugged into the USB port.

Mr_Roboto · #19 Post by **Mr_Roboto** » Fri Jan 13, 2006 6:42 pm

Did any of you guys with smokin' USB ports perform any overclocking, fan controlling, or other hardware tweaking? Not accusing, just curious.

Nope. I had the default IBM installation.

My only thought is that the USB HD was pulling to much power and, if you pardon the pun, it popped a cap.

When I called tech support, they had me remove / uninstall the USB controllers and reinstall them again. All eight of the controllers were found, but still no USB. My guess that the IC that controls the USB ports is still functional, but the ports themselves are just not getting any power.

I am hoping to get my Thinkpad back soon. I will let you know how they resolved the problem. My guess is that they will replace the MB.

ruykava · #20 Post by **ruykava** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 8:01 am

this has happened to me before - left laptop on for a long time, when i came back it had shut itself off, but restarted fine, however, no USB devices recognised.

the only solution i can think of is to get it back to the service center.

rocky01 · #21 Post by **rocky01** » Sun Jan 15, 2006 6:43 pm

this is a known issue with those usb ports; either mechanically or electrically there is a weakness that causes the ports to be shorted and take out usb ports and/or systemboard, i.e. dead. it requires it to be sent back to ibm, oops, levano for systemboard replacement.

CraigR · #22 Post by **CraigR** » Wed Jan 18, 2006 5:23 pm

Yep, turns out the same for me as everyone else. Took a drive to the IBM Service Centre in Bussigny (thanks to my mate Chris and his TomTom go 700!) and they replaced the motherboard the following day. Yay - up and running again.

Zak · #23 Post by **Zak** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 2:43 am

rocky01 wrote:this is a known issue with those usb ports; either mechanically or electrically there is a weakness that causes the ports to be shorted and take out usb ports and/or systemboard, i.e. dead. it requires it to be sent back to ibm, oops, levano for systemboard replacement.

Is there a preemptive fix that a determined person with a good soldering iron can do to prevent this? I'm going to be shopping for a used T4x soon, and I'd prefer to eliminate any risk that it will die horribly while I'm using it.

christopher_wolf · #24 Post by **christopher_wolf** » Thu Jan 19, 2006 7:53 pm

Hmmm, I don't know; we know what the end-result is, and hvae a good idea of what could have caused it. Those are just diagnostic indicators within a context. To do a successful re-solder job, several things would have to occur;

1.) The problem is with the mounting and solder joint of the USB port to the Mobo
2.) It is a "Normal" solder joint; i.e. nothing else has to be done besides a relatively simple re-solder.
3.) It is accessible to the user; preferably without removing the entire system board, but I doubt that.

It is a bit too easy for us to say right now that the problem can be fixed with a re-solder of the joint. If it is a problem higher up with the the Mobo and how it handles the data (any DSP handlers, etc) then there is nothing one can do but replace the system board.

Just to note, I have use a printer, scanner, camera, mouse, memory stick, and iPod, usually two at a time and they are being powered (all but the printer takes power from the Thinkpad via the USB ports) and haven't had a problem.

Think I just fried the USB ports

Think I just fried the USB ports

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