IPOD Killed my Thinkpad (I think)

[shredfitz]

I am about to be not so happy. In fact, I am already very unhappy.

I went to plug my 20gb Ipod into my T40's usb port, the power cut out and now it won't fire up. Any ideas as to why this happened and how screwed am I?

[shredfitz]

Okay, it started back up. Phew. I let it sit for ten minutes and now its back up. Any ideas as to why it happened in the first place?

[mattkrass]

Something metal get caught in the port? Weird angle? Probably caused a short and you had to wait for a fault reset on the motherboard / power circuitry.

That's my guess, wouldn't worry unless it becomes a repeatable problem.

[SteveS]

It could be that the iPod has a large bypass capacitor across the USB power supply (bad design idea) that caused a power surge that brought down the PC. Someone else suggested a short, which is possible.

The USB on iPODs is not compliant to the USB spec. Since it is designed to operate initially with an Apple, they just does not give a X%&! about generic Windows PC compatibility. If you plug a Nano into USB in a Windows PC, data transfers on any other ports becomes impossible.

Do check your connector for damage or a bent contact. I can speak from sad experience that shorting the +5V on a USB connector on a T43p to ground blows a chip and after that ALL USB ports, including the port replicator, become inoperative.

[The Spirit of X21]

The USB on iPODs is not compliant to the USB spec. Since it is designed to operate initially with an Apple, they just does not give a X%&! about generic Windows PC compatibility.

Really? Do you have any articles on this? I am very curious because the vast majority of their user base consists of Windows (aka "The Dark Side") customers, a fact that I would think would provide enough incentive to be compliant.

[SteveS]

I used to work for a company who built electronic test instruments which could test compliance to several computer standards, including USB 2.0 and 1.1. In that role, I attended many “Compliance workshops” hosted by the USB SIG (organization that maintains the standard), to support our equipment. At compliance workshops, companies bring in new product and have it officially tested for compliance. If it passes, they are permitted to apply the USB logo to their product. You will notice that Apple gear does not have the official logo. During a lunch break, I tested my Nano and confirmed that it failed many tests. That was not an accident – it was not designed to be compliant. If you own one and ever plug it in to USB tocharge it, you will find all other USB traffic is interrupted. Can’t read a flash memory key, or print from your USB printer.
I can’t speak for all Apple products, and I do know the keyboards, which are USB1.1 devices do in fact pass compliance (although Apple had not applied for official USB recognition).