All USB gone.

[jparrot427]

Hello,

I have a G 41 that had been giving stellar service until yesterday. I turned it on in the morning and could not WL connect to my AP. It turned out that all four USB ports are dead. I valdated them in turn in Panel -> System -> Hardware and all the ports are working properly as depicted here but I get no connect. It says that the USB device is seen but Windows can not "see" it.

I then used the Z:\ partition via the blue Access IBM button, that redid the G 41 to new conditions but still no USB ports. The USB devices that I try are running on other Thinpads and on my desktop.

Has anybody here seen this before and what was the solution ? I am about to buy a PCMCIA card for USB but would like to solve this riddle. It looks serious enough, a new system board would be out of the question as too expensive. The rest of the G 41 is fine, thank you.

[jparrot427]

Hello again.

I played a bit with my situation and it is funny. The four USB ports are misbehaving for sure. The ones on the left side are showing a blinking LED on a card reader. The two on the back of the G 41 will show a steady LED, the top one will recognize a device, in this case a card reader with a .jpg card, for a few moments, and even show the icons on the screen but the lot will disappear after a short while.

I had been using a Trendnet USB wireless key, a G, before and I wonder if it did not draw too much power and damaged the circuitry somehow ???

If anybody has any kind of solution here, that would be tremendously appreciated. I am looking at a USB PCMCIA to at least regain that much used USB posibility.

Have a great day. JP.

[Terrahawk]

It's unlikely that excess power draw from a device will damage a USB port. The USB specifications allow for any of the four pins to be shorted to each other indefinitely without damage.

I had to replace the USB port on my R40 and I installed it upside down and put a USB flash drive into it, without any damage. Windows did complain though, about excess power draw and other stuff like that.

[jparrot427]

Good morning Geoff.

Quoting you here, brings my question.

>>I had to replace the USB port on my R40 and I installed it upside down and put a USB flash drive into it, without any damage. Windows did complain though, about excess power >>draw and other stuff like that.

How do you replace the USB ports on that Thinkpad ? I would not mind going this way, was it a home project or did you go to repair shop ? I tried a PCMCIA twin port yesterday but it did not work out. I presume that it uses the same inside logic regardless of the type of USB port that one tries to use. ( Maybe ).



I am looking at a system board replacement, they want $775.00 for one. OK, I am not looking anymore.

Thanks for your attention. .JP.

[Terrahawk]

When I received my R40, I noticed that the rear USB port was missing and it looked like someone had ripped the socket out. I obtained a replacement socket and fitted it, but it was slightly wrong in that it was too big, and upside down. I managed to find the correct socket for it and soldered it onto the motherboard.

Fortunately, the USB logic was intact and I now have two functioning USB ports. I suspect that your USB problem may not be so simple though.

[jparrot427]

Helo Geof.

Putors are sure funny ??? Today just to prove one thing or another, I connected a USB HD to the top rear port of my G 41 and lo and behold, it saw it, recognized it fully too. So, quick as a bunny, I did a backup of my system, using True Image. It carried through. I now believe in miracles !

After it was done, I connected the same HD to the bottom-rear port and it saw the device as if nothing had happened. But still, the left side duo ports are still dead, yes there are four on this Thinkpad. Two out of four is a big gain. Let us hope that tomorrow, the other lazy pair will be alive again. This really baffles me. In my case, nobody yanked anything out as for you, they had worked all the time in the last two years, until a few days ago. The power comes on the USB HD or any devices that I plug in but there is no "read" action.

I was going to buy a new one but for now, anyway, I will be patient, it is fully useable, I hardly have requirements for four USB at the same time, two, yes.

You be good even if you are upside down. Jean.