High Voltage USB

[Grouter]

Was doing a job at a client's home today, moving all her mail, pics etc onto a new PC she just bought. Plugged in my flashdisk to install a couple of things - dead. Plugged in my spare disk - dead. Thought something was funny... Plugged the disks in at the back, both still dead. I should have known something was weird at this stage. Went and got my shiny new 200Gb mini sata portable, plugged it in at the front - poof! Had a look inside the new PC ( after both flashdisks weren't working I thought someone had just forgotten to plug in the front usb sockets, but after the portable hard disk went...). The bozo who built up the PC had forced the front usb plug on backwards, bending the pins, and sending 12 volts through the data wires. Great. Made my day. A 500 Mb flashdisk, a 2Gb flashdisk, and a near new 200Gb 2.5" sata portable - all fried.

Only good news is the pc was supplied by a local shop, and the guy who built it up signed the checklist that he taped to the inside of the case. He's getting a visit from me tomorrow.

 

[///MoH]

Unlucky man...

USB is 5v, not 12v

 

[Pooky]

Shooshoo that sucks

 

[Luke7777]

I do feel your pain Lesson learnt : Never use the front usb ports on a "foreign" pc

 

[DDV TECH]

Hmm, strange, it uses a switched mode ps, and should have cut power to the port after detecting the short circuit?

 

[Grouter]

mmm... a lesson learnt indeed. Good thing I plugged my e220 3g modem in at the back of the case (lady only had dial-up) for internet. It thankfully is fine.

 

[bdt]

... The bozo who built up the PC had forced the front usb plug on backwards, bending the pins, and sending 12 volts through the data wires. Great. Made my day. A 500 Mb flashdisk, a 2Gb flashdisk, and a near new 200Gb 2.5" sata portable - all fried.

Bummer about the popped media (pity about the slow uptake eh? (but we all have those slow days)) But, given that motherboard USB header is [ +5V | data- | data+ | GND ], where would he have found a 12V line? At most, all I can see is that he inverted the supply lines which, evidently, is enough to fry media - if that was into a USB header at any rate, all bets are off if he mashed it into something else ..that board have FireWire(ie(ee)1394) onboard?

 

[Cadavre777]

Give the "tech" a good shock from a cattle prod (dont stop till he loses bladder and bowel control) and tell him that is how your poor hardware felt.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

Give the "tech" a good shock from a cattle prod (dont stop till he loses bladder and bowel control) and tell him that is how your poor hardware felt.

Hope he pays for your damages.

But he can easily say he did it correctly, and you switched it around and damaged your own equipment by your own actions.

 

[The_Unbeliever]

I also prefer to use the rear USB ports - until somebody else plugged his/her USB stuff into the front ports and I can verify correct operation of said front USB ports thusly...

...isn't there some kind of gadget with which you can test USB ports before plugging in your expensive USB stuff?

 

[Grouter]

@///MoH: 12v / 5v, whatever. Enough to do damage

@bdt: yeah, I have a lot of "slow uptake" days in my old age

@Libs: I know the guys boss, have done for years. I will try and be diplomatic

I buy a lot of stuff from him, so am hoping I get a bit of sympathy which translates to $$$

 

[eitai2001]

I also prefer to use the rear USB ports - until somebody else plugged his/her USB stuff into the front ports and I can verify correct operation of said front USB ports thusly...

...isn't there some kind of gadget with which you can test USB ports before plugging in your expensive USB stuff?

Yes, there is actually a gadget for testing that sort of thing. Its called a USB Flash Drive or 200GB External Hard Drive

 

[Grouter]

Yes, there is actually a gadget for testing that sort of thing. Its called a USB Flash Drive or 200GB External Hard Drive

Would you like one? Slightly used, going cheap?

 

[eitai2001]

Would you like one? Slightly used, going cheap?

You might still be able to salvage the hard drive by the way ... first try claim a warranty, saying it just cooked ... if that doesn't work, then unscrew the casing, and see if the hard drive survived ... maybe just the little connectors cooked. You never know

 

[The_Unbeliever]

You might still be able to salvage the hard drive by the way ... first try claim a warranty, saying it just cooked ... if that doesn't work, then unscrew the casing, and see if the hard drive survived ... maybe just the little connectors cooked. You never know

Maybe the USB-IDE/SATA interface got cooked and the drive's still intact...

...does FireWire have the same issues?

 

[eitai2001]

Maybe the USB-IDE/SATA interface got cooked and the drive's still intact...

...does FireWire have the same issues?

Thats what I'm saying. Have no idea ... but there isn't much to lose now is there. But before doing that ... try get it swapped out saying it just stopped working one day

 

[Grouter]

You might still be able to salvage the hard drive by the way ... first try claim a warranty, saying it just cooked ... if that doesn't work, then unscrew the casing, and see if the hard drive survived ... maybe just the little connectors cooked. You never know

1st thing I tried, seeing as 2.5" and 3.5" sata hdd connectors are the same. The drive is dead. Smells like electrical death too. No way I'm going to embarass myself by trying to pull a warranty claim with it. It's already had the mercy blow from the 5 lb hammer (to protect my data) and is binned - literally.