MTN 3G corrupt?

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sick&tired

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Is it possible for a 3G modem to corrupt your laptop, like burning out the power supply to the motherboard? Has anyone heard of something like this happening?
 
Sorry but what ?

How can a device plugged into the USB port that uses I think 12 watts (not sure) blow a Power supply ?

Only thing that can blow a PSU is power surge from the wall socket or a faulty PSU. It has nothing to do with your USB devices. Who told you that ?

Even if it's the PCMCIA slot, no way that can over use the PSU. Someone is lying to you.
 
i'm trying to get to the bottom of this: my laptop broke and after 4 weeks at the pc repair shop and R1200 later i was told that the modem was my problem and that it caused the damage? mtn is not interested in helping me with my problem and told me that they will not replace my modem with another?
 
sick&tired said:
i'm trying to get to the bottom of this: my laptop broke and after 4 weeks at the pc repair shop and R1200 later i was told that the modem was my problem and that it caused the damage? mtn is not interested in helping me with my problem and told me that they will not replace my modem with another?
Click to expand...

So let me understand this.

Your Laptop broke, and the supplier told you it was the Modem ?
Have you tried the Modem in another machine ?

It could be that your Modem is faulty and if that is the case take it into a Service centre for them to have a look at it and fix it if need be. But even if the modem is faulty, it has nothing to do with your burt out PSU ;)
 
I have taken it to a mtn shop, the one I got the 3g from and after 3/4 weeks the sales lady came back to me and said that they can't refund me or replace the modem. I don't want to insert the modem into another pc/laptop cause i am afraid that it might damage the pc/laptop too.
 
An USB device does not have enough power to burn out an motherboard, unless the USB device itself is faulty, or the USB ports have been incorrectly wired (the front USB ports on some desktop tower cases), or you used an incompatible USB cable to connect the device to the USB ports.

How old is the laptop in question? If the PSU was a fairly old model, then a capacitor might have shorted out (electrolyte leaked out).
 
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trial and error

sick&tired said:
I have taken it to a mtn shop, the one I got the 3g from and after 3/4 weeks the sales lady came back to me and said that they can't refund me or replace the modem. I don't want to insert the modem into another pc/laptop cause i am afraid that it might damage the pc/laptop too.
Click to expand...


take said modem into the MTN store, let them test said modem on one of their pc's. if it crackles and pops, then it's the modem, if not, the problem lies elsewhere. ;-)
 
sick&tired said:
i'm trying to get to the bottom of this: my laptop broke and after 4 weeks at the pc repair shop and R1200 later i was told that the modem was my problem and that it caused the damage? mtn is not interested in helping me with my problem and told me that they will not replace my modem with another?
Click to expand...

What make laptop? What repair shop?
 
well lets look at the original question... is it possible for a "USB" device to burn out the "power supply" to the motherboard.

is this the actual converter, or the attachment to the laptop...? in which the answer is no only eskom can.

sick&tired refuses to test the modem on another pc or laptop because the "repair dude" said it was the modem.

in which case we have the blind leading the blind.
 
unspokenchaos said:
well lets look at the original question... is it possible for a "USB" device to burn out the "power supply" to the motherboard.

is this the actual converter, or the attachment to the laptop...? in which the answer is no only eskom can.
Click to expand...

Or a lightning strike.

But can a usb device burn out a power supply? I seriously doubt it, the port would burn out long before the power supply.
 
This sounds a little funky to me. No, the USB port cannot do anything to the motherboard without a huge power input going in... which is impossible if you plug a USB device into the port.
 
The_Librarian said:
An USB device does not have enough power to burn out an motherboard, unless the USB device itself is faulty, or the USB ports have been incorrectly wired (the front USB ports on some desktop tower cases), or you used an incompatible USB cable to connect the device to the USB ports.

How old is the laptop in question? If the PSU was a fairly old model, then a capacitor might have shorted out (electrolyte leaked out).
Click to expand...

Quoting myself - faulty wiring would only cause the USB device to burn out and not the USB port(s). USB ports supply 5V to the USB devices - not the other way round. So it's impossible for any USB device to damage USB ports - unless you modify the USB device so that it kicks out some hefty juice.
 
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Hi guys.

Thank you all for responding. This is the deal.
My Laptop is an Acer travelmate, about a 2006 model I think. I bought the laptop in Taiwan. I have never had any problems whatsoever with the laptop. I went to MTN and bought a 3G modem.
I used the modem the first day I got it for about 3 hours and made some video skype calls. The modem worked fine for that time. Then I switched off my laptop. The next morning I tried to turn it back on and there was nothing, not even a light from the power supply. The battery was fully charged but not even that worked.

I tool the laptop to the repair shop. They repaired the motherboard power supply and I got my laptop back and it worked fine, until I plugged in the 3G modem and exactly the same thing happened as before, everything just died!!!!!

I took the laptop back to the repair shop and they said the power supply blew again, so it was replaced. I got my laptop back and I tested all the USB ports and dvd drive.
The laptop is still working like new and it's been about a month since I got it back.
I sent the modem to MTN to be checked. They said that there is no record of such a thing ever happening, which I understand, so they are not going to replace it, they are just going to send it back to me. I will not use the 3g again, because everytime I used it my laptop crashed.

I have no idea what's going on!!!!!!
I just wish MTN would do a little bit more in the way of customer service to help me come up with a solution!!!!

If any of you can advise me, it would be greatly appreciated!!!

Thanks a lot!
 
same thing happened with my laptop e220 blew my usb ports the usb wire with the two connection believe me use it if you use only on usb wire then it messes up you're power surply
 
Do you mean to say that this happens when you use the USB connector cable with only one port? should I use the connector with the double usb port connenting to my laptop and this will solve the problem?
 
I say go back to MTN and stick the modem in their machine. Don't tell them what is wrong, just ask them to test it for you *evil grin*.

I find it very strange that an E220 modem who doesn't even have it's own power supply can blow up anything. If you have such a device, I'd be happy to pass it around in my office, at least I'd get some work done once everyone else is screwed!
 
I have an E220. I'm running a Dell Inspiron 9100. Old as **** machine but still kicks ass.

The ONLY time anything EVER happened USB related was when there was static on my USB stick and when I plugged it in it shorted out the USB slots (I have 5 USB ports on there)

a shut down/power cycle and everything was fine again. As soon as Windows (or the machine itself) detects a power surge coming from the USB ports (going in, not going out) it usually switches off the USB array.

So can a power supply blow from a faulty USB device? no, because the system should be protected by its own fail safe's. So unless your modem is plugged directly into a 220 volt socket, I'll won't think it will blow.

However, twice in 1 go?

a) The initial repair could have been a power surge knocking out your PSU, so not related with the modem seeing as though you ran the thing fine until shut down

b) The repair was done sloppy (or the PSU just refurbished and the initial problem not addressed) and when it happeend again the modem was at fault because its the newest thing you added before failure

I highly doubt the USB modem will be the problem. I'm not clear what you did exactly. I use the extension cable to plug the modem into my USB sockets (I don't treat it as a USB stick, because I want the ability to move it around for best signal)

It could be a faulty USB connector then, or if you push it in directly on you ASUS, could short out the USB port by having the USB touch something it's not suppose to

I once took a screw driver to my usb port (by accident I swear) and shorted it out like that and the only thing that happened is my USB array got shut down and I had to power down/power back up
 
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