Strange issue - laptop peripherals fried?

[Grimspoon]

I had a rather strange occurrence happen at a family friend over the weekend which I am a little baffled about.

She called me saying that her mouse and printer have stopped working, she took it back to IC where they tested the mouse as well as the USB ports and turned out the mouse was dead. She bought a new mouse which works 100%.

I went there on Saturday to check out the printer issue and it seems that this is also dead. The scanner and printer function work, but there is no com between the laptop and the printer. I tried uninstalling, reinstalling and no joy.

Even when you unplug the printer you don't get that device disconnection sound or when you plug it back it in. Even after a uninstall on a reboot nothing happens, it just doesn't detect it. I even tried a new cable.

So the reality seems to be that both her mouse and printer are fried, but what could cause this? It is just weird.

 

[chris2.0]

Had sort of the same issue with a HP laptop - had to buy a PCMCIA to USB card... Funny thing is - the original USB ports still works, but only with a JNC mp3 player - charges and syncs, but nothing else!

Is it still under warrenty?

 

[LazyLion]

Power surges or lightning strikes.

Both have been known to completely bypass the mainboard and power supply and zorch peripherals only. Had it happen to me too many times to mention.

 

[xcalibur]

Same here. Happened to me twice. Lightning took out the peripherals without damaging any other components. (during huge electrical storm) I guess some components are more susceptible to voltage spikes.

 

[Grimspoon]

The first thing I thought of was lightning, but figured the lappie itself would have been fried as well...I guess it is possible to only fry the mouse and printer. In all my years I have never seen this so that is why I am so curious to find out what it could be.

The lappie is fine so no need for the warranty, the printer is pretty old so she is just buying another.