[TriLUG] Ideas for Replacing Home Office Workhorse Computer?

[shay walters via TriLUG]

    I've had this happen to me in the past.  Perhaps the current measuring
is done between the +5 and 0V pins on the USB connector, but if the +5
touches the ground (outer shell of the USB) maybe it doesn't register on
the over-current sensing.  I guess it depends on the design of the USB
port.  But I've definitely fixed a laptop by clearing up a short like
this.  I filled the mangled USB port with epoxy because I kept trying to
use it and re-shorting things, causing the computer to immediately power
off.
    If someone pushed hard on the earphone plug and separated the +5 bar
from the plastic "thing" (not sure what to call it), or maybe even broke
the plastic thing (the thing that keeps you from inserting a USB plug
backwards), it could short the +5 to ground.
    Anyway, just a suggestion.   It won't hurt to look and see if it might
be a fix.

-Shay


On Fri, Jan 4, 2019 at 3:03 PM Brian Henning <bhenning at pineresearch.com>
wrote:

> > It's possible you may have bent the power pin of the USB port to the
> point that it's touching the outer shell of the USB port.
>
> That's a really badly-manufactured USB port if that's possible to do with
> an object as blunt as a 3.5-mm phone plug!
>
> It also seems really unlikely that even a permanently-shorted USB power
> pin should keep the whole machine from powering on.  USB is supposed to
> work in such a way as to shut down the port if too much power is being
> drawn; the +5 pin in the connector should absolutely not be directly tied
> to the mobo's +5 rail and, if it is, that's a very badly-designed,
> standards-violating mobo.
>
> I'm quite curious to hear what you find.
>
> -B
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: TriLUG [mailto:trilug-bounces+bhenning=pineresearch.com at trilug.org]
> On Behalf Of shay walters via TriLUG
> Sent: Friday, January 04, 2019 2:56 PM
> To: matt at noway2.thruhere.net; Triangle Linux Users Group General
> Discussion <trilug at trilug.org>
> Subject: Re: [TriLUG] Ideas for Replacing Home Office Workhorse Computer?
>
>  > As embarrassing as it is to admit it, I accidentally killed my Asus
>   > laptop yesterday when trying to plug in the 3.5mm headphones and I
> think
>   > I accidentally hit the power pin on a USB port instead.  Thing won't
> > even power up ...
>
>   Take a look in there with a flashlight and see if it's like that.  If
> so, you can probably bend it down with a sharp tool so that it no longer
> shorts and maybe get the laptop going again.  That USB port might not be
> usable again after this.
> (If it's like this, it's already not usable.)
>
> -Shay
> --
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