USB port blew -- why?

  • Thread starter Thread starter larrymoencurly
  • Start date Start date
Rich.Andrews said:
Assuming you are being sarcastic (it's not clear),
Click to expand...

The ";)" always means non-hostile sarcasm.
I refer to this as a CatRan question, i.e., "I was typing away
on my computer and I was holding the keyboard above my head and
I was watching the screen through my toes when all of a sudden
the cat ran over my stomach and I noticed the screen blinked
twice. What causes that"?
Click to expand...

I think that it's more like, why did the waterproof flashlight
suddenly stop working when it started to rain?
 
Hehe. Well, with the one I mentioned it was an experimental prototype built
by the design engineer.
Click to expand...

....even this design engineer knows how to key a connector. ;-)
 
<grin> They don't smell too good either.
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Hot electricity never smells good. ...ever notice that? ;-)
Well, the individual diodes aren't all that strong, but there's one on
every single I/O pin on every chip, so on a big PCB, the load will be
spread over a *lot* of diodes.
Click to expand...

I've pumped several amps though individual ones, but you're right with
thousands in parallel it's tough to smoke 'em. It *can* be done, but...
Yup. The best I've personally seen was the time I accidentally plugged a
2716 EPROM backwards into a programmer. It lit up like a xmas tree
through the UV window, but worked fine when I turned it around the right
way.
Click to expand...

Oh, my! I've never done that. However...

One time back in the '60s (when I was a mere lad playing with electronics)
a friend and I were talking about these new-fangled LED thingys. He said
they were no big deal and had them for some time. He then took a
small-signal glass-encapsulated diode from his pile-o-parts, bent the
leads about 3/4" apart and grabbed it with long-nosed pliers. He then
shoved it into the mains outlet and sure enough it lit up, and quite
brightly too! He did make some comment about his reliability problems, or
some such. I just about PMP. ;-)
 
keith said:
Hot electricity never smells good. ...ever notice that? ;-)




I've pumped several amps though individual ones, but you're right with
thousands in parallel it's tough to smoke 'em. It *can* be done, but...



Oh, my! I've never done that. However...

One time back in the '60s (when I was a mere lad playing with electronics)
a friend and I were talking about these new-fangled LED thingys. He said
they were no big deal and had them for some time. He then took a
small-signal glass-encapsulated diode from his pile-o-parts, bent the
leads about 3/4" apart and grabbed it with long-nosed pliers. He then
shoved it into the mains outlet and sure enough it lit up, and quite
brightly too! He did make some comment about his reliability problems, or
some such. I just about PMP. ;-)
Click to expand...

A bit on the high side with power consumption too, I'll wager. hehe
 
JAD said:
hurt?

what main board? FIC ECS MSI?...usb blew cause the board blows.
Click to expand...

My main boards are cheap, FIC and ECS, so any built-in USB for them
uses an SiS or VIA chip. My NEC USB is a PCI card. But why couldn't
any built-in USB blow out because of something off the main board? I
had a built-in RS-232 serial port blow because someone tried to hot
plug a parallel printer port (vaporized a couple of tiny capacitors
used by the RS-232-TTL converter chip), no other damage.
 
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips keith said:
glass-encapsulated diode from his pile-o-parts, bent the
leads about 3/4" apart and grabbed it with long-nosed pliers.
He then shoved it into the mains outlet and sure enough it lit
up, and quite brightly too! He did make some comment about
his reliability problems, or some such. I just about PMP. ;-)
Click to expand...

Well, OK. But now traffic engineers are installing LED traffic
light replacement bulbs specifically _for_ reliability? :)

Daisy chain a dozen or so LEDs all facing one way, and plug it in.
Face another set the other way. Parallel as many as you need for
brightness. Nicely vibration resistant.

-- Robert
 
reliability and power consumption,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
speaking of street lights I was reading yesterday that a number a US
cities are being investigated about their manipulation of the traffic
signals to burn more gas, thus creating revenue for the city, (gas
city level taxes)
 
JAD said:
reliability and power consumption,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
speaking of street lights I was reading yesterday that a number a US
cities are being investigated about their manipulation of the traffic
signals to burn more gas, thus creating revenue for the city, (gas
city level taxes)
Click to expand...

Right. And OJ isn't guilty.
 
huh?


he is guilty (whatever connection there is to that) and so are the
cities involved in the lighting scam......\ or are you saying that its
impossible? very naive...but it was a side note and not meant for
debate.
 
One time back in the '60s (when I was a mere lad playing with
electronics) a friend and I were talking about these new-fangled LED
thingys. He said they were no big deal and had them for some time. He
then took a small-signal glass-encapsulated diode from his
pile-o-parts, bent the leads about 3/4" apart and grabbed it with
long-nosed pliers. He then shoved it into the mains outlet and sure
enough it lit up, and quite brightly too!
Click to expand...

I once had a bizarre failure of a USR modem immediately after a
thunderstorm. You would think it would be a typical frying of the phone
circuits etc. When I checked it out, the relay coil was open circuit. This
of course is on the control cctry and not the telecom side. I replaced the
relay and it worked perfectly. Can only assume it was a coincidence since
if it was a voltage surge it should have taken out the semis on the relay
drive.
 
Robert said:
Well, OK. But now traffic engineers are installing LED traffic
light replacement bulbs specifically _for_ reliability? :)
Click to expand...

You missed the 'joke'. It wasn't an 'LED', it was a 'diode' raised to
catastrophic incandescence from being fried to hell and back. Of course,
one *could* call it a 'light emitting diode', for a few milliseconds, but
it hardly works on the same principle.
 
Well, OK. But now traffic engineers are installing LED traffic
light replacement bulbs specifically _for_ reliability? :)
Click to expand...

They're more efficient too. LEDs are a few times more efficeint and the
monochromatic light is particularly suited for traffic lights. OTOH, in
the '60s...

Also note that some cars are using LEDs for tail lights. Headlights
are still a bit of a problem.
Daisy chain a dozen or so LEDs all facing one way, and plug it in. Face
another set the other way. Parallel as many as you need for brightness.
Nicely vibration resistant.
Click to expand...

Hmm, face another set the other way and you can plug 'em into AC. I
thought these things were a tad more specialized than that though.
 
reliability and power consumption,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
speaking of street lights I was reading yesterday that a number a US
cities are being investigated about their manipulation of the traffic
signals to burn more gas, thus creating revenue for the city, (gas
city level taxes)
Click to expand...

I thought that was all about red-light cameras (a real scam!).
 
You missed the 'joke'. It wasn't an 'LED', it was a 'diode' raised to
catastrophic incandescence from being fried to hell and back. Of course,
one *could* call it a 'light emitting diode', for a few milliseconds, but
it hardly works on the same principle.
Click to expand...

I'm quite sure Robert got it. He knows my silliness well (though may not
admit it ;)

<snip>
 
Geoff C said:
I once had a bizarre failure of a USR modem immediately after a
thunderstorm. You would think it would be a typical frying of the phone
circuits etc. When I checked it out, the relay coil was open circuit. This
of course is on the control cctry and not the telecom side. I replaced the
relay and it worked perfectly. Can only assume it was a coincidence since
if it was a voltage surge it should have taken out the semis on the relay
drive.
Click to expand...

Lightning can cause some very bizarre failures indeed. I had a USR modem
years ago that failed after a nearby lightning strike (rare here) and the
problem turned out to be a 10 ohm surface mount resistor with a crater in
it. Replaced it with a normal resistor and it worked fine until it was
retired years later.
 
| Lightning can cause some very bizarre failures indeed. I had a USR modem
| years ago that failed after a nearby lightning strike (rare here) and the
| problem turned out to be a 10 ohm surface mount resistor with a crater in
| it. Replaced it with a normal resistor and it worked fine until it was
| retired years later.

What most people think is caused by lightning is really caused by induction.
A direct lightning strike will turn your computer etc. into a pile of
bubbling slag. A strike near the phone line causing induction elsewhere will
zap things in very odd ways.

N
 
In comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.chips keith said:
I'm quite sure Robert got it. He knows my silliness well
Click to expand...

Entirely too well! I'm convinced you were either trying
to demonstrate prior art or "obvious to a skilled practioner
in the art" to invalidate the LED patent, and show the
general silliness of most patents.
(though may not admit it ;)
Click to expand...

Why not play the straight man?

-- Robert
 
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