Mmmm...fried USB...

[Cricket]

I got a voice message on my work phone from a friend I built a few computers for. She said her home computer stopped working and she wanted me to look at it to find out what was wrong. I called her back and she told me her daughter was using the computer and it just went dead. I couldn't get any specifics since my friend wasn't there when it happened and her daughter only said it went dead. I told her to bring to me here at work and I'd take a quick look at it. She already had the computer in her van and was on her way over when I called, so she arrived a few minutes later. I took the computer from her and put it on a empty table in our office and opened it up.

Aside from being pretty filthy inside the case I didn't see anything obvious at first so I hooked it up and tried to fire it up. The power supply kicks on and the fans all run and I can hear the hard drive spin up but there's no image on the monitor. So I thought maybe a screw got between the motherboard and case or the power supply (a AOpen/Fortron Source 300 watt) might have gone bad. Well, since I was at work I decided to close the case up and put it in my car and would do the troubleshooting when I got home.

As I was about to close up the case when I noticed a dark spot on the edge of the motherboard behind the wires from the front of the case. I moved the wires and saw a big burnt spot on the motherboard...oh, no wonder the computer doesn't work...upon closer inspection I see a burnt USB header and connector for the front USB ports. I call my friend back and tell her the motherboard got fried somehow and that I'd have to order a replacement motherboard. She tells me to do whatever it takes to get the system working again.

After I close up the case I happened to look at the front USB ports and notice one of them looks funny...something's missing and it looks like a FireWire port now. I put on my reading glasses and take a closer look...the USB port is missing that black piece of plastic and the pins are all bent. Hmmm...looks like someone tried to force something into the port and that may have caused the USB header to fry.

I think about calling my friend back and let her know her daughter might have caused the damage...but I decide not to...I figure her daughter probably feels bad enough already. Instead I head over to Newegg and start looking for a replacement motherboard.

For your amusement I've attached pictures of the fried USB port and USB header. Enjoy.

Cricket

[doctorgonzo]

Ah, another graduate from the school of "Make It Fit!"

[Panama Red]

Wouldn't surprise me that your friend's daughter has a fried iPod too. Probably tried to force a firewire connector into that usb port. Whatever it was is certainly in need of replacement!

[HAL9000]

Nice... amazing how much damage low voltage can really do.

[rspassey]

That is incredible. Normally I would be laughing at something like that, but in this case I cannot even believe that someone (who obviously has a device either firewire or usb and doesn't know enough about how to use it) just thought that jamming it into the wrong port would work.

[glc]

Hey - don't laugh - I had a customer who was actually a pretty smart lady who stuck a floppy disk into her Zip drive and wondered why she couldn't eject it. Amazingly enough, the Zip drive survived, even though I had to disassemble it to get the disk out of it.

[colecifer]

Originally Posted by glc Hey - don't laugh - I had a customer who was actually a pretty smart lady who stuck a floppy disk into her Zip drive and wondered why she couldn't eject it. Amazingly enough, the Zip drive survived, even though I had to disassemble it to get the disk out of it.

I've actually seen that a few times, for some reason all the computers in one of our techlabs at school have zip drives. They're really unncecessary to have because the students aren't even allowed to use them, but students use to always put floppys in there on accident. Usually we could just use some tweezers and pull 'em out.

[kram 2.0]

Impressive. It looks like connecting a molex connector backwards - requires one heck of a lot of force, and is very very bad. Though, first time I've ever seen a motherboard fry that badly from a "force fed" USB.

kram

[David M]

Looks like she was practicing her tig welding on that thing.

[apollo]

Oh the humanity!

Here's a good one: my wife used to work at the Staples call centre near Toronto. One day, the girl next to her took a call from a customer who said the cup holder on her computer wasn't working. "Cup holder?" the girl said. "Yes. I used to push the button for the cup holder to put my mug on it. but it stopped working today." She was using the tray of her CD-ROM for a cup holder.

True story - I kid you not.

[David M]

Thats an old joke...but still funny.

[rspassey]

We should compile a little sections - burns, bruises, and everything inbetween to include some personal experiences with what develops from 'improper' computer usage...

[apollo]

Originally Posted by ryan124712 We should compile a little sections - burns, bruises, and everything inbetween to include some personal experiences with what develops from 'improper' computer usage...

I like the idea... it'd be the electronic equivalent of comparing scars in the locker room. I lost a nice chunk of finger nail to a 40mm CPU fan not too long ago. I shouted so loud my wife thought I got electrocuted. Didn't look like much but man did it hurt for a few days!

Originally Posted by David M Thats an old joke...but still funny.

OK... maybe it wasn't the girl next to her. But she it heard it from her friend's sister's hairdresser's cousin's former room mate... twice removed

[blue60007]

Holy cow! Bet that didn't sound good when it was turned on.

Reminds me of this one (can't remember it exactly, but I'll try):

Hi, I'm having problems with Word.

OK, like what?

I was typing along and the words suddenly dissappeared

What do you see on the screen now?

Nothing.

Nothing?

Yes, it's blank and it won't accept what I type.

Are you still in Word?

I don't know, how do I tell?

Well, can you move the cursor around?

No, there isn't one, it's not accepting anything.

Does your monitor have a power indicator light on?

What's a monitor?

That TV like thing in front of you, does it have light on it?

I don't know

Look at the back of the monitor and find a power cord, do you see that?

Yes

OK, good, now follow the cord to the wall, is it plugged in?

Yes

Did you notice two cables on the back of the monitor?

Don't think so

Look again, there's another, now follow that one to the computer, is it plugged into the computer?

OK, found it, but I can't see if it's plugged in.

Can you put your knee on something and lean over?

No, no, its not the angle, its dark

Dark?

None of the lights are on, just light from the window

Well, turn the lights on

I can't

Why not?

There's a power outage


--Just thought I'd throw that in

[colecifer]

i'm sure the story of yours isn't true blue, mainly because i usually hear it slightly differently. First off word perfect is always in the one i hear, and then at the end the there is more that make me doubt its authenticity.

Do you still have the box your computer came in?

yes

Go ahead and pack up the computer and take it back to where you bought it

the problem is that bad?

yeah i'm afraid it is

what do i tell them when i bring it in?

tell them your too (Explitive) stupid to use a computer.

[blue60007]

Yeah, I doubt it's real, but you never know. The version I read said that bottom part is what the guy *wanted* to say, but didn't actually say it.

[jayb1234]

Then there's always the one about the person who was having trouble sending E-mail because they could find the "a" but couldn't figure out how to put the little circle around it.

[Jaggannath]

That's crazy Cricket... I definitely feel sorry for the girl, it's intimidating to admit you've stuffed up when it breaks something

[786ARS]

Mind you before i got contact lenses, about 2 or three years ago, my eyesight (i'm far sighted) got so bad that i couldnt tell the difference between a firewire and a usb port.

[lil Jimmie]

Originally Posted by David M Looks like she was practicing her tig welding on that thing.

Lets hope she gets better than that

Inserting objects where they don't belong is one reason I didn't hook up the front ports on some of my daughters earlier builds. I've also done the same for a few others with young children who are around the tower.