I think I fried my sub-notebooks' USB ports .. help please! !!

OK, a few days ago I was working on my sub-notebook, an IBM X41, and was connecting an external (USB) Lacie DVD writer and an external (USB) Lacie hard drive. I was hoping to burn some pictures on to DVD, from the hard drive.

Once I connected the two external units I got a massage about “USB power” something, and none of my USB devices were found!

Since then I cannot get my USB ports to connect anything, not even simple memory sticks. Going to the control panel, nothing seems amiss, and there are no “exclamation marks” next to my USB ports / Hub. When I connect the USB hard drive, it does spin, but my laptop is unable to access it.

I have tried to reinstall the drivers, did a reformat for the laptop; all to no avail.

Has anyone experienced something like this? Can someone please help me get my machine back to access USB devices.

Thanks for any help.

 

I think you did damage the notebook. And I think all you can do is to send it back to Lenovo.
EDIT : Though as a last try, see the BIOS setup, there might be something there.

 

mujtaba,

Thanks for the reply ...

I'd hate to think that you're right ... but I have a strong feeling that you are, sadly.

How do I check the BIOS setup?

 

I think the Key is F1. When you turn the laptop on and see the IBM logo (or the logo for boot), press F1.

 

Thanks, I will give it a look and see what I come up with.... but as you've already said, it seems that I fried the ports ... sadly.

The funny thing is that there is power coming "out" of the ports .. I've just tried to connect one of those under-laptop trays with built-in fans and that works just fine. Odd!

I have a USB light somewhere around the house that I will try and see if that, too, works.

 

If you have still got power then maybe the overcurrent protection is in software.

Your could check through the power options of all the USB devices (hubs and controllers) in Device Manager to see if there is anything you can reset. You can also try uninstalling all the USB devices and then re-detecting them.

John

 

OK, I did the BIOS check and all hardware and system components passed. I did the remove and reinstall of the USBs (ports and hub) and everything seems ok!

The only thing is that I cannot access data via the USB ports .... is there a dedicated data chip which I may have fried? As it seems the USB port is working perfectly and nothing in all the system diagnostics tells me otherwise!

 

Does no data mean no communication at all (does a mouse work)?

I see that This review refers to "1 IBM powered USB port", whatever that means.

If you don't have warranty coverage then the cheapest workaround will be a PCMCIA - USB adaptor with an external PSU.

John

 

I haven't tried a mouse, ... don't have a USB mouse. But I have tried a USB web cam and that does NOT work.

What I meant by having power is that when I plug the cooling slate (under laptop plate with cooling fans which connect via USB) the slate DOES work. Also, when I connect my external, USB, hard drive .. it DOES spin but it will not be recognised by the laptop .. and will not be able to send / recieve data!

What does NOT work is transfer of data (information) between the USB and the pereferal (such as external hard drives, external DVD players, and web cams.).

I have looked in to the option of the PCMCIA USB adapter, not the solution I was looking for but sure is the cheapest.

Thank you for your time and effort .. I greatly appreciate it.

 

In my experience some laptop USB ports are not capable of delivering high current. When the USB appliance tries to draw too much current Windows shuts the port down (kinda like a circuit breaker). Have you tried to delete the USB ports from the device manager and letting Windows reinstall them? I had this problem on Windows XP sp1a for reference, but the power was restored after either a delete and reinstall of USB or a OS install can't remember which.

 

Yes, I have deleted the USB ports, I even went all the way and reformatted my machine in the hope that would fix the problem. Regretably, none of these methods workd!

I am still hoping that the "circuit breaker" you're refering to does exist and that I didn't fry my I/O ports ... but I still can't seem to get them back up and running.

 

Have you tried a foreign USB device? It is weird that the power is now present but data is not. Have you tried to use USB devices in DOS as opposed to Windows? Hoping for the best.

 

Well Wail...that is exactly how I killed my last laptops USB ports. I was never able to get mine fixed. I would try to send it back to Lenovo and have them replace it.

When my laptop's USB ports died I was still able to get power through them like you did to run my notebook cooler, however nothing else worked (including my USB mouse).

Have you noticed any other problems with your notebook? After I fried my USB ports my laptop got progressively worse and eventually wouldn't boot. I would get all your data off of there as fast as you can.

Btw were you using a USB hub that wasn't powered with an AC adapter? That is how mine died.
Tim

 

Thank you all for your help to get my USB to work again.


Tim,

It is so funny that you’ve been through this as it seems like it was a freak accident which wouldn’t happen to just anyone.

Now how did I get his laptop fried? It had a CF card in the PCMCIA slot, an external Lacie hard drive taking power off the USB, an external DVD writer which was also taking power off the USB! Suddenly I got an error telling me something about the power and my USB ports and BAM the machine froze. Not a major issue I first thought, and was hoping that a simple restart of the machine would set all in order. Sadly that wasn’t the case, and soon I began to realise that we have a more serious issue at hand.

Luckily I often preach good back-up regiments, and thank God that was applied here too. All critical data were on the external hard drive with work-at-hand stored on the internal 2GB CF card inserted in the PCMCIA slot. So, nothing was a loss; plus there has been ample time to get the remaining data off the laptops’ internal hard drive as it hasn’t died just yet.

It does seem like you’re right, the system may be dying a slow death; but will keep it around for a while to see what happens to it. May be turn it into a test bed for future ventures.

In the end, thank you once again to all those who’ve tried to help .. sadly it seems that there is no solution; but – and that’s a BIG but, if anyone knows different then please let me know.

 

Were you using a sub notebook as well or do I run the risk of having this happen on my T-series? This is disconcerting to say the least.

 

aadadams,

Frankly, I am ever so smitten over this issue. The IBM wasn't a cheap laptop to have suffered such a simple breakdown and what I connected wasn't something weird, or an unauthorised contraption (they are both USB 2 devices). I sure expected better from IBM. So, I can see where you're coming from with your concern, but sorry to say that I can't reassure you ... but hopefully Tim can shed some light as to how he got his fried.

 

Well my old laptop was actually a Compaq v4000t so this could just be an isolate incident with Wail's Lenovo laptop. It seems weird that you had everything plugged into the laptops own ports and you still were able to overload them.

In my case I had my iPod and my external hard drive and a USB mouse all plugged into a USB hub that was plugged into one USB port on my laptop. The USB hub was drawing all of its power from that single USB port on my laptop. I got the same error message that Wail saw and my USB ports no longer worked on my laptop. However, just like Wail I was able to use my notebook cooler.

I tried everything that Wail tried to get my laptop fixed (I even took it into a local repair shop and he couldn't get it fixed -_-). My laptop started dying soon after. Sometimes I couldn't get my laptop to start up. I was able to get it to start up once and then I was able to transfer everything off my laptop over a wireless network to a desktop (took 24 hours though ).

I am never going to use a USB hub that isn't AC powered. I think there is too much danger overloading your USB ports. I am surprised in Wails case that he was able to do this while just using his laptops USB ports.
Tim

 

Well I have the HP in my signature and I have used many high current appliances without issue. I hope the T61p is as robust as my HP workstation. Time will tell. At least I have a four year on-site warranty to back me up.

 

Yep that is why I made sure I got a warranty for my laptop this time. My warranty had just expired for my Compaq the month before. -_-
Tim

 

are such things suhc as fried motherboards due to usb covered by warrantry?i just plugged my printer to my t61p and i think i firied it as it doesnt turn on at all.

 

Please don't bump threads that are over a year old. Instead just create a new one.

If you want to reply to this question go here.
Thanks,
Tim