motherboard ruined by usb hub

i posted about two weeks back that in the sony sub-forum that my vaio made a POP sound and wouldn't power up. sony finally came back with a diagnosis and which was that my usb hub (or possibly mouse) fried my motherboard. i have been using both the hub and mouse for a while on my vaio and also on another laptop previously and was shocked to hear this!

i can't believe some silly thing that probably cost me $20-$30(??) wrecked my vaio which i paid $3500 for. just wondering whether this has ever happened to anyone, how such a thing can happen, how to avoid this happening again.... and who are the reliable "companies" that sell usb hubs or mice?

cheers.

 

1) What brand/model hub was it?

2) Did it come with AC power adapter? or did the power come from the notebook?

3) What devices were plugged in?

4) How did you conclude that the hub is the culprit?

 

USB ports being shorted out by a flaky USB device I believe usually kills computers. I would think that maybe the hub shorted out and that the mouse would be a less likely culprit to do that. Sorry about your loss, man.

-J.B.

 

(1) Have to get back to you on this. I don't have it with me, still with Sony. Someone bought it for me and I just stupidly (on hindsight) used it. Pretty sure it is brandless... and just says USB.

(2) Power came from adaptor. It was as I hit the switch to turn on the adaptor to power up the laptop when i heard a loud pop sound and that was it... goner.

(3) LCD Screen was plugged in too. And mouse was plugged into USB hub which was in turn plugged into the laptop.

(4) This was Sony diagnosis. And if you look closely at the USB hub, i can see one burnt metal bit inside.

 

so this isn't all that unusual? how to avoid such a thing happening again? i imagine even if i was under warranty, sony wouldn't have paid for a replacement of the motherboard anyway (since the cause of the fried motherboard was from an external non-sony accessory).

 

Try avoid brandless devices, their standards are very low.

For better USB hubs check this thread http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=246323

 

yeh paid a hefty price... will be sure not to use any inferior accessories. really had no idea that a usb hub had the ability to fry a motherboard...

do you think it would have made a difference if the usb hub had not been plugged into the computer at the time i hit the switch? asking this coz i might unplug everything from the usb ports when i hit the switch to turn on my adaptor... when i do get a new laptop. cheers.

 

also, would like to know whether a surge protected extension cord have helped in such a situation?

 

USB hubs frying the motherboard and devices plugged in, is known to happen. Try looking for a branded hub with an ON/OFF switch.

If your using low power devices eg mouse, keyboard. You do not need an AC adapter for these

I dont think it was from an electrical surge from the power supply. So no it woulnt have helped.

 

i was confused when you mentioned adaptor and AC adaptor in your posts 2 and 9, i did some google-ing and realised that there are AC-powered usb hubs and self-powered usb hubs (thanks to wisegeek!) kind of shows what a computer idiot i am! the shoddy one i had was of the self-powered type - all i had to do to get it to work was stick into the usb port of my vaio.

so everytime i mentioned adaptor in my earlier posts, i was referring to the charger/adaptor that powers my laptop (since i don't use the laptop battery when i'm home) and it was when i hit the switch for the laptop adaptor when my laptop went pop and refused to power up after.