Powered USB labeled wrong NP150EM

Noticed today while trying to charge my phone, the USB labeled as powered does nothing, it's the next port that is powered. The first USB 3.0 is dead, it's the middle one, between that and the eSATA/USB combo. Just curious if anyone else noticed this? I'm pretty sure the battery label is on the first one though. Did Clevo at manufacturing switch around some wires?

 

from user manuel

 

Yeah, that's my point, it's labeled wrong in the manual as well.

 

I just tried mine. Fn+Power activated the port as indicated in the manual on mine (next to ethernet jack).

 

Fn + power put my lappy into sleep mode

 

Fn + power caused my dog to explode unexpectedly. My laptop remained unimpressed. Im going into a little corner and cry right now.

 

Odd. The 2nd USB 3.0 on mine is always on, without having to do Fn+Power.

 

You do fn+power when the machine is off. That will turn on the powered USB port. Unfortunately there's no status light, so I just plugged in my phone, then hit Fn+power with power off, and bam, it started charging.

 

For me the 2nd USB is always on. Never have to do that fn+power. It's how I charge my mouse and my phone.

 

but you could turn it off if you wanted to (like i'll sometimes do to turn off my otherwise always-on external drive).

 

That's really weird, I'd just unplug it if I wanted it to stop...

 

don't like to mess with the setup too much. external sits behind the machine which is propped up, and the ports are within inches from the wall. so yea, really weird on. and for the record, my powered usb is the one farthest from the ethernet port too.

Sent from my PI39100 using Board Express

 

strike that. my mistake. after further investigation, my powered usb is in fact the one next to ethernet as shown in the service manual diagram (still too close to the wall to see where the plastic engraving is). now you all know i've never actually toggled off my external. :hi2:

 

I was just more surprised the way they implemented it, have it always on because it does not need a bizarre key combination to get it to work so people don't miss out on the feature.

 

FYI, I had to use Windows + Power to toggle this feature. I guess it's because my NP9150 originally came with the Fn key on the left and it got swapped with the Windows key later after EC/BIOS upgrade.

May be the switch is hard-wired to where the original Fn key is located (which is now the Windows key in my case)

PS. The easiest way to test if the Powered USB feature is enabled is to turn off the laptop while still plugged in. If the led in the front turns into "blinking" orange then it means the feature is enabled.

 

i suppose you could inadvertently drain the battery if something drawing power was left connected...? there's a built-in shutoff if the battery drops to 20% that way. even still that'd be a problem if you thought you had a full charge, so this can be avoided by leaving it off until you actually need it. but i agree, never heard of a key combo that uses the power button and it's definitely inconspicuous if it's received turned off.

 

finally tried mine last night. after powering off i pressed Fn + power and it turned my usb hub on and yellow light on front right of lappy flashed. mine is the same one as in manual next to ethernet port.

you learn something new every day