I have an IBM Thinkpad R50e.

I was doing something with an USB bluetooth dongle plugged in. The
laptop suddenly shut down, instantly, and was totally dead for about
5-6 minutes. I took the dongle out. I managed to the machine on, and
was surprised to see that it works. Unfortunately, something happened
with the USB ports - Windows complained on few boots about a power
surge on one of the hubs (it listed a lot of them, but I have only 2 -
weird). Anyway, if I plug anything in any of the two USB ports, it
successfully gets power from the system, but the OS won't see the
device. I've booted a live linux distro to verify that the problem
isn't in Windows.

What should I do? Are my USB ports fried?

TIA

<juraj5******.com> wrote in message
news:1168386920.106089.98090@o58g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
>I have an IBM Thinkpad R50e.
>
> I was doing something with an USB bluetooth dongle plugged in. The
> laptop suddenly shut down, instantly, and was totally dead for about
> 5-6 minutes. I took the dongle out. I managed to the machine on, and
> was surprised to see that it works. Unfortunately, something happened
> with the USB ports - Windows complained on few boots about a power
> surge on one of the hubs (it listed a lot of them, but I have only 2 -
> weird). Anyway, if I plug anything in any of the two USB ports, it
> successfully gets power from the system, but the OS won't see the
> device. I've booted a live linux distro to verify that the problem
> isn't in Windows.
>
> What should I do? Are my USB ports fried?
>

We regularly see posts of this type here. What the cause is is unclear, but
the error message consistently seems to complain of a power surge. I would
say that the USB hardware has developed a fault. If this is the case, then
other than an expensive repair, your only other option would be to use a
PCMCIA USB card.

Your laptop probably has 6 USB ports on its chip (meaning 3 USB1 root hubs
and 1 USB2 root hub), but only 2 connections are brought to external
connectors. This is quite common.

M.I.5¾ wrote:
> the error message consistently seems to complain of a power surge. I would

It did so only the first few boots. Now the message is gone.

Well, I suppose there's no repair. Unless the laptop's insurance is
still valid, I'll look.

Should I go with a PCMCIA or Cardbus USB card?

<juraj5******.com> wrote in message
news:1168417561.257492.26140@o58g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
M.I.5¾ wrote:
> the error message consistently seems to complain of a power surge. I
> would

It did so only the first few boots. Now the message is gone.

Well, I suppose there's no repair. Unless the laptop's insurance is
still valid, I'll look.

Should I go with a PCMCIA or Cardbus USB card?

-----------------------

A Cardbus USB2 card would be the best bet in my view (I assume from your
question that your laptop accepts Cardbus).

M.I.5¾ wrote:
> <juraj5******.com> wrote in message
> news:1168417561.257492.26140@o58g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
> M.I.5¾ wrote:
> > the error message consistently seems to complain of a power surge. I
> > would
>
> It did so only the first few boots. Now the message is gone.
>
> Well, I suppose there's no repair. Unless the laptop's insurance is
> still valid, I'll look.
>
> Should I go with a PCMCIA or Cardbus USB card?

Yep.

The people who can repair the motherboard are few and far between. If
the port (and not the chip) is just buggered, that's easier, but still
a soldering job. Replacement of course is possible.

>
> -----------------------
>
> A Cardbus USB2 card would be the best bet in my view (I assume from your
> question that your laptop accepts Cardbus).

<paulmd@efn.org> wrote in message
news:1168531892.181423.92510@k58g2000hse.googlegro ups.com...

M.I.5¾ wrote:
> <juraj5******.com> wrote in message
> news:1168417561.257492.26140@o58g2000hsb.googlegro ups.com...
> M.I.5¾ wrote:
> > the error message consistently seems to complain of a power surge. I
> > would
>
> It did so only the first few boots. Now the message is gone.
>
> Well, I suppose there's no repair. Unless the laptop's insurance is
> still valid, I'll look.
>
> Should I go with a PCMCIA or Cardbus USB card?

Yep.

The people who can repair the motherboard are few and far between. If
the port (and not the chip) is just buggered, that's easier, but still
a soldering job. Replacement of course is possible.

--------------------

In a laptop (and on many desktops now) the USB ports are part of a larger
chips that provide many interfaces.

M.I.5¾ je napisao/la:
> In a laptop (and on many desktops now) the USB ports are part of a larger
> chips that provide many interfaces.

Can you please name a few? I've noticed that only USB ports are broken,
is there anything else that could malfuntion?

<juraj5******.com> wrote in message
news:1168629810.282504.249040@l53g2000cwa.googlegr oups.com...

M.I.5¾ je napisao/la:
> In a laptop (and on many desktops now) the USB ports are part of a larger
> chips that provide many interfaces.

Can you please name a few? I've noticed that only USB ports are broken,
is there anything else that could malfuntion?

-----------------------------

Prettywell anything on the Northbridge interface chip. This will include
PCI, Cardbus (or PCI Express) and Firewire. It is quite likely for just the
USB ports to have failed and everything else to still work.