DreamPC2006 died again probably because of usb port/plug misalignment on pins.

Skybuck's Dream PC from 2006 has died again it seems.

Possible causes:

  1. Static electricity discharge from either me or the vacuum cleaner.
  2. AMD X2 3800+ dual core processor wear and tear of motherboard.
  3. DeLock card reader short circuit.
  4. Denon Receiver voltage/ampere loop back.

Cause of death as of yet unknown.

DreamPC came back alive 1 more day just like last time before ultimately dieing. (Symptom during death was a hearable feedback loop on speakers during freeze, this same sound was heard on other pc when ground wire was badly connected. USB DeLock might have been wrongly connected at first causing a short circuit cause damage ?! :()

Most likely cause of death: USB DeLock Card Reader USB plug misplaced causing short circuit, possible ground wire related.

Suspected damage: ASRock Socket 939 motherboard components damaged/failed because of usb plug/port short circuit.

Blame: USB port/Plug designers.

Recommendations/Adviced for fututre: Make it impossible to plug in plugs wrongly too prevent short circuits.

Bye, Skybuck.

P.S.:

Reposting of this message, apperently google didn't post it, also cannot use google anymore on Pentium III 450 mhz. Google has turned into slow poo.

So I cannot research this topic properly:

"Connecting USB plugs wrongly can cause motherboard death"

Typing in such a long sentence would take forever on

formatting link
LOL.

Bye, Skybuck.

Double P.S.: Don't even think about suggesting BING because I already tried that and it forwards me to my own postings via google newsgroup which is slow poo as well.

It's quite ensobering to see how the world turns into poo when these big services are not working anymore !

It will be most interesting to watch the IT world come to a screeching halt within oh say 15 years thanks to the web/HTML 6 billion crap.

Do yourselfs a favor: stick to navive executable code, and void parsers/text/html/xml LIKE THE PLAGUE... it's slow ass poo.

Reply to
Skybuck Flying
Loading thread data ...

Pins were like this:

. = pin = missing pin

+-+-+ |.| | +-+-+ |.|.| +-+-+ |.|.| +-+-+ |.|.| +-+-+ |.|.| +-+-+

Plug was connected 1 row too high like this:

X = blocked hole on plug.

O X

+-+-+ |O|O| +-+-+ |O|O| +-+-+ |O|O| +-+-+ |O|O| +-+-+ |.|.| +-+-+

The blocked hole did not prevent it from placing it wrongly.

I shall take a closer look at the asrock 790GX manual and post the pin assignments for the usb port here:

(It was middle usb port):

+-+-+ |1|2| +-+-+ |3|4| +-+-+ |5|6| +-+-+ |7|8| +-+-+ |9|0| +-+-+

1 = dummy

2 = missing pin 3 = GND 4 = GND 5 = P+7 6 = P+6 7 = P-7 8 = P-6 9 = USB_PWR 10 = USB_PWR

The device wrongly attached to it was:

formatting link

" Delock USB 2.0 Card Reader 3.5 57 in 1 + 1 x USB 2.0 port

Description This Delock Card Reader can be installed into the 3.5 drive bay of your PC. This card reader can read and write 57 different memory card formats.

Specification

- USB 2.0 Card Reader 57 in 1 with 1x USB 2.0 port in a metal case for 3.5 bay installation

- Data transfer rate up to 480 Mbps

- Hot Swap, Plug & Play

- Supports following memory cards: Slot 1: Compact Flash / Micro Drive CF I, CF II, CF 4.0, CF Extreme, CF Extreme III, CF Extreme IV, CF Extreme IV UDMA, UDMA Extreme, UDMA 6 Extreme Pro, ULTIMA II, Micro Drive, Magicstor Slot 2: Secure Digital / Multi Media Card SD, SD High Capacity (SDHC), SDXC, SD Ultra II, SD UDMA II, SD Extreme III, SDHC Turbo, SDHC Ultra, SDHC Extreme, SDHC Extreme III, Turbo-SD, Turbo Mini SD*, Mini SD*, Mini SDHC*, MMC-I, MMC-II, MMC plus, MMC plus Turbo, HS-MMC, HC-MMC, MMCmobile*, MMCmobile* Dual-Voltage, RS-MMC*, RS-MMC 4.0* Slot 3: Memory Stick xD, xD type M, xD type H Slot 4: xD MicroSD, Micro SDHC, Micro SDHC Turbo, Mirco SDXC, T-Flash, MMCmicro Slot 5: M2 MS, MS-ROM, MS Magic Gate, MS Pro, MS-Pro Magic Gate, MS-Duo, MS-Duo Magic Gate, MS-Pro Duo, MSPro HighSpeed, MS-Pro HG-Duo, MS-Pro Duo Magic Gate, MS Micro (M2)*

*Adapter required

System requirements

- Windows 2000/XP/XP-64/Vista/Vista-64/7, Mac OS 8.6x or above, Linux OS 2.4 or above

- PC with one free 3.5 Bay

- One free internal 9-pin USB 2.0 port

Package content

- Card Reader with cable for Mainboard

- User manual

Package

- Retail Box "

Now I want to know why would this device cause the motherboard to die if wrongly connected ?!

Bye, Skybuck.

Reply to
Skybuck Flying

I think you are picking up a virus on Usenet.

--
Paul Hovnanian     mailto:Paul@Hovnanian.com 
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Reply to
Paul Hovnanian P.E.

Sorry to hear about your troubles.

Do M/B USB headers not normally have a blank pin to stop you plugging it in in the wrong orientation? Or do you mean you plugged it into another header which was not intended for USB?

The main reason for using common connectors & M/B pins is to keep the cost of the parts as low as possible. Considering the number of them on the M/B it is a substantial piece part cost reduction.

On the bright side, now you can spec & build a new dream-machine :)

Pete

Reply to
Pete

The problem with making something idiot proof is that our educational system tends to produce better idiots.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Jeff Liebermann

Reply to
Pete

which model? I suspect there's one of these here, too.

Reply to
Johann Klammer

That is _usually_ right, but unfortunately there are(at least) two different pinouts for USB mainboard connectors, and the breakout units do not always fit. So do not rely on the manufacturers to do the thinking for you.

for example: oldish msi k7tPro2-A

1 vcc 2 gnd 3 usbd3- 4 gnd 5 usbd3+ 6 usbd2+ 7 gnd 8 usbd2- 9 gnd 10vcc

oldish asrock k7vt4A Pro

1 usb-pwr 2 usb-pwr 3 p-4 4 p-5 5 p+4 6 p+5 7 gnd 8 gnd 9 (missing) 10dummy
Reply to
Johann Klammer

So, there's more than one sucker in the house?

Reply to
Michael A. Terrell

I assume this has been resolved with an industry standard for USB 3.0?

Reply to
Pete

There, fixed that for you. You're welcome.

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Reply to
Mike Tomlinson

Examples of idiots in action (my exeriences between 1983 and 1994): In the 18 years since then, the technology and problems have changed. The idiots are still the same.

--
Jeff Liebermann     jeffl@cruzio.com 
150 Felker St #D    http://www.LearnByDestroying.com 
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Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

I will tell you guys (and girls ;)?:)) exactly how this happened.

It's kinda stupid but somewhat logical at the same time, so conflicting requirements/logics:

Circumstances which led to the death:

  1. I had to build in the new usb card reader (unfortunately it had no floppy drive ?! :()
  2. I had to remove the old floppy drive.
  3. I was worried about motherboard death.
  4. I was worried about harddisk death.

So what I did was the following:

  1. Remove the floppy drive/old card reader.
  2. Build in the new usb card reader.
  3. Take pictures with my new canon powershot sx50 hs. (I was confused about the card reader only have a usb cable and nothing else)
  4. I left the new usb card reader unconnected because I wanted to make sure that the motherboard and harddisks were still working. I was worried that connecting the new usb drive would blow it up/cause damage. I wanted to check first if all the building didn't damage anything.
  5. I booted the PC everything was working.
  6. I shutdown the PC.
  7. I tried to connect the usb plug... somewhat dark... while everything was plugged in...

And that's when it happened. Wrongly connected :(

  1. I boot up the PC.
  2. I tried and read something from the card
  3. I play some music or something.
  4. One minute after boot... FREEZE/HUMMING sounds on receiver/speakers.

And the thing I feared the most probably actually happened... it blew up the fokking motherboard.

Not 100% sure, but it seems most likely cause of death.

It happened after about 1 minute of operation/playing some music or so.

Bye, Skybuck.

Reply to
Skybuck Flying

This methology is the same way I program software.

I take it step by step.

Unfortunately that methology apperently doesn't work to well with electronics... DEATH OCCURED ! NOOOOOOOO !

Bye, Skybuck.

Reply to
Skybuck Flying

I also had more bad luck.

There were only 3 light bulbs working at the time...

I bought 4 light bulbs, had to replace a few...

Unfortunatel 1 light bulb had the wrong fitting... it was too small... packaging almost looked identical.

Perhaps if all 4 light bulbs were working I might have had enough light to spot the mis alignment.

Then again the high up on the ceiling...

It's dark inside a PC... and the plugs/pins real tiny... really hard to get it right.

I even had a super hard time getting the power connectors/leds connectors and stuff connected to the Old Pentium III 450 mhz... even with a light bulb right next to it...

Next time I should take a small little lamp and place it right next to it... or just take PC apart again... but this risks more damage to harddisks if they inside...

Perhaps me should be glad that at least my harddisks are not dead ! At least I hope so ;)

I am not really glad though... all this shit just because of one little stupid plug :(

I now have to find either:

  1. A new socket 939 motherboard for sale somewhere.

or

  1. A new motherboard + new cpu, hopefully memory compatible, otherwise new memory too, that could become expensive.

maybe I should try and fix it as cheaply as possible... I kinda hate giving up on a CPU... this amd cpu... I would like to keep it working for historical reason ya know ! ;)

I can always buy a new PC in the future.

Now I just need to find a dutch store with a socket 939 motherboard.

Perhaps I will go for the asrock 785 motherboard... not sure if that will fit my PC needs... I dismissed it in favor of the 790GX not sure why anymore... might have to look into my own postings for that...

Pentium III 450 mhz a bit too slow for surfing probably too low memory... it's a bit slow as well... but 256 MB just not enough for XP... even with more memory it would still be too slow... so not going to spent any more money on it sorry, little computer ! ;) :)

Saving my money for a new computer in the future... just need to get this one back online ! ;)

I guess I will have to read the 785 manual again to see what it's got and if it's suited... what I remember from it is it's more tiny and probably has some wireless stuff on it ?!

Actually my memory is coming back to me... I think it actually uses different memory slots.

So it could be useless... oh-oh...

I'll just have to find me another webshop which has ASRock 790GX motherboard... that would be best...

And then I have to make sure not to blow it up anymore ! ;)

Ouch !

Bye, Skybuck.

Reply to
Skybuck Flying

Also one of the problems with these tiny power switch/led connectors is the following:

The plugs are black and so are the ports/headers.

All that blackness makes it very hard to see how they are aligning up...

And they are hardly shiny... so even adding light doesn't change much.

There would need to be a shading difference or highlights to notice anything... but with total blackness it's just not there.

So using different colors for these plugs/headers would be nice and make things a bit easier to see.

How much more that would cost I don't know ;)

Bye, Skybuck.

Reply to
Skybuck Flying

I just came up with a hopefully good plan/experiment for the DreamPC... yes still not done with it, because me not statisfied with the results so far.

The last year or so... I put the fans on medium speed, and no dust filters, end result:

CPU Heatsink full with dust !

Power Supply full with dust !

All passively cooled things were okish, slight dust particles but not to bad.

Also fans full with dust.

So new plan is the following, since I have two motherboards:

  1. The coming year I will put fans on low speed. (If that aint working because of high temperatures I might set it back to medium speed, but low speed will probably be ok).

If the system dies again because of cleaning operation in the future, then my final experiment will be:

  1. Disconnect FANS from the front, and maybe the back too... perhaps leave big fan on, or maybe disconnect that too... and only leave power fan spinning... but maybe one back fan should be on... low or so... So the Antec
1200 would become an almost passively cooled system... there is plenty of room/air in it... so perhaps a modest airflow is enough to keep the CPU cool... and also the passively cooled GPU.

If the motherfokker dies again because of overheat (probably not) or dust-related-cleaning the fokking thing will go into the waste basket lol.

Then I will buy a new PC, make sure it can attach my new drives... and new PC should remain dust free as much as possible and be low heat as much as possible ;)

Hopefully the dreampc won't die with this somewhat open antec 1200 grid inlet... and hopefully modest airflow will not cause dust issues ! ;)

I think it probably will cause dust issues, so this means next PC must have a closed front to prevent dust from getting sucked in... ;)

Time will tell ! ;)

Place your dust-bets now ! ;) :)

Bye, Skybuck.

Reply to
Skybuck Flying
450 mhz.... bin the heap and upgrade. Out of curiosity what size are your HDD's?

I'm assum> I also had more bad luck.

Reply to
Pete

No! don't. It's great for retro gaming.

Reply to
Johann Klammer

Reply to
Pete

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