[Tfug] USB hang

[Adrian]

On Tuesday 07 August 2012 17:47, erich wrote:
> I know,
>            I can't test the "bad hard drive" theory because this is the
> only SATA machine
> that I have. One would like to drop the drive into another SATA machine
> and see
> what happens.


I would disagree with the "bad hard drive" theory if the indicated facts are 
right. So to recap, I saw:
1) system died, will no longer boot (off a SATA)
2) network interace is now missing
3) detects USB but a device immediately hangs the machine

That doesn't sound like a USB issue. That sounds like the southbridge chipset 
on the motherboard has fried. The northbridge controls the CPU/memory, that 
sounds to be working as the machine will POST. The southbridge interfaces to 
the various peripherals, USB, SATA, PCI, etc. You can still boot from a CD, 
so something in it is working, but sounds like it suffered a major failure 
(caps, lightning, soda spilled, etc. take your pick).

Could a USB devie damage the system? Yes but highly unlikely, particularly if 
that device wasn;t separately powered. 

I would guess the SATA drive is just fine. Simplest method would be to head 
over to SWS and pickup a USB to SATA/IDE converter cable. There is a great 
one that is silver/blue with a rectangle on the end, only runs a few bucks 
but turns a full-size IDE, mini (laptop) IDE, or SATA drive into a USB drive. 
Easy to then plug into any system and verify the data is still there..



Adrian