usb socket printer repair

[Fred]

Hi,

My printer has a USB B socket. Somehow I managed to plug the plug in upside down. I don't know how; I don't remember using excessive force. I noticed that one of the pins in the socket was bent. I have straightened it with some long nose pliers. However, when I try to use the printer now, I get a message from the print manager that "the usb status of the printer is not available" and it will not print.

I was thinking of soldering a new socket on but now that I have straightened the pin, I can't see this would make any difference. Is it likely I have fried something in the printer or is it repairable?

TIA

[John Rumm]

Given the layout of the pattern B connector, a 180 degree rotation would have connected the power rails to the data connections on the printer. The "high" signal voltage on the data line is not expected to exceed

3.6V, so the application of 5V may have done something to upset its line interface...

[Brian Gaff]

Also make sure the USB on the puter will drive other printers, as at least in the earluy days of usb, getting connections wrong fried the interface itself. Brian

[Fred]

Thanks for your help on this. I didn't know the technical details of the usb port but I was concerned whether applying the power supply to the data lines would have caused damage.

I am puzzled that Windows says "usb status is not available on this printer". This seems to imply that windows knows there is a printer connected. I would have thought that failure would have been all or nothing. I would have expected Windows to say it could not detect a printer, not that it could not read from it.

After the incident I tried plugging the printer into different usb sockets on the pc (with the printer end the right way round!) but I still got the same message. However other usb devices, such as my mouse, still work, so the ports have not/had not been completely destroyed at that time.

I suppose the next step is to try to connect the printer to my laptop and see if it will work with another computer.

However, things have gone from back to worse. Last night I was idly surfing the internet when my screen went black and I heard the fans spinning down.

I haven not been able to turn the pc on since. I have not added or removed any hardware, nor installed any software. the only thing that has happened is this printer misconnection. Would that have destroyed my motherboard? If so, why the delayed reaction? Why did the computer continue working normally for some hours afterwards? Is this just an unfortunate coincidence?

I have disconnected everything so that there is only the graphics card plugged in. No mouse, no keyboard, all discs disconnected from data and power, yet the board will not come to life.

I don't have a spare motherboard to move things across to try but I may have a spare psu to see whether it is the psu or mobo at fault.

Any ideas what to do next? Or shall I buy a new printer and new motherboard ;)

TIA

[Martin Brown]

Check fuses first.

A damaged USB socket might affect the 5v rail on a bad day and PSUs do try quite hard to protect themselves and the unit they are powering.

Do any LEDs light on the motherboard/back panel or the main PSU make a brief whirr if the mains is switched off and on (at the wall socket)?

I think this was more likely just coincidence rather than causative failure. But there might be a 5v fault on the damaged USB socket so if you can disconnect it from the mobo that might be worth a try.

[Fred]

There is no whirring from the PSU and it doesn't seem to have any LEDs on it. I did wonder about putting a multimeter across one of the molex plugs but then I noticed that if I plug in my usb mouse, the led underneath it lights up, so the PSU must be doing something. I suppose I could connect the keyboard next and see if that flashes any lights.

I tried removing all ram and graphics card but that made no difference.

I found a PSU but it was an old one and did not have the necessary connectors, so I am stuck.

Thanks.

[Fred]

It is/was an AM2+ motherboard. It seems there are few AM2 boards about and that the world has moved on to AM3 and FM1. I must confess that all these developments have passed me by, so I will have to try to do some reading to catch up. Anyone know a good place to start?

I don't know whether to get an AM2+ board while I still can or whether to use this opportunity to upgrade the board and cpu.