[ltp] Re: is my usb controller dead?

[Bernhard Sputh]

On Tuesday 25 April 2006 11:13, James Knott wrote:

> IBM and other manufacturers have no control over what's plugged into USB
> ports.  Should they warrant something external to the computer?  

Well it is always the question what the user did, of course damaging the unit 
on purpose is a bad thing, and should not fall under warranty. I personally 
do not do this kind of thing. However, I also had no problem getting the 
replacement mother boards from IBM under warranty. The only reason why I 
would consider to buy a TP again is the way IBM handles the warranty, not 
because these units are in any way more robust. 

Nevertheless, if the user only used components that comply with the USB 
standard, then the party that breaks seems not to stick to it. Having had 
these problems twice with my TP both times when attaching a device, it 
appears to me that the fault lies with the design of the USB circuitry. This 
was highlighted to me by the fact that I could blow up the USB Controller by 
attaching a 100% working Apple iPod USB cable without an attached iPod. It 
seems that the X4*, T4*, and R5* have all the same USB circuitry design flaw. 
Because I heard multiple complaints about fried USB connectors. I would 
really like to dig into it and identify what is going wrong there, however 
the technician always took the mother board with him :(

> Anyone who's worked in computer support knows that users will often
> damage the hardware, sometimes intentionally, and then lie about it.  Is
> it then a warranty claim, when something fails after that abuse?

As mentioned earlier NO definitely not, however would You assume that every 
fried USB port is caused intentionally by the user? In my opinion the USB 
ports of the  X4*, T4*, and R5* TPs are over sensitive a couple of guard 
diodes could solve this problem. These cost a few cents extra, for a notebook 
that cost US$2000 it is definitely not too much to ask. BTW they got it right 
in the T30, but that was only USB1, lets hope the recent X6* and T6* are 
better designed. 


Cheers
Bernhard