Laptop blowing usb interfaces... Any ideas?

thecolourbox

Hi all. My laptop has killed off two usb interfaces recently - when plugged into the usb 3 socket they both produced a similar "zappppp" noise through the headphones and were thereafter dead as a dodo.

The first was a brand new Steinberg UR22C, which requires usb3 to power it (though you can use usb2 of you power it separately via a plug). The second was a Focusrite VRM Box which I tend to use for listening back when i decamp to downstairs rather than carrying a chunky interface around with me. They both use um different cables - the Steinberg uses usb type C (like a phone charger cable) and the Focusrite uses whatever the square ended one is (type B? I dunno).

I'm awaiting some feedback from an IT repair shop but that's taking a while for whatever reason, I've consulted with my aunt who manages IT for a school, and my brother in law who is an electronic repair apprentice and got a few possible suggestions but nothing too definitive.

I wondered if anybody else had encountered similar issues? I've got a replacement Steinberg but I'm too scared to use it or indeed any usb device at the moment because I can't justify constantly replacing usb devices for my usage.

My laptop is a Lenovo t430, but was refurbished so the specs differ slightly from the original I think. It has has 16gb RAM, processor is Intel i5-3230M 2.6ghz, which generally seems adequate notwithstanding the exploding USB socket, although not brilliant. I have looked at replacements from better manufacturers around the same level but I don't think I can justify the cost at the moment so hoping this can be fixed.

If not, not to worry - the world will be saved from any further music published by myself!

Cheers

Matt

dhaywood67

Not an ideal fix but maybe run through a USB hub first? At least they're only £10 or so

Habanero

Did you have the laptop power supply connected at the time? You might consider getting a replacement power supply, or run the laptop on battery when using an interface. I'd also backup any files you don't want to lose!

thecolourbox

dhaywood67 said:

Not an ideal fix but maybe run through a USB hub first? At least they're only £10 or so

Thanks, yeah this is an option, though I guess not so different than using the usb2 and powering separately in terms of cables. Albeit I guess an extra buffer of a safety net. Do they affect latency? I bought the Steinberg with the Helix Native/Cubase bundle so would like to be able to use that with the minimal latency that normally provides!

Habanero said:

Did you have the laptop power supply connected at the time? You might consider getting a replacement power supply, or run the laptop on battery when using an interface. I'd also backup any files you don't want to lose!

Thanks, I hadn't thought of the power supply. It was probably connected when the Steinberg went as I was at my work desk, I don't actually know when the Focusrite went whether I was plugged in or not as I was only quickly loading it up for half an hour of laying out a basic track. I hate laptop power supplies - on my old laptop, the power supply was tripping the fuse board, so I bought a new one which then caused the most awful interference noises with music gear. 

I'd ideally like to use a desktop that uses a simple kettle lead but I need to be mobile around the house as I can't just sit up in my spare room/music room/work office all day.

Backing up is ok as I don't store my photos or music files on the computer unless I'm working on them at the time. However I'm also a bit nervous to plug in any external hard drives to grab anything else on case they also die a death haha

Danny1969

This might not mean much to you maybe your brother in law can check it for you. 

On the top row of the USB connector you should have +5V DC between pin 1 and 4 and no spurious AC or ghost voltage on top of that. 
This voltage is normally fed directly from a dedicated chip that keeps the 5V constant despite the load. Often this chip looks like an 8 pin DIL but the legs are tied for greater current .... pin 8, 7 and 6 is the +5 output and pins 1 and 2 are normally the unregulated 5V in from the buck convertor that chops the charger or battery voltage down from 19 and 10 ish 

You might find that little chip is faulty and allowing unregulated output from the buck converter. Doesn't need to go very high to damage an audio IC or a charge pump IC in an audio interface designed to provide good headroom from 5V

Another thing to look for is damage. Are all pins on the USB ports straight and not broken (very common ) is there any conductive  material jammed in any port like a bit of sweet wrapper (seen that before)  ... has the laptop had a liquid spill on it in the past which has now started to fur over and put 5V on the data pins ? .... loads of people think their laptop has survived a liquid spill until this kind of thing happens. Can take months to develop sometimes though. 

Worse case scenerio, take the board out and look for the FRU number .... on a T430 it will be something like 04X1585 ... go on Ebay buy a replacement board on that number and your laptop will be fine again. Make sure you match the FRU and make sure any board you buy is not passworded. Thinkpad passwords are stored in an EEPROM and you need special knowledge and equipment to remove them. You can't just take the CMOS battery out or short a couple of pins pins on the motherboard like you can with Acer, Asus, Toshiba etc

thecolourbox

Danny1969 said:

This might not mean much to you maybe your brother in law can check it for you. 

On the top row of the USB connector you should have +5V DC between pin 1 and 4 and no spurious AC or ghost voltage on top of that. 
This voltage is normally fed directly from a dedicated chip that keeps the 5V constant despite the load. Often this chip looks like an 8 pin DIL but the legs are tied for greater current .... pin 8, 7 and 6 is the +5 output and pins 1 and 2 are normally the unregulated 5V in from the buck convertor that chops the charger or battery voltage down from 19 and 10 ish 

You might find that little chip is faulty and allowing unregulated output from the buck converter. Doesn't need to go very high to damage an audio IC or a charge pump IC in an audio interface designed to provide good headroom from 5V

Another thing to look for is damage. Are all pins on the USB ports straight and not broken (very common ) is there any conductive  material jammed in any port like a bit of sweet wrapper (seen that before)  ... has the laptop had a liquid spill on it in the past which has now started to fur over and put 5V on the data pins ? .... loads of people think their laptop has survived a liquid spill until this kind of thing happens. Can take months to develop sometimes though. 

Worse case scenerio, take the board out and look for the FRU number .... on a T430 it will be something like 04X1585 ... go on Ebay buy a replacement board on that number and your laptop will be fine again. Make sure you match the FRU and make sure any board you buy is not passworded. Thinkpad passwords are stored in an EEPROM and you need special knowledge and equipment to remove them. You can't just take the CMOS battery out or short a couple of pins pins on the motherboard like you can with Acer, Asus, Toshiba etc

Thanks, all above my head as you rightly suspected but I'll pass this info on to him to see if he is able to help guide me over a video call. He's in Nottingham so sending the laptop up there will likely do more damage knowing my luck.

The computer repair people I'm waiting on are local to me (Birmingham) and are who my aunt uses for her spares and repairs. Hopefully this will make sense to them as well. Hoping the repair to whatever the cause is, is reasonable and justifiable for what's effectively not a great machine, as to get anything even with that basic spec seems quite pricey unfortunately