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Odd usb behavior

Tags:
  • Keyboards
  • Windows Vista
  • USB
  • Components
Last response: in Components
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November 30, 2011 2:04:05 PM

My daughter spilled tea on her Toshiba A100 keyboard and shut it down as quickly as possible. It has been sitting for a couple of months since I last tried it and it wouldn't boot. I tried it yesterday, thinking it needs a new m/b, and to my surprise, it started up. So I put a used hd in it, loaded Vista, and it worked. Other daughter said nonono to Vista, so I dumped it and installed XP.

Now the usb recognizes usb drives, memory sticks and bluetooth adapters, but it wont install an external keyboard or a mouse. It finds them, but reports a problem installing mice or keyboards. Then the will install and work for a few minutes, then quit.

I am puzzled. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

More about : odd usb behavior

November 30, 2011 2:15:58 PM

Just because the OS seemingly installed without issues there is no promise that the hardware will actually function correctly.

There is a fantastic chance of you running into phantom issues like this where the stability of the system is thrown into doubt.
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November 30, 2011 10:59:40 PM

I just started it up after being off all day, and everything worked. Then, about 10 mins later, it lost the mouse and keyboard. I was looking around and noticed that the fan is not running, and I wonder if that is a part of the problem. The heat buildup would cause some aberrations - I wonder if the phantom is a dead fan...
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December 1, 2011 8:19:14 AM

Well that would be a problem!

Before going to the expense and hassle of picking up a replacement fan (it's probable you'll need a replacement from Toshiba rather than a generic fan) I've seen people test heat issues with a very simple method.

Open up the system and have a desk fan blow directly onto the area that needs cooled. Providing you can use that external keyboard and mouse you should be able to expose the motherboard fairly easily whilst still being able to test the system. Run the system for a while and see if you get stability issues.

It would just be annoying to replace the fan only to find out that it's really something else that's causing the issue!
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December 1, 2011 11:40:35 AM

Great minds think alike. I have an external IDE drive case that has a molex connector on it, and a 12V case fan from a server - I'm going to sit the laptop on the case fan and see what happens. Is your lime green Strat inspired by Clapton?
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December 1, 2011 12:12:30 PM

Absolutely not I'm afraid! Fender guitars are rubbish for playing metal. :) 

It's a Jackson SLSMG in a green swirl finish.

Let us know how your fan test goes.
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December 2, 2011 10:44:36 AM

I ductaped an old 90 mm fan to the bottom of the case, and used a 12v wall wort to power it. The machine has been running for 12 hrs, no probs so far.
I've ordered a new fan from Hong Kong.
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December 9, 2011 2:06:29 AM

Best answer selected by FraidyMan.
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