Date: 15/03/2014 19:19:12
From: Obviousman
ID: 503955
Subject: Laptop hardware help needed

A mate had a lightning strike on his house and his laptop was connected via a ethernet cable. The coputer switched off but has rebooted and seems to work…. except all the USB ports seem to be inoperative. They still seems to deliver power but do not recognose devices. I think the software control is corrupted but have never encountered this before.

Any help?

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Date: 15/03/2014 19:51:14
From: rumpole
ID: 503975
Subject: re: Laptop hardware help needed

Has he unplugged all the devices then plugged them in again ?

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Date: 15/03/2014 19:51:41
From: Teleost
ID: 503976
Subject: re: Laptop hardware help needed

Assuming that he’s using some version of Windows. Delete the USB ports in Device Manager.

Reboot and the OS should pick them all up again.

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Date: 15/03/2014 20:48:43
From: wookiemeister
ID: 504027
Subject: re: Laptop hardware help needed

has he tried other devices other than the ones he might have had plugged in at the time of the lightning strike?

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Date: 15/03/2014 20:55:10
From: Obviousman
ID: 504035
Subject: re: Laptop hardware help needed

rumpole said:


Has he unplugged all the devices then plugged them in again ?

Yep. We are trying the shut down, remove battery pack, wait 15 minutes then restart.

Failing that we’ll uninstall all the USB drivers and reload.

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Date: 15/03/2014 20:55:25
From: wookiemeister
ID: 504036
Subject: re: Laptop hardware help needed

I found this

You guys are going to think I’m going crazy. I had popped out the battery and reset the CMOS, thinking it might get the USB ports working again. No luck. So I left it unplugged for most of the day.

Out of curiosity, I used a LiveCD to run Memtest86+ overnight, in which it went through 12 passes with no errors.

Today, I rebooted the computer, and to my surprise the USB ports worked again when I decided to give them one more try! The USB drives flash their lights, as they had done in the past upon being inserted, and I can even boot from a USB stick using any port.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24131473-Lightning-damaged-only-my-USB-ports-Possible-hidden-damage-

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Date: 15/03/2014 20:55:28
From: wookiemeister
ID: 504037
Subject: re: Laptop hardware help needed

I found this

You guys are going to think I’m going crazy. I had popped out the battery and reset the CMOS, thinking it might get the USB ports working again. No luck. So I left it unplugged for most of the day.

Out of curiosity, I used a LiveCD to run Memtest86+ overnight, in which it went through 12 passes with no errors.

Today, I rebooted the computer, and to my surprise the USB ports worked again when I decided to give them one more try! The USB drives flash their lights, as they had done in the past upon being inserted, and I can even boot from a USB stick using any port.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24131473-Lightning-damaged-only-my-USB-ports-Possible-hidden-damage-

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Date: 15/03/2014 20:56:49
From: wookiemeister
ID: 504039
Subject: re: Laptop hardware help needed

putting my service tech head on

try obvious fixes

then head on line to see if someone has had the same problem

it sounds silly but I googled this “usb port laptop not working lightning strike”

I suspect its a common problem.

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Date: 15/03/2014 21:02:05
From: Teleost
ID: 504047
Subject: re: Laptop hardware help needed

No need to make it more complex than needed.

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