Hot swapping and motherboard - question

[Mike S.]

Would hot swapping a USB device (like a flash drive) without safely
removing it cause damage to the motherboard? And if the motherboard is
damaged could that cause a PS/2 mouse and keyboard to stop working?

[Paul]

Mike S. wrote:
> Would hot swapping a USB device (like a flash drive) without safely
> removing it cause damage to the motherboard? And if the motherboard is
> damaged could that cause a PS/2 mouse and keyboard to stop working?
>

As far as I know, the PS/2 mouse and keyboard, are connected to the
Super I/O chip. The USB interfaces connect to the Southbridge chip.
So the logic end of things, is separated, and there is no reason for
a logic failure to "spread" from one chip to another.

I/O devices do have power on them. And it is possible, but pretty
stupid, to run the +5V that powers PS/2 and USB devices, through
the same fuse. A designer would have to be a real cheapskate, to
do that.

It could also be, on a really cheap motherboard, for no fuse to
be present. Then, a short that burns a power track in the
motherboard, might result in multiple I/O interfaces no
longer getting power.

The power theories are pretty thin, but that is about all I
can think of at the moment. Since fuses look a bit different
than other components, sometimes you can spot them in a picture
of the motherboard. Polyfuses (the kind that close when they get
cool again), are green in color, and have a dimple on each
end. Many quality motherboards use these, and they don't need
to be replaced, as they recover automatically. You might see one
of these next to the parallel I/O connector, one near the
keyboard/mouse stack, and one per two USB port stack.

http://www.phoenix1.co.uk/images/pptc_sm.jpg

Paul

[Anna]

"Mike S." > wrote in message
ups.com...
> Would hot swapping a USB device (like a flash drive) without safely
> removing it cause damage to the motherboard? And if the motherboard is
> damaged could that cause a PS/2 mouse and keyboard to stop working?


Mike:
Re your question whether hot-swapping ("hot-plugging") a USB flash drive
without invoking the Safely Remove Hardware icon will cause damage to the
motherboard...

I can only tell you that after working with thousands of PCs over the past
few years I have never come across a single incident of that happening. At
least we've never been able to trace a cause-effect scenario along those
lines. We have experienced situations where there was a loss or corruption
of data in a few instances where the user removed the flash device (or USB
external HDD) from the system while in the midst of copying or moving very
large files. But to the best of my knowledge we've never experienced any
damage to the device itself or the motherboard as a consequence. We normally
suggest to users that they select the "Optimize for quick removal" option in
Device Manager for their flash drive in order to lessen the chances for
problems in this area.

As to your other question whether a damaged (defective) motherboard could
"cause a PS/2 mouse and keyboard to stop working." Obviously it could. Just
like a defective motherboard could cause *any* computer component to stop
working.

BTW, are your questions just theoretical or have you experienced problems
along the lines of your queries?
Anna

[Mike S.]

On Jun 17, 8:20 am, "Anna" > wrote:
> "Mike S." > wrote in message
>
> ups.com...
>
> > Would hot swapping a USB device (like a flash drive) without safely
> > removing it cause damage to the motherboard? And if the motherboard is
> > damaged could that cause a PS/2 mouse and keyboard to stop working?
>
> Mike:
> Re your question whether hot-swapping ("hot-plugging") a USB flash drive
> without invoking the Safely Remove Hardware icon will cause damage to the
> motherboard...
>
> I can only tell you that after working with thousands of PCs over the past
> few years I have never come across a single incident of that happening. At
> least we've never been able to trace a cause-effect scenario along those
> lines. We have experienced situations where there was a loss or corruption
> of data in a few instances where the user removed the flash device (or USB
> external HDD) from the system while in the midst of copying or moving very
> large files. But to the best of my knowledge we've never experienced any
> damage to the device itself or the motherboard as a consequence. We normally
> suggest to users that they select the "Optimize for quick removal" option in
> Device Manager for their flash drive in order to lessen the chances for
> problems in this area.
>
> As to your other question whether a damaged (defective) motherboard could
> "cause a PS/2 mouse and keyboard to stop working." Obviously it could. Just
> like a defective motherboard could cause *any* computer component to stop
> working.
>
> BTW, are your questions just theoretical or have you experienced problems
> along the lines of your queries?
> Anna



A relative was having problems getting their PS/2 mouse and keyboard
to work. It turns out that they gave me incorrect information about
the problem and it was easily fixed by plugging the mouse back into
the PS/2 port. People like that really shouldn't have a computer.