On Sat, 7 Dec 2024 09:15:20 -0800 William Morder via tde-users users@trinitydesktop.org wrote:
Sorry to post off-topic, but this one has me stumped. Has anybody else had a USB port just fail on them?
Well, they're *ports*. They're subject to physical wear and tear. I believe there are clauses in the standard that say they have to be built so that they can support a certain minimum number of device insertions and removals before failure, but it's always possible that you got a dud or someone did a bad soldering job that failed under stress.
Before you go tearing into your laptop's guts, though, try booting it from a live CD image just to make absolutely sure that there's nothing "stuck on" in the installed OS somewhere. I don't see how there could be, but it's a simple non-invasive test that eliminates the OS layer as a possible culprit.
I assume you've tested the port with other devices to make sure it isn't the combination of that port and that device that's gone sour. I also assume you've tested your external drive with other ports on the laptop. (I ask because I have a USB key that suddenly started refusing to work with my laptop one day while my desktop shows it as perfectly okay. Still haven't figured that one out.)
E. Liddell