Fried my work computer

[schnauzer4me]

not sure if i am posting in the correct place .....but.........i took my usb 901 charger thingy to work & plugged it - all was good for about 1 minute - i smelled smoke and was thinking who in the heck is smoking in the office...no that is something burning in the office ...holy crap that is MY computer smoking!!! yikes...
i quickly pulled that sucker out and with all the nerve i could muster up told my boss that hmmm ...excuse me...yeah...well.... i think my e-cigarette toasted my 'puter.....(the usb plug totally overheated and crashed the whole dang computer) .....needless to say my boss was less than happy with me ....
took it to computer wiz & he said the usb charger was not compatible with my usb port...something to do with new port vs old port.... ....so just f/y/i if you have an old computer don't use the usb charger....
or crash, boom, bang, fire in the hole....
the computer was a lost cause
however my e-cig & charger survived and thankfully i am still employed ...
has anyone heard of such a thing? or just my bad luck?

[heathmcse]

i killed one of my usb ports on my home pc with a home-made usb passtrough, thankfully there was a nother header on the board for the front usb ports

[Sun Vaporer]

not sure if i am posting in the correct place .....but.........i took my usb 901 charger thingy to work & plugged it - all was good for about 1 minute - i smelled smoke and was thinking who in the heck is smoking in the office...no that is something burning in the office ...holy crap that is MY computer smoking!!! yikes...
i quickly pulled that sucker out and with all the nerve i could muster up told my boss that hmmm ...excuse me...yeah...well.... i think my e-cigarette toasted my 'puter.....(the usb plug totally overheated and crashed the whole dang computer) .....needless to say my boss was less than happy with me ....
took it to computer wiz & he said the usb charger was not compatible with my usb port...something to do with new port vs old port.... ....so just f/y/i if you have an old computer don't use the usb charger....
or crash, boom, bang, fire in the hole....
the computer was a lost cause
however my e-cig & charger survived and thankfully i am still employed ...
has anyone heard of such a thing? or just my bad luck?

Schnauzer4me--Appreciate the report--although many thing it is not possible--a usb passthough can in fact fry a computer--so noted---Sun

[Walrus]

I might have just told him that I had a USB battery charger plugged in. No need to give him a bad first impression of e-cigs...

Sorry to hear about your problem.

[smokingclam]

Definitely heard of this before. There are differences between usb 1 and 2 . This was taken from Wikipedia to give you a little example.

Non-standard devices

A USB vacuum cleaner


A number of USB devices require more power than is permitted by the specifications for a single port. This is a common requirement of external hard and optical disc drives and other devices with motors or lamps. Such devices can be used with an external power supply of adequate rating, which is allowed by the standard, or by means of a dual-input USB cable, one input of which is used for power and data transfer, the other solely for power, which makes the device a non-standard USB device. Some external hubs may, in practice, supply more power to USB devices than required by the specification but a standard-compliant device must not depend on this.
Some non-standard USB devices use the 5 V power supply without participating in a proper USB network. These are usually referred to as USB decorations. The typical example is a USB-powered reading light; fans, mug heaters (though some may include USB hubs[24]), battery chargers (particularly for mobile telephones), miniature vacuum cleaners, a miniature Lava Lamp, and even toy missile launchers are available. In most cases, these items contain no digitally based circuitry, and thus are not proper USB devices at all. This can theoretically cause problems with some computers—the USB specification requires that devices connect in a low-power mode (100 mA maximum) and state how much current they need, before switching, with the host's permission, into high-power mode.

[schnauzer4me]

it was kinda hard to hide what happened - my office allows me to vape at my desk...
i am clueless when it comes to computer & tech stuff so I had no idea there was a 1 & 2 usb....
on a better note - my boss actually tried one of my e-cigs (after he calmed down)
........great info smokingclam- i understood most (some) of it
good to know it was not just my bad luck....thanks....

[smokingclam]

Better off getting a usb hub and hooking into that if possible. At least if you have a problem the hub should be the first thing to go hopefully!

[Walrus]

Look at the bright side... if the computer was using USB 1.1, you just helped them upgrade into the modern world!

[JJames68]

I would just buy a usb backup device, like the apc one, sounds like you got some old old pc's there, yeah usb 2.0 devices can draw more power then the usb 1.0 can supply - your propbably lucky it was your ecig and not a pop can cooler or usb fan\hard drive that may have been left plugged in all nite or something

[kinabaloo]

I always thought it strange that people were so worried about their $10 atomiser but so carefree about their computer ! No offence, my friend. I've done plenty of such things myself

Not only does usb provide more power, but it is supposedly current limited (according to the specification). But that doesnt mean every manufacturer implemented this well, and would they look kindly on such a peripheral being used ?

I have great sympathy for you - the stuff of nightmares. The passthrough should warn about usb 1. And yes, your company really should have updated your computer by now.

hope you can be vaping at work again soon ...