I recently started using a USB fan(such as this but not exactly this http://www.cdrking.com/apanel/modules/products/images/large/1325_1.jpg ) to cool my laptop because I found it more efficient than a cooling pad. After a few days, the fan started to have problems such as dead LEDs and some grinding noises started to come up. I remedied the noise problem by putting some lubricant. After a few more days the USB fan looked like it lost power or is losing power and the lights of a USB mouse plugged in next to it started to flicker and was getting "unplugged" meaning the "removed device" sound played. Then suddenly, I heard a "click" sound near the USB ports. The fan was off and the mouse became unresponsive. I check if it smelled like smoke and it did. Even the USB 3.0 port on the opposite side of the laptop stopped working. All three available USB ports are dead. But, when I tried to reattach the USB mouse and the light flashes on for a split-second but it doesn't fully activate. USB Flash Drives do not work as well but a printer the I tried to plug in worked probably because it's individually powered.
Eh; yea I would say you definitely burned it out most likely from the lubricant you put in it if you can smell something that smells like smoke. You should never put any type of lubricant in a computer cooling fan as just about every type of computer cooling fan known out there has a motor(s) that are pre lubed from the factory and should never need lubricating. unfortunately i think your $ for that fan went up in smoke as well.
EDIT: as for the usb ports not working; go into the "system" area of the control panel; then go to device manager and make sure there are no question marks or exclamation points by any of the devices or ports. If there are; that means something is amiss; either the driver is faulty/bad; and/or possibly the connection to the system board is loose or bad.
Also have a pretty bad speaker setup which is a klipsch promedia 5.1 surround speaker setup with huge subwoofer and lg blu ray player/writer. Also a hp officejet pro 8600 plus wireless all in one and a logitech s7500 webcam.
It's not the usb fan that smelled burnt, it was the usb port itself. I don't really care about the USB fan because it was cheap. I care more about my USB ports. The first thing I checked was the device manager and everything is fine. There aren't any exclamation points and question marks suggesting errors.
Eh; if it's the port that smelled burnt; i would say u have a even bigger problem as that signals a burnt out connection on the system board for the USB port(s). Try connecting another USB device to that same port and if it doesn't work then yes the USB connection to the system board is shot most likely.
Also have a pretty bad speaker setup which is a klipsch promedia 5.1 surround speaker setup with huge subwoofer and lg blu ray player/writer. Also a hp officejet pro 8600 plus wireless all in one and a logitech s7500 webcam.
Well at that point the only solution most likely is to take the Lappy to a shop that can possibly re solder a new connection on but in the end it may require a completely new system board.
Also have a pretty bad speaker setup which is a klipsch promedia 5.1 surround speaker setup with huge subwoofer and lg blu ray player/writer. Also a hp officejet pro 8600 plus wireless all in one and a logitech s7500 webcam.
Also have a pretty bad speaker setup which is a klipsch promedia 5.1 surround speaker setup with huge subwoofer and lg blu ray player/writer. Also a hp officejet pro 8600 plus wireless all in one and a logitech s7500 webcam.
I tried plugging in a USB optic mouse and the light flashes very briefly. But other than that, nothing. Is it possible that the usb port is replacable instead of the whole motherboard?
