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USB is keyed so that it can only be plugged into a port a certain way, to ensure that the contacts touch. But what if you either forced it to plug in improperly, or the port itself was worn down and the plug was worn down and you could plug it in backwards? What kind of havoc, if any, would it cause?
GorG
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 199
46
It just wouldn't work.
The contacts are only one one side of the socket/plug so putting the plug in the wrong way round will mean that no connection will be made.
You'll also potentially damage the plug and/or socket so it can't be used again.
I should just add (to answer the final part of the question) that Windows wouldn't warn you because it would have no way of knowing that anything had happened.
ChrisF
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 39 650
I suppose this is no longer true for USB3 ports as the sockets have contacts on both sides? – hurikhan77 – 2010-03-19T22:36:05.870
@hurkihan - it looks like the connectors are still on one side. See the images here - http://apcmag.com/usb_30_connectors_on_display.htm - for example
– ChrisF – 2010-03-20T17:29:55.050My Windows did once warn me that a power surge had been detected when I broke off my connector. – BloodPhilia – 2010-10-14T10:54:18.903
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PQI has a habit removing the outer metal from the USB connector on their USB drives like the one I have above.
It's just as easy to put in "backwards", but as others have pointed out, it simply does not make contact with anything. Thank goodness there's a light on it, so it's easy to tell when I've put it in the right way ;)
prestomation
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 985
2That must be incredibly annoying. – Phoshi – 2009-09-04T13:35:19.650
1+1 I have a mini usb drive similar to the one above, but smaller still. SuperTalent does a ton of them like that. It's nice and tiny, but it takes a couple tries to get it right sometimes. – DHayes – 2009-09-04T13:39:28.587
1It's the price you pay, I guess, for super-small USB drives. – Keithius – 2009-09-04T15:26:20.257
1And then there are those SD cards with built in USB plugs. – GameFreak – 2009-09-04T22:13:16.267
technicality: it's not below, it's above. – R. Martinho Fernandes – 2009-09-04T22:53:44.300
@Martinho...good catch... – prestomation – 2009-09-05T00:29:12.140
1
@prestomation -- another nice image you might add to your answer: the foldable connector on a USB rechargeable battery: http://www.usbcell.com/product/4 :-)
– Arjan – 2009-09-05T08:23:31.7534
Nothing. It's not symmetrical. No contact would be made.
Rich Bradshaw
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 6 324
4
Well the electrical connections would not match up, so I think the worst case would be a short which would likely damage the interface circuitry on the mobo. I doubt it's designed to handle that, because the connectors are keyed. Other than that I think it would be limited to the physical damage to the connectors i.e. they wouldn't work any more.
How persistent did you have to be to get that connector in backwards?
Chris
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 1 032
1..."How persistent"... You won't believe what a stubborn luser can do... There are more than enough stories of 'misplaced' floppies, CD's, memory sticks and other stuff. Personally witnessed several attempts. The only reason the offending persons lived, is that they didn't do it to my computer :) – Kirill Strizhak – 2009-09-04T12:45:42.697
1USB 2.0 is supposed to be fork-resistant. (Fork as in the metallical pointy thing.) So I doubt any physical damage should occur from the shorting. – user1686 – 2009-09-04T13:12:47.027
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USB 2.0 requires that the all trancievers are able to withstand a short-circuit. Unless you have a truly substandard USB implementation it should be fine. It just doens't work backwards.
A fun story is that Microsoft used to torture-test USB by plugging a fork into the socket instead of a proper USB device.
Brian Reiter
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 706
actually, the article linked by you states explicitly you could do that, but that they (or at least Mr Chen) didn't do that. Would you care to elaborate? – None – 2017-05-12T14:53:29.407
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Like many already said, usually it's hard to plug it in without force.
However, some manufacturers do have those tiny models, like this Transcend T3, which can be plugged backwards. But, since the contacts are only on one side, so no contact is made, nothing happens. Windows doesn't show any message, since practically, it's not plugged in.
Apart from that, and the fact that I lose them all the time, fantastic little thingies :)
Rook
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 21 622
There's a hole to tie a mascot to. It will help lose them all the time. ;-) – hurikhan77 – 2010-03-19T22:39:22.977
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If you connect the usb cable backwards on the motherboard, you could damage your pendrive. I saw this happen. This is a similar case of yours.
Sidenote: I accidentally inserted the headphone's jack into my usb slot (the case is on the floor, the slots are near to the floor and I was blindaiming). Some sparks came out and the OS warned me that something happened to the usb. I don't know if it is working now, because I didn't put in anything after the incident.
Vili
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 255
You shorted power and ground--or power and one of the data pins. You probably fried the chip. – Broam – 2010-03-19T23:05:53.800
1
If the plastic spacer inside the PC's USB type A socket breaks, attempting to plug a device into the socket can short the Vcc and GND terminals together, which may damage the motherboard. Breaking the plastic spacer was not unheard of with clamshell cases on Dell Precision Workstations from several years ago: open the clamshell with a device plugged into the front USB port and something's probably going to break (either the device or the socket).
Depending on the mechanical design of the specific type A plug, fumbling around with the plug backwards may also short Vcc to GND. I ran into this once with a type A plug where the shell had two metal fingers that were crimped over the plastic spacer, and these happened to be the same distance apart as the Vcc and GND terminals. This burned up a trace on a motherboard (a generic Pentium board circa 1996; apparently no overcurrent protection for the USB port) and made me much more careful about plugging in keyed connectors.
bk1e
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 1 579
1The USB standard requires that all downstream facing ports implement current limits. If shorting VBUS to GND burned out a trace, that MB was not compliant. – RBerteig – 2009-09-05T07:47:05.960
-1
An USB connector has just a metal case around it for protection. It has four connectors which will connect the device to your computer. Two of them are just to send power to the device. The other two are to send data to your device. Worst case scenario oif you mix these up? You'd be sending power to the data line, causing it to overload damaging the device. But if those connectors are mixed up, the device is very likely already broken. The mini/micro plugs have a fifth connector, just for grounding the device.
If you open an USB cable, the red cable will contain the 5V power. The white and green cables are for data. The black one is to ground the device so the power can loop around. With a mini/micro USB plug, the fourth connector is used to make distinction between the kind of plug. (USB-A or USB-B.) And... Oh, well... Wikipedia says it all. :-) No use to type everything over from there...
Wim ten Brink
Posted 2009-09-04T12:21:56.367
Reputation: 1 815
If something bad could happen, no, Windows would not warn you. Its just another thing that would make you have to get a new computer. – Wuffers – 2010-10-10T20:16:11.683
15A theoretical question I hope? – Phoshi – 2009-09-04T12:38:08.897
4A luser would never force it. They'd just get a bigger hammer. – Les – 2009-09-04T13:05:35.877
6I actually laughed at this question – Xetius – 2009-09-04T14:31:53.593
2That's funny. I has something similar happen...our co-op put the USB plug into an ethernet port. Surprisingly, the system wouldn't power up and he couldn't figure out why. So, I just jokingly said that he probably plugged the USB into the ethernet port. When I checked, to my surprise, I was right. – hanleyp – 2009-09-05T02:05:51.143
Come to think of it, maybe just the keyboard didn't work. I'll have to try and see what happens next week. – hanleyp – 2009-09-05T02:08:43.573