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[I_want_an_Omega]

Ok, Asus Netbook Eee PC 1001PX to be precise. 2010 vintage running XP, nothing special but I think I've killed it 

As i've done many times before I connected a powered USB hub - however, this time I used the wrong power adaptor for the powered hub. My mistake, I just picked up the wrong one. However, it was a 12v PSU as opposed to the 5v one for the hub.

The netbook was switched on, but when power was applied to the hub the netbook immediately "died", and a whif of smoke came out of the hub. Ok, the hub is now dead - but I'm wondering about the netbook. I'm suspecting it's dead as well, it wont power up.

If I can get the hard-drive out of it is it possible that I can install into another (identical) machine & carry on - assuming its survived that is, or even connect it as another drive to recover data - surely nothing to loose is there? have to work out how to get the hard-drive out first.

What a silly boy 

[tigers_gonads]

Pull the cover off and have a nosey Rob, you might be very lucky 

[I_want_an_Omega]

Pull the cover off and have a nosey Rob, you might be very lucky 

I've got inside it (thanks Youtube), but the bad news is that the only real part having "that electrical smell" is the HDD itself. 

What's the worst that can happen if I install it in another machine - not as the boot drive?

[Kevin Wood]

I'd remove the battery and mains supply from the netbook for a minute or two then try powering it up again.

Disk would go into an identical machine and keep working. It's unlikely that it's taken the disk out. The built-in "crippleware" in XP would probably try to claim that you're using the OEM build on another machine, since the motherboard and network adaptor identities will change, but you might just need to do another online registration to fix that. not sure. 

[Kevin Wood]

I've got inside it (thanks Youtube), but the bad news is that the only real part having "that electrical smell" is the HDD itself. 

Really? That's not good. It's a poor design of USB hub (and laptop, frankly) if sufficient current has got into the machine to do that.

[I_want_an_Omega]

I'd remove the battery and mains supply from the netbook for a minute or two then try powering it up again.

Disk would go into an identical machine and keep working. It's unlikely that it's taken the disk out. The built-in "crippleware" in XP would probably try to claim that you're using the OEM build on another machine, since the motherboard and network adaptor identities will change, but you might just need to do another online registration to fix that. not sure. 

Tried that - no good

[tigers_gonads]

I've a copy of win 7 ultimate here but it would need to be a total re install but as Kevin says, if the hard drive smells then its probably knackered 
Have you backed it up recently ?

[I_want_an_Omega]

Ok, have put HDD into another machine (desktop), by just connecting a spare SATA power cable. Machine wont even power up 

My conclusion is that it's a dead HDD.

Looking at the way the machine is built, there are only 2 USB ports. One is on the motherboard, the other is on an expansion board which the HDD connects to - with that board connected to the main board via a long ribbon cable. It's the expansion board USB that I connected to - so suspect that the HDD was one of the first things to get the 12v when it was connected.

I've used this powered hub with this machine loads of times so am quite angry at myself. The thing is that the power connectors on the two problematic devices are the same size, I'd had a bit of a tidy-up and picked the wrong one up.

Bumbles ......

[I_want_an_Omega]

I've removed the PCB from the HDD (dead easy as it just snaps in place) after removing 7 screws.

In flipping the board over there is very obvious electrical "trauma" on some components adjacent to the SATA power interface - am talking about a small chip which has split apart  .

So, I've just bought an identical used HDD from ebay with the objective of using its PCB - what can possibly go wrong 

I'll keep you posted ...

Dumbo

[aaronjb]

If the part numbers are completely identical then that's been known to work..

[I_want_an_Omega]

If the part numbers are completely identical then that's been known to work..

They are  . The seller posted a very detailed picture of the label on the drive on ebay - it was quite cheap as well.

[aaronjb]

Good luck!

And don't do it again

[I_want_an_Omega]

Good luck!

And don't do it again

Thanks & yes Dad 

[TheBoy]

Kevin Wood - its ASUS, of course its a flawed design.

Lincs Robert - I'd treat any part of that machine now as suspect. In a proper design, it should have just wiped out the on-board usb hub. The fact its done more damage suggests a lot more may have got fried.

Good luck anyway, but dont throw too much money at it

[Kevin Wood]

Anyway, back to fault finding my Openpeak Joggler - which I've just done exactly the same thing to. 12V mains adaptor instead of 5V, and it wasn't best pleased.