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USB Floppy power surging

M

moocow

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xentr_thread_starter
Dumb question for the community. I have a USB Floppy drive that I got years ago meaning to read stuff off old floppy before I toss them. When I plug into my motherboard, I got a warning from Windows saying the USB port is suffering from a power surge and my other port died. After some reading, I got a powered USB 3.0 hub with individual power buttons. I plug it in and turn it on and the port immediately shuts down. I assume it trip the power protection on the hub as well since the same port works fine with M2 NVME external drives. So the question is this, is the floppy drive a dud? There's no way to use it because it's pulling way too much power than it's suppose to.
 
Honestly I'd open it up and check for shorts right away. Cold solder joints next. And if everything looks good, and you're willing to risk a USb charger... try hooking it to the charger EDIT: a regulated variable power supply would be waayyyyyy safer! Check for overheating components (thermal cameras or laser thermometers are great for that) and follow the 5v power line around until to find something weird. Could just be a dead resistor or cap that's only a few cents and a few seconds to resolder away from an easy fix. Otherwise? Probably not worth fixing if it's the USB controller or similar chip. You can probably get a new USB floppy drive from ebay for like... I'd say 25 bucks? Unless they're a rare / "retro" item and are more expensive now. Either way, good luck.
 
xentr_thread_starter
No it's not rare or retro, just something I picked up years ago as part of data recovery. No different from units available on Amazon. Your answer pretty much confirm my suspicion that's it's an electronic component level issue and not some kind of obscure USB behavior that current hardware don't know how to handle.
 
moocow said:
and not some kind of obscure USB behavior that current hardware don't know how to handle.
Click to expand...
I mean, TECHNICALLY, all USB should be backwards compatible, handshake properly, not damage anything. A USB1.1 mouse should work in a USB4 jack, and a USB4 enclosure should be able to connect and transfer at 1.1 speeds (or at least 2.0 speeds?)... but I've never tried either. Your mobo throwing a power warning and shutting off ports should Never happen unless there's an electrical fault, ya.
 
moocow said:
No it's not rare or retro, just something I picked up years ago as part of data recovery. No different from units available on Amazon. Your answer pretty much confirm my suspicion that's it's an electronic component level issue and not some kind of obscure USB behavior that current hardware don't know how to handle.
Click to expand...

You can get a USB2.0 hub, that that should technically make it work, or a usb2.0 extension cable. It could be a component failure as you stated, but I hope not.
 
Last edited:
Step 1. Throw it and the floppies out.

Step 2. There is no step 2.

Step 3. Profit

In all seriousness I have heard of others having issues with trying to use USB floppy drives recently, but I don’t recall what the issues were. Based on what you are describing it’s overdrawing, so maybe a seized motor?
 
@Bond007 isn't the Joke "Step 2: ?????"?

Think the OP said the floppy reader triggers mobo power warnings before even inserting a floppy disc, so the motor never has the chance to spin up anyways, otherwise I would've mentioned it. If it is the motor though, still probably cheaper to just order another usb->floppy 🤷
 
What's weird is the powered hub is also an issue. Does make me want to agree that the reader is the problem.
 
CMetaphor said:
@Bond007 isn't the Joke "Step 2: ?????"?

Think the OP said the floppy reader triggers mobo power warnings before even inserting a floppy disc, so the motor never has the chance to spin up anyways, otherwise I would've mentioned it. If it is the motor though, still probably cheaper to just order another usb->floppy 🤷
Click to expand...
I think it normally moves when it’s powered on to check if there is a disk in it.
 
xentr_thread_starter
The UGreen unit claims to have protection circuits inside and I believe that's what preventing the floppy drive to power on because of some funky electronic issues inside the drive.

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