When hubs go bad (+long unrelated digression)

So the iMac at work, a 2008 model, began behaving erratically this week, enough for me to restart it the other day—whereupon it required about two hours and a dozen spontaneous resets to recover from its swoon. Today, more erratic behavior, most seeming to occur when access to sundry USB peripherals was attempted. After just five minutes inserted into a 7-port USB 2.0 hub, and not appearing on the desktop, a 4GB HP flash drive was warm—no, hot— to the touch when it was yanked from the hub, and the hub itself exceedingly hot (not so its power brick) in the few seconds I handled it before hastily sundering its connections with my computer and peripherals.

It was a cheap, generic unit, purchased from a nearby office supply store (their house brand; finest Chinese workmanship*) three or four years ago. I swapped in a new one, and things appear to have settled down. Anyone else encountered a rogue, hot-tempered hub?

cordially,

*I'm reminded of a party I attended in San Francisco in 1987, not long after my first marriage exploded in mid-flight. I was feeling a tad fragile, social-wise, but fell into conversation with a Sweet Young Thing, probably in her early twenties—I would have been around thirty-five—and the interaction seemed to be going well (I was not thinking far enough ahead for me to recall it as "promising") when I made a quip—clever, of course, as my quips invariably are—which, however, relied for its effect (indeed, for its very sense) on the shared cultural memory of "Made in Japan" having once been a synonym for "cheap and shoddy." Because that slur had become obsolete before the SYT attained her full growth, my witticism was received more like "My hovercraft is full of eels." (Expectant smile) "Yes, my hovercraft is full of eels!" Understand that I didn't subject the exchange to this level of analysis until the game tapes were reviewed: all I sensed at that moment was that the dynamic of the conversation had suddenly shifted, and that the SYT was all at once aware of other, better exchanges to which she might be privy. All this by way of saying that "Made in China" won't always be a put-down.

Post #324,281 by rcareaga 4/8/10 8:41:25 PM Reply	When hubs go bad (+long unrelated digression) So the iMac at work, a 2008 model, began behaving erratically this week, enough for me to restart it the other day—whereupon it required about two hours and a dozen spontaneous resets to recover from its swoon. Today, more erratic behavior, most seeming to occur when access to sundry USB peripherals was attempted. After just five minutes inserted into a 7-port USB 2.0 hub, and not appearing on the desktop, a 4GB HP flash drive was warm—no, hot— to the touch when it was yanked from the hub, and the hub itself exceedingly hot (not so its power brick) in the few seconds I handled it before hastily sundering its connections with my computer and peripherals. It was a cheap, generic unit, purchased from a nearby office supply store (their house brand; finest Chinese workmanship) three or four years ago. I swapped in a new one, and things appear to have settled down. Anyone else encountered a rogue, hot-tempered hub? cordially, I'm reminded of a party I attended in San Francisco in 1987, not long after my first marriage exploded in mid-flight. I was feeling a tad fragile, social-wise, but fell into conversation with a Sweet Young Thing, probably in her early twenties—I would have been around thirty-five—and the interaction seemed to be going well (I was not thinking far enough ahead for me to recall it as "promising") when I made a quip—clever, of course, as my quips invariably are—which, however, relied for its effect (indeed, for its very sense) on the shared cultural memory of "Made in Japan" having once been a synonym for "cheap and shoddy." Because that slur had become obsolete before the SYT attained her full growth, my witticism was received more like "My hovercraft is full of eels." (Expectant smile) "Yes, my hovercraft is full of eels!" Understand that I didn't subject the exchange to this level of analysis until the game tapes were reviewed: all I sensed at that moment was that the dynamic of the conversation had suddenly shifted, and that the SYT was all at once aware of other, better exchanges to which she might be privy. All this by way of saying that "Made in China" won't always be a put-down.
Post #324,297 by Meerkat 4/9/10 7:48:52 AM Reply	I had one catch fire. Do I win a prize? This hub however was troubled right from the start. All the drama occurred within minutes of plugging it in, I don't think I even got the chance to plug anything into it apart from its power supply. Before the flames, though, the warm inner glow it displayed was pretty. The acrid smoke, less so. They said I was gullible ... and I believed them
Post #324,299 by static 4/9/10 8:53:52 AM Reply	You always were a sucker for pretty lights. :-) OT: How are you, anyway? We've kind of lost touch over the years. Wade. Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers? A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
Post #324,317 by folkert 4/9/10 2:24:17 PM Reply	I had a belkin USB Hub go bad... just recently. First it was disappearing mouse... then disappearing printer, finally disappearing everything... and then a black spot started to appear on the white soft rubberish hub... then smoke. the iMac, isolated the usb port it was connected to. after I removed the Belkin hub everything went right back to normal.

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