Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#1

Post by luastoned » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 12:48 PM UTC

Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook
arstechnica.co.uk

Re: Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#2

Post by Sami_Lehtinen » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 12:56 PM UTC

Sounds strange. AFAIK USB shouldn't get fried without external power source. So the Chromebook was bad, not the cable? Down votes? Did I misunderstand something? Just comment with reference that I'm wrong and I'm very happy. Why bother building 'USB Killer' if simple paper clip would fry the motherboard?

Re: Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#3

Post by mkuhn » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 1:12 PM UTC

Sami_Lehtinen wrote: post #2

Sounds strange. AFAIK USB shouldn't get fried without external power source. So the Chromebook was bad, not the cable? Down votes? Did I misunderstand something? Just comment with reference that I'm wrong and I'm very happy. Why bother building 'USB Killer' if simple paper clip would fry the motherboard?

He tried to charge a Chromebook Pixel with the cable. At least that is how I read the article...

Re: Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#4

Post by skj » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 1:17 PM UTC

Sami_Lehtinen wrote: post #2

Sounds strange. AFAIK USB shouldn't get fried without external power source. So the Chromebook was bad, not the cable? Down votes? Did I misunderstand something? Just comment with reference that I'm wrong and I'm very happy. Why bother building 'USB Killer' if simple paper clip would fry the motherboard?

The external power source was presumably a wall outlet, since he was testing its ability to charge.

Re: Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#5

Post by uptown » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 1:19 PM UTC

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11021665

Re: Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#6

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 1:44 PM UTC

uptown wrote: post #5

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11021665

[deleted]

Re: Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#7

Post by maxerickson » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 1:50 PM UTC

[deleted] wrote: post #6

uptown wrote: post #5

Previous discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11021665

[deleted]

The provided link is to an HN discussion from yesterday of this same story (not the same article, but Benson Leung announcing the dangerous cable).

Re: Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#8

Post by mjlee » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 1:54 PM UTC

Sami_Lehtinen wrote: post #2

Sounds strange. AFAIK USB shouldn't get fried without external power source. So the Chromebook was bad, not the cable? Down votes? Did I misunderstand something? Just comment with reference that I'm wrong and I'm very happy. Why bother building 'USB Killer' if simple paper clip would fry the motherboard?

More details here:

https://www.amazon.com/review/R2XDBFUD9CTN2R/ref=cm_cr_rdp_p...

The source was a "1st party Apple 12W iPad charger"

Re: Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#9

Post by Kiro » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 1:58 PM UTC

I'm trying to find info about SurjTech with no luck. Does this company even exist?

Re: Google engineer finds USB Type-C cable that’s so bad it fried his Chromebook

#10

Post by josteink » Wed, Feb 03, 2016, 2:21 PM UTC

Does anyone else find it concerning that our new and best technology is so fragile that even the slightest fezz-up in what should be a passive signal-cable can cause our otherwise state of the art equipment to fry itself?

Is reliability, durability and robustness nowhere to be found in any single spec for our new standards?