Inspiron B120 shuts off when pluggin in USB Devices. Whats wrong?

Question

I have a Dell Inspiron B120 Laptop. Well I regret buying this piece of junk because its been nothing but problems.

Now what it does is whenever I plug a USB device into the side ports. I shuts off immediately. When you turn it back on after about 10 seconds (because it wont let you turn it immediately back on) it says that you exceeded the power limits and the system had to shutdown.

Seriously the only thing I plugged in was a USB mouse. How much energy can an infrared LED take? All the USB ports on the laptop do this. It was working just fine just yesterday! And no it is no longer under warranty.

Oh and to add to this question, if the laptop is off and put a USB device in and then turn it on. It will not get past POST bootup.

yes this happens with any other usb device i plug in. And i had this problem once before many many months ago an it went on its own one day. I just looked at the bios and it says the battery is bad.. which would explain why it only lasts 12 minutes when not plugged in. The battery also gets extremely hot, enough to burn my leg... yet there is no recall for this model. Could it be a battery issue?

Answer 1

I'd have Dell repair it. It's very common for machines to shut down when too many USB devices are plugged in, but not just one. The workaround in most cases is to use a powered USB hub (one with it's own AC adapter, so it doesn't draw from the system bus)

But either that particular USB mouse is bad- drawing way more than it should, or there's real problem with the motherboard. It's not a software/driver issue if you can't get past the POST. I'd have it looked at before it starts smoking.

Does this happen with other USB devices too?

Answer 2

the priority must be related to the two the keyboard or the mouse. in case you have PS2 ports on the laptop attempt using those with (needless to say) a distinctive keyboard and mouse. If that solves the priority then one or the two between the unique are at fault. If it nonetheless happens then it must be the USB ports themselves are inflicting the priority, that must be a motherboard concern.