Desktop Computer Screen goes blank when using CPU's USB to charge flashlight.

Inspector Jerry · Nov 28, 2020

Just got the Olight M2R Warrior with 21700 battery. When using magnetic charging tail-cap cord plugged into a USB port on my desktop computer/CPU, the computer screen eventually freezes up and is blank. Nothing will restore computer usage unless I disconnect computer power then power up again.

Did this twice, and now I use a 120-volt adapter into a wall receptacle for use with the cord. Computer since has been fine.

Charging cord is a 1/1.5/2A

Anybody know what's up here?

bigburly912 · Nov 28, 2020

Power supply may not be strong enough to support the charging

Lynx_Arc · Nov 28, 2020

Computers often have differing banks of USB ports with separate controllers and power supplies. If you plug into a lower power USB port it may cause the computer to freeze or whatever. IMO it is best to not use computer ports to power anything more than 500ma unless you know for sure the USB port has greater current output capacity.

Inspector Jerry · Nov 28, 2020

Lynx_Arc said:
Computers often have differing banks of USB ports with separate controllers and power supplies. If you plug into a lower power USB port it may cause the computer to freeze or whatever. IMO it is best to not use computer ports to power anything more than 500ma unless you know for sure the USB port has greater current output capacity.

Thanks much.

Kestrel · Nov 28, 2020

A number of computers have powered /and/ unpowered (i.e. 0.5A maximum) USB ports; would be good to determine if there are two different sorts on yours & try both.

Stress_Test · Nov 28, 2020

I would be cautious about plugging any USB-rechargeable device into my PC.

Years ago, I bought a little Energizer 2-cell USB battery charger for AA/AAA. You could plug it into a PC and it would give you a little status screen.

It turned out that the charger carried a Trojan virus on board (I forget how I found out; there was something I read about it). I scanned my PC, and sure enough the virus was there. Fortunately, it was easy to get rid of. I read that the virus was installed on a bunch of those chargers by a disgruntled employee, supposedly.

At my workplace, any IT device that we procure has to go through a security check. They instituted that precaution several years back since there had been evidence that China or other hostile governments could be loading spyware, malware, etc on IT devices, whether it was a printer, a USB drive, keyboard, anything that connected to a PC.

Backup your system and files often! That's the only real defense.

Lynx_Arc · Nov 29, 2020

Stress_Test said:
I would be cautious about plugging any USB-rechargeable device into my PC.

Years ago, I bought a little Energizer 2-cell USB battery charger for AA/AAA. You could plug it into a PC and it would give you a little status screen.

It turned out that the charger carried a Trojan virus on board (I forget how I found out; there was something I read about it). I scanned my PC, and sure enough the virus was there. Fortunately, it was easy to get rid of. I read that the virus was installed on a bunch of those chargers by a disgruntled employee, supposedly.

At my workplace, any IT device that we procure has to go through a security check. They instituted that precaution several years back since there had been evidence that China or other hostile governments could be loading spyware, malware, etc on IT devices, whether it was a printer, a USB drive, keyboard, anything that connected to a PC.

Backup your system and files often! That's the only real defense.

Actually there was no virus on the charger itself but the program that you downloaded to help monitor the charger. You can safely use the charger without ever downloading the program itself.
I haven't heard of any lights or devices that have had code installed on them from the factory making them able to infect your computer as it takes room to put the code that costs extra money in larger memory and manufacturers of the devices don't want to pay for the extra memory just to have room for code to infect your computer it just isn't profitable for them. It is only devices that are already set up to talk to computers via USB that can have that happen. I also think some USB cables are made without data wires on the that can only charge these devices and only need the extra wires on a cable to help enable non standard USB charging (fast, QC, PD).
I do agree that backing up stuff however is always a good idea.

PhotonWrangler · Nov 29, 2020

A USB 2.x port has a black "tongue" and is good for up to .5A, while a USB 3.x port has a blue tongue and is rated for up to .9A.

Desktop Computer Screen goes blank when using CPU's USB to charge flashlight.

Inspector Jerry

Newly Enlightened

bigburly912

Flashlight Enthusiast

Lynx_Arc

Flashaholic

Inspector Jerry

Newly Enlightened

Kestrel

Flashaholic

Stress_Test

Flashlight Enthusiast

Lynx_Arc

Flashaholic

PhotonWrangler

Flashaholic

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