dead usb stick

[JRDtechnet]

Hey guys I'm trying to resurrect a dead usb stick. Customer brought it over and said his son had it in his back pocket and sat on it when it was slid open (one of those sandisk where the connector slides in and out). I told him I would take a look, my first assumption is that the connector broke upon freeing the usb stick from the plastic casing the connector is perfectly fine and there's no visible evidence of damage.

When I plug the usb stick in...nothing happens and the led light on the usb stick DOES NOT light up. I just checked every trace under a microscope but couldn't find any broken ones. Nonetheless I hit it with my reflow station just in case but that was unsuccessful too. Any ideas what else to try before I call the customer and tell him?

 

[NYJimbo]

Nonetheless I hit it with my reflow station just in case but that was unsuccessful too.

Nice touch doing the reflow. Are you using an oven or just a hand held gun?.
If an oven, what model?

 

[seedubya]

Have you checked device manager when it's plugged in? Just to see if it even shows up as an unknown device? If the worst comes to the worst most pro data recovery companies will now recover data direct from the memory chip even if the board is damaged.

 

[14049752]

You would be amazed at how many USB sticks I've recovered with a usb extension cable and a little pressure on the stick and cable end...

 

[NYJimbo]

You would be amazed at how many USB sticks I've recovered with a usb extension cable and a little pressure on the stick and cable end...

Could you elaborate on exactly what you do, this sounds interesting.

 

[reesk92]

he just uses the cable to get some length from the usb port then bends it back and forth untill the contacts conect and then bingo he just holds the position then copys the data.

the extension is just to get more room to work with

 

[JRDtechnet]

I was just using a handheld gun...although I'm temped to use my toaster oven lol. I tried linux, no luck their either. It doesn't show in the device manager or anything like that. Its like it isn't even plugged in. The extension cable trick sounds like a broken usb connector and by using the cable into the computer u are able to put pressure on the usb stick and make a connection again, but in this case the usb connector is securely in-place.

 

[14049752]

he just uses the cable to get some length from the usb port then bends it back and forth untill the contacts conect and then bingo he just holds the position then copys the data.
the extension is just to get more room to work with

Exactly. I also do that so I don't break a USB port on my system....if I break a cable, I don't care.

but in this case the usb connector is securely in-place.

I'd still suggest trying the cable trick... It works like a charm and so far I've actually been able to recover every USB stick brought to me (maybe 20-30?).

 

[hondablaster]

I'd still suggest trying the cable trick... It works like a charm and so far I've actually been able to recover every USB stick brought to me (maybe 20-30?).

I have had other devices that seemed to plug into my USB fine and did not make any connection. Until I plugged into my long USB cable and used my hand and bent the connection into place. You can also clamp them together using vice grips or channel locks.

Give it a try and report back.

 

[purple_minion]

Perhaps him sitting on it has broken other connections, have you resoldered the chip and other misc. parts? You haven't fried anything with too much heat for too long have you? Most parts only allow soldering for 2-3 seconds at temp.

It's also a long shot but it's possible it got a static shock when the end was exposed. I have lost my endcap for months now and it works fine, but it's possible. I know that the USB spec included the metal ground shroud to help protect the pins from static, but something could have worked it's way in there.

Oh, and where is this guys backups? He has backups right? I'm guessing not if he brought some $30 usb drive to you to fix for $100