[RichE]

I have my phone connector cord and a regular USB flash drive with music on it plugged into my console usb ports for use.

Been working fine (oh, 2017 Bolt), but suddenly, the rear port of the two isn't recognized at all. Not for the phone connector cord, nor for music USB drive.

Front one of the two is fine.

Is there a fuse or something that might have blown, and if so, how do I get into the console to access the ports, and/or where might the fuse for just ONE port be?

Thanks for any thoughts even if I'm not asking the right question.

 

[MichBolt]

I have my phone connector cord and a regular USB flash drive with music on it plugged into my console usb ports for use.

Been working fine (oh, 2017 Bolt), but suddenly, the rear port of the two isn't recognized at all. Not for the phone connector cord, nor for music USB drive.

Front one of the two is fine.

Is there a fuse or something that might have blown, and if so, how do I get into the console to access the ports, and/or where might the fuse for just ONE port be?

Thanks for any thoughts even if I'm not asking the right question.

USB ports are 5V, so any fuse is not likely, and a fuse that only affects one port but not the other is even less likely.

Was anything spilled? Have you tried cleaning the port with some compressed air or isopropyl alcohol? Does plugging in cause the phone to start charging, even if the phone isn't recognized? Does jiggling the cable / connection make any difference?

 

[RichE]

USB ports are 5V, so any fuse is not likely, and a fuse that only affects one port but not the other is even less likely.

Was anything spilled? Have you tried cleaning the port with some compressed air or isopropyl alcohol? Does plugging in cause the phone to start charging, even if the phone isn't recognized? Does jiggling the cable / connection make any difference?

Thanks. Went out yesterday to check to see if the phone was charging from the port.

Weirdly, both ports are working again. UGH, hate flakey electronics. So frustrating.

 

[Sean Nelson]

Weirdly, both ports are working again. UGH, hate flakey electronics. So frustrating.

USB "A" connectors don't seem to be particularly robust - they don't make a very positive connection. I"m often having to wiggle and unplug/replug them in various applications. And the quality of cables is a huge issue too, many of them are really terrible.

 

[GregBrew]

USB "A" connectors don't seem to be particularly robust - they don't make a very positive connection. I"m often having to wiggle and unplug/replug them in various applications. And the quality of cables is a huge issue too, many of them are really terrible.

Not only that, but many that you can buy today are "charge only". They don't even have the data wires in them, and often aren't marked as such. I mark them with a Sharpie, if they have big enough wires in them (I test them). If they don't make the "current cut", I recycle them.

 

[Entropy512]

USB ports are 5V, so any fuse is not likely, and a fuse that only affects one port but not the other is even less likely.

Was anything spilled? Have you tried cleaning the port with some compressed air or isopropyl alcohol? Does plugging in cause the phone to start charging, even if the phone isn't recognized? Does jiggling the cable / connection make any difference?

Being 5v doesn't negate the need for a fuse to protect against a short.

I've had similar behavior to the OP happen before - I think there's a resettable polyfuse ( Resettable fuse - Wikipedia ) protecting the port, it seems like it'll self-reset if the car is turned off for long enough.

I know Anker had per-port fuses on their multiport chargers, they were originally nonresettable but Anker got so many bad reviews from that design that they moved to resettable PTC fuses.

 

[Sean Nelson]

I've had similar behavior to the OP happen before - I think there's a resettable polyfuse ( Resettable fuse - Wikipedia ) protecting the port, it seems like it'll self-reset if the car is turned off for long enough.

(checks the Wikipedia article) - interesting, I hadn't heard of these before. Not sure whether I'm happy or not to discover yet another potential source of intermittent problems...