I always understood that one of the advantages of a USB was that you could remove / plug in with the computer switched on. Due to ( I'm told) a conflict with the Nvidia chipset, my flight controller would only work after a live plug in. The answer was to get a PCI-USB card. I did this and it cured the problem. However, before I could do this, the following happened. After working on other things I decided to go flying. I pulled the USB, then plugged in again. That got the controller working, ( I'd done this a dozen times already over the last few days since getting the new controller) The instant I clicked the fs9 icon everything went dead. My recently aquired Gigabyte GA-K8NSNXP-939, AMD64.3500 and X800xt PE all blown. The guy at the shop insists it was caused by me removing the USB live. Any comments from guys in the know would be greatly appreciated. I'm not interested in trying to lay blame, only in finding out if removing a USB could really have such a catastrophic effect.Russell.

Hi Russell,"I'm only interested in finding out if removing a USB could really have such a catastrophic effect.".....I am sure you will hear a resounding "NO!!" from folks here in our community, myself included. Something similar happened to a neighbour of mine last year and the common factor turned out to be a faulty PSU. The consequences were, as in your case, very serious indeed as everything connected to his MoBo was rendered useless and could not be ressurected. He lost everything and had to start again from scratch. My guess is your misfortune was just an unhappy coincidence and had nothing whatsoever to do with the USB interface.I'm also highly dubious about the 'conflict with the nVidia chipset' explanation for the original controller connection problems. I have had a few Gigabyte boards and have always been impressed by their reliability and stability. If Plug and Play was this temperamental then I doubt whether such a board would see the light of day and certainly no one would buy it. I guess the source of this problem also lies elsewhere. We all know some devices like USB routers and USB mass storage devices should be disconnected first via the 'Safely Remove Hardware' module in XP, but (others please feel free to correct me on this point if I am wrong) I don't think you risk any physical damage to components by absent-mindedly yanking out the USB connector - I know, I've done it :(. More likely you risk losing data by so doing. Again, if it was so easy to damage components in this way I doubt whether USB would have proved so popular as an interface.Mike

Thanks for that Mike. What the Flight Controller support said was-"We find the Nforce can be problematic with some devices." I don't like to name them really, as I have used their products for years and always found them to be excellent. The support team is very good also. I would'nt want to put anyone off buying their goods, as, like you, I feel the problem lay elsewhere. Apparently Gigabyte have stopped producing the GA-K8NSNXP-939 which rather stunned me as I've only had this rig about 6 weeks. I had to go with an ASUS A8V deluxe. I had to wait FIVE months to get hold of the X800xtPE, so am hoping he's a bit quicker with the replacement.Russell.

i have had 3 nforce boards (1 gigabyte and 2 ABIT) over the last few years and have never had any problems hot swapping USB devices, i use USB, printer, scanner, digital camara, web cam, mouse, mobile phone, hub, and probably some other stuff i have forgotten. have never had any problem with any of these devices.

After the reply from Mike I had a look inside. The guy at the shop has changed the 400w psu for a 500w. It looks to me as though he is giving me a load of bull about the USB.Russell.

yeah they try to get people to buy accessories that are usually not needed. That whole "safey remove hardware" to me is just M$ B$. I've never heard of issues when not using that to unplug devices.