No USB 3.0 sucks.

[petermead]

But with an OTG adapter and a powered USB hub I'll get by

[rooted]

That's an awful thing to say. To have two devices die something must be wrong on your end, it does suck I agree but wishing death is just childish nonsense.

[petermead]

You are absolutely correct sir.

[mad_ady]

Loosing usb3 is bad, but it could have been worse. A while back I managed to short some things on a xu4 and lost the usb hub, all usb ports and network port. I managed to get it back online via its serial port, with ppp over serial. You can imagine how cumbersome that was, but it could still do some work...
The point is - even with broken usb3, the N2 can still be useful.

[rooted]

Lightning got the LAN on one of my XU4 but oddly not USB, so I was fortunate. Just use a USB 3 hub with gigabit, because of the type of adapter it only gets about 50% speed of the internal LAN but it's still useable.

[mctom]

There were some voices of people planning to replace broken chips on their own but can't recall anyone coming back with good news.
I've been observing many topics about broken USB ports in N2s and cannot find any clear pattern - except it appears to happen to "consumers" mostly, and not industrial or mass customers.
By "consumers" I mean typical use at home, that are more likely to have fluffy carpets and poly slippers., and keep their N2s without any cover.

This particular case of two broken units from the owner of two pretty much proves it is not random.

[rooted]

Yeah unknown electrical shock is a theme among those who lose USB.

[L67GS]

It's "Uncertain electrical shock", a favorite diagnosis of mine. Just for kicks search "uncertain electrical shock" on the forum.

[mctom]

No need for me, I've seen enough of that. Although personally I'd call it "electrostatic discharge" instead, and I agree with that diagnosis in most cases I can think of.
ESD is PITA to protect against for an electronic device in an enclosure, and for bare PCBs like an SBC it's plain impossible, as you can always bypass any means of protection. Thus understandably such protection is not required by any standards I'm aware of.

Not once did I see ESD problems emerging only after thousands of units have already been shipped.. Customers are really creative when it comes to breaking stuff.

[rooted]

It's a genuine issue, especially in winter which is when you notice this happening far more often.

[mad_ady]

Would a pack of silica inside the case help against static? Or a metal case?

[mctom]

Just any case would help, so users stop touching the board. Connectors are usually protected..
But in case of N2, well, I see some space for improvements.

About the air humidity, I'm not that convinced. It is true the air conductance changes with humidity, pressure etc, and depending on these conditions, random zaps from sweaters and flip flops hurt more or less (and that depends mostly on current). However, to kill an electronic board, a really small charge is sufficient, such that one won't even feel it.

The legend says ESD has been discovered as a threat when one worker at the factory destroyed an entire batch of products by touching every one of them. Ever since the entire industry is forced to lab coats, special slippers and wrist straps connected to earth, special mats on their workstations, ESD chairs and carpets.
We had an ESD footwear testing rig at my first job, and my New Rock Reactor boots passed

[rooted]

Humidity is real for sure, I have long hair and get no static whatsoever when I brush it in the summer when it's very humid but a ton of static when the heater is in use

[mctom]

Yeah, humid air is more conductive, so it bleeds out charges whenever they build up, but that just decreases the likelihood of this happening. No guarantees though.
Brushing your hair should create comparable amounts of charge regardless of air humidity, they just don't hold that easily. Still, as I said before, that may be dangerous to equipment even if one can't see or feel static.

A week ago I was informed at work that my component selection was crap because no floating pieces of metal are allowed in space (in higher altitude orbits at least). Precisely because there's no humidity (or air) that could discharge metal bits.