Question LAN Port Damage, How Does That Happen?

[lopiuh]

I have damaged the LAN port on my Thinkpad T450 notebook, but I have no idea how that could have happened.
I had the laptop in my backpack along with some tools, but they were in a separate compartment.
I plugged in a POE connector, but I didn't smell anything, there were no scorch marks on the network cable, and I didn't notice anything when plugging it in or out. It's an absolute mystery to me. I didn't force any network connector or anything else into it. I have accidentally plugged a USB-A connector into the wrong port before, but to have damage like this? I'm at a loss...

https://imgur.com/a/dwc5Bn3

View: https://imgur.com/a/dwc5Bn3


(german cross post https://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/threads/lan-buchse-schaden-wie-kommt-der-zustande.1355104/)

Yours lopiuh

[EDIT: changed link to imgur]

 

[Ralston18]

Please repost the photos using imgur (www.imgur.com).

 

[bill001g]

That is a very rare thing. I have seen bent or broken wires in a port before but the plastic broken means it took a large impact.

The only one I saw someone actually damage they pull a large desktop machine off the table by snagging the ethernet cable. The machine itself was not damaged...before they were making all glass cases...but it bent pins inside the jack and actually put a small crack in the motherboard near the port.

It almost looks like someone took a screw driver in the port and pounded it with a hammer.

POE will not cause damage you can see. Standard 802.3at poe does not actually have power on it unless the device requests it. Most other forms of passive POE that always provide power run at lower voltages that will not cause damage...but they might. In either case it is not enough watts to say melt plastic it will just blow out the tiny isolation transformers on the motherboard. They chips themselves unlikely will show visible damage they just don't work any more.

 

[lopiuh]

Please repost the photos using imgur (www.imgur.com).

Hi,

thanks, I replaced the link to

https://imgur.com/a/dwc5Bn3

View: https://imgur.com/a/dwc5Bn3


Yours

lopiuh

 

[lopiuh]

It really is a miracle to me, unfortunatelly i do not know when I last used that port (I did in the past). I can't imagine any impact leaving such an outcome, even not forced sabotage, which I hardly can beleive, but who knows...

 

[Ralston18]

And that damage is inside the case - correct?

 

[lopiuh]

And that damage is inside the case - correct?

The pictures are of 2 places 1: from outside into the lan port and 2: where the port is soldered inside the laptop on the motherboard.

Yours lopiuh