Yesterday while loading a new bitstream to the Arty S7 50 rev. B the board turned off. At first I thought it was the board, I powered it via USB with a power bank and the board worked. So I tried all three USB 3.0 ports on the computer, a Microsoft Surface Studio 2, with a USB mouse and all three ports were dead.
I have no idea what happened as it is something I have been doing without problems for the last two months, I had not added any new connections either. It only occurs to me that there has been a short circuit in a PMOD connector from which I use the two 3V3 ports for logic voltage for the encoders (VCCENC) and the pull-up voltage for the open-drain encoder outputs (VPU). Also yesterday it was 43ºC, 109F, in my city and I don't have air conditioning at home, I don't know if that could have influenced.
I'm not having good luck with the Arty S7 board. First, when it arrived, on the first day the voltage regulator on the board burned out, maybe due to some faulty component. See thread under Arty S7 rev B vs Arty S7 rev E? Somewhat confused.
And now my computer is damaged, at least the computer still has two other USB ports, one USB-C and another USB-A and with an externally powered USB hub I think I'll be able to get by.
It's a bittersweet feeling, on the one hand I'm learning a lot and enjoying the Arty S7 board and on the other I'm suffering I think it's due to a bad design of the board or my computer, I don't understand how loading a firmware can damage a USB controller, something escapes me. Surely there is some explanation of something that I have done wrong, a layer 8 error, but it is beyond me.
The computer was a prize from element14 for the Sensing the World Challenge and for that alone it has great sentimental value to me. I don't know if it's worth trying to fix this problem or the remedy will be worse than the disease.
I wish I had worked with a self-powered external USB hub.
*SOLVED 2023-01-02*
After a firmware update of the Microsoft Surface Studio 2 for windows 11 the USB 3.0 ports have come back to life.
