In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Wed, 18 Nov 2020 11:48:06 -0500, Big Al
wrote:

On 11/18/20 11:33 AM, this is what micky wrote:
I have a Y-shaped USB cable, 18" long, with type A at one end and the
two previously most common mini's at the other end, the one that used to
be used for cell phones and the other slightly bigger one.

All 3 ends have the USB logo in the plastic.

Doesn't that mean it's both power and data?

If it were power only, it should not have the logo, right?

Yet when I plug one end into the computer and another end into a Harmony
remote control, I get no beeps from the computer. So that means the
cable is defective, right?


I've had it for years, but I guess I've never used it except for
charging things.

I had a usb external drive that had 1 end plugged into the external usb, and 2 ends that plugged into 2 usb ports on the computer. It

Were the mini ends different like mine?

required more power than one usb port could supply. And it was flakey if I didn't plug in both.

I've heard of that, but I never knowingly saw one, so I don't know if
the mini ends are the same or different. I'd assumed they were the
same.

As to this cable, I think I got it at a hamfest with no packaging and
markings, and I thought it was like a swiss knife, all-purpose, and I
take it with me on trips, rather than 2 long cables. I wanted to buy
another, and Monoprice didn't have it. I don't think I looked very much
anywhere else. They did have a Y-cable with the same ends.

Monday I was trying to program my Harmony 200 phone and I'm almost
ashamed to admit that I wasted over an hour trying to use the bad cable.
I noticed the PC didn't beep when I plugged in the phone but I thought
maybe this phone was an exception.

The cable I know worked was buried under my papers because I haven't
used for years, but I came across a brand new one from the dollar store.
A few years ago they were selling every variety of USB, and I bought one
of each, for a dollar, but when the first one or two didn't work, I
stopped using them and stopped buying more. But this one worked fine.

Al