[16 December 2020] I had one of these USB wi-fi adapters fail:

The computer was no longer recognising it and I tried it in another computer with the same result, so I replaced it.

I was curious as to whether there was anything obviously wrong with it inside, so I prised apart the plastic cover, and twisted out the circuit board from the other half of the casing. I then slid back the metal shroud from the plug end.

Sure enough there is a scorch mark to one corner indicating a failed component (peeling off the thin plastic layer showed it more clearly).

Perhaps it wore out with age or suffered a power surge.

The component (either a capacitor or resistor) could be replaced if the correct value of the SMD component could be determined... although I did break the plastic when twisting the board out.

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