Thanks for the reply. Normally I'd agree with you and often wonder how they work at all much less after all the abuse they receive. In this case, the cables are not charge-only cables and are the same ones I use for other dev boards with micro USB connectors. They usually "just work" and I expected the Nucleo-144 to do the same. Fortunately I found the Stackoverlow post and grabbed one of my wife's old USB cords and it is working like a champ.
