Broken USB port

You know the little black plastic bit in the USB port that covers up 4 or 5 metal teeth? Well, thats disappeared. And now, if that port is used then the laptop promptly crashes!

Does anyone know if I could purchase just the little plastic bit?

Or, can I replace the whole port?

Thanks.

Assuming you can get an identical replacemant part you`d have to replace the whole thing, of course its soldered in, and laptops arent the easiest things to work on.. but it can be done

But pretty unlikely that I can do it

So no-ones seen a 'little plastic bit' for sale anywhere?!

its unlikely the little plastic bit is causing the crashing.

Could it be that the missing plastic bit is a sign that someone has tried to fit a
"large ugly heavy thing" at that location?
OR it has taken a knock.

Unless the plastic thing has some kind of switch connected to it then its a red herring. And quite why someone would fit a herring to a USB port is beyond me.

Its sometimes possible to repair laptops at home but it is not really a good idea unless you have a bit of soldering experience and a good manual or a fair bit of experience of taking that sort of thing apart. Once you have it apart there's getting the USB connector (which could be a fairly standard part but hidden by a plastic housing that is part of case)

If the laptop is worth a bit I'd do a search for Laptop repair UK (or local to you)

If its not worth much I'd buy an external hub and use the good port (if you have one)

My brother in law had the same thing happen on his laptop.

He brought it to me, for a fresh install, but when I tried to insert the USB Floppy drive plug, it wouldnt fit and upon inspection, the plastic part you also have missing, was gone.

After a few minutes of head scratching and wondering where the hell the thing had gone, after looking everywhere on the floor and worktop, we found it still inside the USB floppy drive plug.

The metal cage surrounding the USB port on the Lappy, had split open at the bottom joint.

I managed to insert it back into the USB port and crimped the metal cage very slightly with needle nosed pliers to stop it coming out again.

It goes in the top half of the USB socket, above the 4 pins you see in there. It acts as an insulator and also for Pin alignment. On a USB plug, the insert is usually white and sits below the 4 pins.

Not being conversant with PC's, etc, he had tried to insert the USB plug, the wrong way up on previous occasions, stretching the metal cage.

I also showed him the little Trident motif on the USB plug and said "That faces upwards when inserting the USB plug".

It maybe worth a look in any of the peripherals that have been plugged into the Laptop, to see if any of them have retained the black plastic insert.

A pin or needle, used carefully, could ease it out if found.

Another idea is....

Is there anybody you know that has a trashed motherboard that contains any USB ports, you might be able to extract one of the inserts from that, or possibly a local PC repair shop might have a scrap one lying around somewhere.

Thank you kindly for your replies. We too have looked all around the floor and its also been to a technogeek who took the laptop apart, for an unrelated reason, but knew about the USB problem and said he didn't find the part inside I like the sound of your last paragraph JR51 ... I'll have to do some crafty wandering around with some small pliers incase theres one lying around that 'no-one wants'! Yes, I'll do some chatting with some geeky friends incase they've got such a part on a unwanted machine.

Thanks.

I think I have a trashed motherboard or two, will see if i can find them.

let me know if u want any, or how many??????
the kids at college are always melting mobos after their first attempts at rebuilding!!!!!!

ebuyer quick code 36356.
usb cable male/female. cut the end off and use that?
69p plus vat?

If either of you has got one then it'd be really helpful. Shall I take a photo of the bit I'm wanting, just to be on the safe side, in case I haven't described it very well?

pm me with your details and ill send one to u asap.
(sorry but the college is off for 2 weeks).

hiya, would could be happenning is that becuase the little plastic thingy is missing it is allowing the usb plug to be plugged in upside down therefore causing the fault! i would say taking it to a reccomemded pc repair shop and paying for them to fit a new 1 would be well worth while. Hope this helps...

I have got the exact same problem but I have the plastic part. sent it to sony because its a vaio laptop and its under warranty and theyre saying that theres a problem with the motherboard and that its gonna cost £522 to repair it. I only sent it in for tthe USB part. never thought a plastic thing would turn out to be so expensive. does anyone else think that they are making it up to try and rip me off becuase the laptop was fine apart from the plastic thing before it left

Well if its under warrenty and they are saying the mainboard has a fault how can they be charging you ?

What does the warrenty cover the cardboard box it came in lol

i have a similar problem. i have bent the plug of my usb and i was wondering if there was any way to repair the usb or have the files retreaved? if ossible how much would this cost? thanks.

Hiya.

Is this a USB removable pen/flash drive we are refering to, or other.

How badly bent is the metal sleeve/plug. It may be possible to manipulate the metal part with care, depending on the damage.

Retrieving the files off it via a 3rd party, may be very expensive, if possible at all.

hm82yeyes its a pen drive, i think the top of it may have came apart from the bit inside or something because the computer isn't regetering at all! iIt was stickin out of my laptop a my knee hit it out of place, so its not snapped right of just bendy?

Hiya.

Can the stick still be inserted into the USB port or is it that badly bent.

What can also happen, is the plastic insulator in the pen drive sleeve can come out and maybe its still in the USB port of the Laptop. If that is the case, can you carefully remove the erroneous plastic insert from the USB port and put it back into the pen drive sleeve. This can also happen to the Laptop USB port insulator as well, so check the Pen drive and Laptop for 2 insulators.

This insulator, keeps the 4 contacts in place and usually has 4 slots on it for the contacts to sit in, but are inserted in the opposite end to each other, EG. On the pen drive it is usually at the bottom and on the USB port it is usually at the top.

Just noted you say Bendy, but not snapped off. Then its possible the contacts on the Pen drive are broken off from the circuit board inside, which would really mean professional help, to either try and repair the stick or recover the data.

Hey, ive got a similar problem. One of the pins on my USB port has bent slightly, is there anything i can do to fix it or can it be replaced?

I have similar problem. Plastic sleeve broke, a contact shorted against the frame, and now none of my usb ports work, 2 front, 3 back. Other aspects of computer work fine. Hoping there is a fuse to replace somewhere inside.

There will be no fuse sadly for the usb ports, it's all done on a controller chip on the motherboard itself.

You've got two options from here. If the motherboard is fairly new you could try sending it back to the retailer for replacement and say the USB ports stopped working.

If however its out of any sort of warranty your best option is to buy a PCI USB card to put into the PC.