I broke off the plastic protector and shielding from my USB 3.0 connection (on both mobo and case I/O cable) but still works. Fix it or no?

[pvtherman]

Hello, I am new, apologies in advance if I get things wrong (feel free to correct terminology etc), Sorry I am bit anxious, this is my first time ever building a brand new computer on my own (my previous computers were prebuilt from the store or from family help), so I'm looking for help/advice on how to proceed with my particular situation. Note, I do have pictures to hopefully help illustrate my situation more clearly. I apologize in advance to moderators if I posted in the wrong section/please feel free to move my thread if needed.

 

Main issue: I accidentally broke off the plastic protector on my motherboard's 3.0 USB header pins AND also broke off the plastic shielding around the female cable end of my PC case's front panel USB 3.0 I/O ports. However, after carefully plugging them all back in, I was able to test and confirm that the front USB 3.0 ports were still functional and working. None of the pins looked bent on my motherboard (the prongs underneath on the now exposed female cable end for my PC case looked slightly bent on one side, see pictures below). I am however, concerned about whether this will have hazards in the long term. Should I be concerned and try to fix things? Or leave it as is?

 

Please excuse this crude MS paint drawing that I made, but I'm using it to hopefully illustrate how many "parts" I broke the USB 3.0 connection into.

• 

 

Picture details (how this occurred):

• I was trying to unplug the USB 3.0 female cable from my board because I wanted to change where the cable would be routed. I couldn't get it off initially so I tried to wiggle it left and right (I used probably too much force, unplugged it, but also took the plastic protector off my board). NOTE: this picture below is NOT mine/not my build (its from somebody's video), but this was my situation initially.
• 
• I panicked a bit and tried to get the motherboard's plastic protector for the USB 3.0 pins, off of the female end of the cable. And that's when I broke the shielding off of the female end of the USB 3.0 cable, exposing the prongs underneath. But I carefully placed the (still connected) plastic protector and the female shielding back on to my motherboard's header pins and plugged the cable back in. Surprisingly, it still worked, as I was able to plug in a mouse and keyboard and install windows 10. The picture below is mine/my build
• 

Other notes:

• Motherboard is Asus Strix x470-F
• PC Case is Corsair Obsidian Series 750D Performance Full Tower.
• Again, the USB 3.0 connection between my front panel case to mobo still works, despite all the damage I accidentally did to it. 

 

My main questions:

• Should I leave the USB 3.0 connection alone, or try to fix it/replace it?
• What possible hazards might I encounter if I leave it alone in its current state?
• I have never RMA anything before (as weird as that sounds), but am I even able to RMA the parts in question? Or am I just screwed and I would have to buy new parts completely? 

 

[TrigrH]

Quote

Should I leave the USB 3.0 connection alone, or try to fix it/replace it?

If its still working, leave it and tape it up so it doesnt come loose.

Quote

What possible hazards might I encounter if I leave it alone in its current state?

I have never RMA anything before (as weird as that sounds), but am I even able to RMA the parts in question? Or am I just screwed and I would have to buy new parts completely? 

No hazards you're just kinda fucked if you wanna change case.

You cant RMA since you caused the damage.

[The_russian]

29 minutes ago, pvtherman said:

Should I be concerned and try to fix things? Or leave it as is?

Like TrigrH said, as long as it works, it shouldn’t be a big deal. My suggestion would be to put some hot glue on the connector so it doesn’t come loose.

[greenmax]

24 minutes ago, The_russian said:

Like TrigrH said, as long as it works, it shouldn’t be a big deal. My suggestion would be to put some hot glue on the connector so it doesn’t come loose.

Gorilla glue or instant glue

 

Duct Tape is always a go to

[The_russian]

2 minutes ago, greenmax said:

Gorilla glue or instant glue

I would be a little hesitant to use either one. Once the cable is plugged in, it shouldn't need to be unplugged very often, so you don't need an insanely strong glue to hold everything together. The reason I would go with hot glue is because if you need to undo everything for some reason, it's a lot easier to take off hot glue than super glue. 

[pvtherman]

Ah thank you very much to everyone who replied, it really does help calm me down, I appreciate it.

1 hour ago, TrigrH said:

If its still working, leave it and tape it up so it doesnt come loose.

No hazards you're just kinda fucked if you wanna change case.

You cant RMA since you caused the damage.

Ah that's fair, I settled on this specific case and I don't think I'll be changing it any time soon (or at least I hope not). Ah no major hazards then, whew, that's a relief, thank you for the re-assurance.

I understand this might sound like a silly question to ask, but any specific type of tape to use? Like would general use vinyl electrical tape work? Or duct tape like Greenmax suggested? Or should I go for a specific type of tape to use?

 

1 hour ago, The_russian said:

Like TrigrH said, as long as it works, it shouldn’t be a big deal. My suggestion would be to put some hot glue on the connector so it doesn’t come loose.

Just a regular glue gun could work as well? I'm guessing that if I try this, I should use just a tiny bit of hot glue at the broken plastic parts and try to avoid all contact with any of the pins/prongs? I'll admit, I'm a bit of a klutz and not the most coordinated, but I am considering all options for my predicament.

 

Again, thank you to everyone who replied. I understand my questions might seem silly/naive, but I am an honest newb when it comes to hardware, thank you for bearing with me (I'm genuinely surprised I didn't destroy anything else in my new build... at least that I can confirm for now).

 

Semi-open ended question, for my own future lessons, what would've been the correct way to disconnect the USB 3.0 female cable from the header pins on the board? Thinking back, I remember using more force than expected. I just remember connection feeling like it was welded together.

[TrigrH]

45 minutes ago, pvtherman said:

Ah thank you very much to everyone who replied, it really does help calm me down, I appreciate it.

Ah that's fair, I settled on this specific case and I don't think I'll be changing it any time soon (or at least I hope not). Ah no major hazards then, whew, that's a relief, thank you for the re-assurance.

I understand this might sound like a silly question to ask, but any specific type of tape to use? Like would general use vinyl electrical tape work? Or duct tape like Greenmax suggested? Or should I go for a specific type of tape to use?

 

Just a regular glue gun could work as well? I'm guessing that if I try this, I should use just a tiny bit of hot glue at the broken plastic parts and try to avoid all contact with any of the pins/prongs? I'll admit, I'm a bit of a klutz and not the most coordinated, but I am considering all options for my predicament.

 

Again, thank you to everyone who replied. I understand my questions might seem silly/naive, but I am an honest newb when it comes to hardware, thank you for bearing with me (I'm genuinely surprised I didn't destroy anything else in my new build... at least that I can confirm for now).

 

Semi-open ended question, for my own future lessons, what would've been the correct way to disconnect the USB 3.0 female cable from the header pins on the board? Thinking back, I remember using more force than expected. I just remember connection feeling like it was welded together.

Doesn't matter, whatever you have on hand, if there is a high heat source nearby use hot glue instead I guess.

 

If this connector is ever stuck in future, you want push down onto the connector so it doesn't get ripped out. At the same time use pliers on the plastic part of the cable and pull straight out.