USB 3.0 PIN

[Mike131]

Hi, I have an Asus Prime - A II, and its 3.0 header broke off, VBUS pin( next to the no pin). My question is, will it work without it ? Can I use at least one of the USB 3.0 ports since there are two VBUS pins ?

[mariushm]

Yes, each row in the usb connector is a separate usb port. You could use it as is.

 

You could also just get a small piece of wire and shape it like the pin that's broken and twist the end of the wire around the other Vbus pin, then when you insert the usb 3 connector in the header, use some tweezers or something to insert the end of the wire into the connector.

 

I used to do this with a bit of solid core wire from a bit of ethernet cable (the cable has 8 wires inside it, so strip a few inches of cable, then take one wire and strip the insulation)

[Mike131]

8 minutes ago, mariushm said:

Yes, each row in the usb connector is a separate usb port. You could use it as is.

 

You could also just get a small piece of wire and shape it like the pin that's broken and twist the end of the wire around the other Vbus pin, then when you insert the usb 3 connector in the header, use some tweezers or something to insert the end of the wire into the connector.

 

I used to do this with a bit of solid core wire from a bit of ethernet cable (the cable has 8 wires inside it, so strip a few inches of cable, then take one wire and strip the insulation)

Thank you for answering. I will just leave it as it is, since one port is enough for me. Do you know why the second row has more pins than the first one ? I will leave you a picture, so you can understand my question better.

[mariushm]

23 minutes ago, Mike131 said:

Thank you for answering. I will just leave it as it is, since one port is enough for me. Do you know why the second row has more pins than the first one ? I will leave you a picture, so you can understand my question better.

The bottom right corner GND pin is redundant, it can be missing, it's not required. Some motherboards may not even connect that pin to GND.

 

They added two pins to the header, and shifted one row up, so that you'd have one missing pin in one corner (top left in the picture above). The actual connector in theory has that hole filled, preventing you from inserting the connector the wrong way, because the connector wouldn't go in because of that bottom GND pin would have no hole.

 

This is how the connectors are supposed to look, but majority of manufacturers gave up on filling the hole because 0. it's a cheaper housing to buy , 1. some mobo manufacturers didn't cut that pin that's supposed to be key,  2. some people just force the connector the wrong way bending or breaking the bottom gnd pin and then return the motherboard to warranty even though it's still functional ..

So you can picture it ... if you align it with the notch in the header, that filled hole lands on the missing pin. If you flip the connector and try to push it in incorrectly, the filled hole would be right above where that extra GND pin in the bottom right corner.