Can this damage my pc long-term?

[ViktorParchev]

Hi guys,

I bought a second-hand MOBO. It has plenty of usb ports but 2 of them went trough a war with the Hulk.. Can these mashed pins damage my PC/ MOBO in the long term? Of course, I won't be trying to use them but still.

Thanks in advance and have a great day!

[DigitalGoat]

5 minutes ago, ViktorParchev said:

Hi guys,

I bought a second-hand MOBO. It has plenty of usb ports but 2 of them went trough a war with the Hulk.. Can these mashed pins damage my PC/ MOBO in the long term? Of course, I won't be trying to use them but still.

Thanks in advance and have a great day!

I would use a small tweazer or similar to just make sure none of the pins are contacting each other or the metal shroud of each port and it shouldn't be an issue. Maybe fill each port with hot glue to prevent accidental use, and to hold the pins.

[johnno23]

As long as no pins are touching any other pins it will be fine.

 

[ViktorParchev]

So can I just cut the damaged pins so that I can be 100% sure that they don't make contact with each other?

[manikyath]

USB is *VERY* protected, you could short out that port across all pins, and all you'll get is a prompt in windows "a usb device malfunctioned".

 

i'd probably just stick smething (piece of plastic, etc.) in the port to make sure the pins stay away from the chassis, and then tape over them so they arent used on accident.

[johnno23]

in principle you could just remove them but if you have the board loose and not yet installed it is easy enough to just replace the usb ports. should not be expensive if you are not comfortable soldering yourself. Any local electronics hardware store or hobby enthusiast could do it for you.  if you dont need them just make sure no two pins are touching.

[ViktorParchev]

Thanks a ton you guys!

[RollinLower]

kind of off topic, but did you hear from the previous owner how they managed to smash these up so bad? it;s not like the pins are easy to break on a USB port.

[ViktorParchev]

21 hours ago, RollinLower said:

kind of off topic, but did you hear from the previous owner how they managed to smash these up so bad? it;s not like the pins are easy to break on a USB port.

Oh, he send me an old picture and said "It was not in that condition when it was in me". He scammed me. So that is that. We will never know how it happened. I also wonder how it happened.