How to approach this (Stuck Lightning connector)

Meatball

Meatball

Meatball

Soldato
Joined
12 Jun 2005
Posts
6,360
Location
St Albans
My mum has upgraded to an iPhone 5 recently and it's proved to be a seamless upgrade from her iPhone 4 , apart from one thing. When I try to remove the USB Lightning cable from my mum's Acer laptop it refuses to budge, it is well and truly stuck. Others have tried and failed and we don't want to damage both the Lightning cable or the laptop. I've never had an issue with a stuck USB connector and the laptop in question is fairly new (1.5 years old) in good physical condition.What would you do in this situation?

I'm tempted to take the laptop to an Apple store and request a new Lightning connector and also that they remove the stuck one. I doubt they will touch the laptop in fear of liability should they damage it, but why should I remove it and break something? I really don't think it's anything I done, it's not exactly rocket science plugging in a USB cable.
 
I'd contact AppleCare rather than the store. You might think the store are more likely to sort something, but the fact is the stores are largely useless.

Mine does the same actually. Not so much with my laptop (bit tough but not too bad) but it does get stuck with my USB extensions where other cables have come out much more easily.
 
There's no way to know whether it's the fault of the USB plug on the cable or the socket on the laptop and I'm sure Apple will claim it's the latter and that it's not their fault.

Can you possibly dismantle the laptop to get at the 'back' of the socket and see what's catching or fouling it?
 
check the apple forums as well see if other people are having problems with the cable. if they are then apple might be aware of it
 
Is it functioning whilst connected? (yes I'm asking if your mum has accidentally the entire orientation)
 
Working and functioning as normal yes :). I might give AppleCare a ring but I know there's very little that can be done over the phone as they can't physically examine anything. I've found staff instore very helpful in the past, I've had my iPhone replaced out of warranty although this is a different scenario..

EDIT: This isn't encouraging:
http://appleinsider.com/articles/12...e-lightning-connectors-get-stuck-in-usb-ports
 
Its a known cable fault, the recesses on the bottom of the usb plug are too deep - I read a few people have freed a stuck connector by sliding something very thin between the plug and the socket on the bottom (the bottom ofc being the side that contains the white plastic).
 
L33 said:
Its a known cable fault, the recesses on the bottom of the usb plug are too deep - I read a few people have freed a stuck connector by sliding something very thin between the plug and the socket on the bottom (the bottom ofc being the side that contains the white plastic).
Click to expand...

Success! Managed to get it out and it's still functioning ok. Seems like poor design on Apples part :mad:.
 
Alpherah said:
Surely it's an engineering fault rather then a design problem? Otherwise why is mine and millions of others fine :/
Click to expand...
It is a design fault, compare the bottom locator recesses of the lightning cable's USB plug to that of any other - they're significantly deeper due to having very deliberate recesses in the white plastic.
The reason some people suffer the issue and some don't is due to the USB socket it is plugged in to. Some have taller/bigger/firmer locator lugs than others.
For the record this does affect some iMacs/Macbooks too. There was a thread about it on the apple forums.
 
L33 said:
It is a design fault, compare the bottom locator recesses of the lightning cable's USB plug to that of any other - they're significantly deeper due to having very deliberate recesses in the white plastic.
The reason some people suffer the issue and some don't is due to the USB socket it is plugged in to. Some have taller/bigger/firmer locator lugs than others.
For the record this does affect some iMacs/Macbooks too. There was a thread about it on the apple forums.
Click to expand...

Still, its been fine for me on an iMac (2010), Macbook (2006), iMac (2011 - Uni), Dell prebuilt (Uni), Dell C2D Laptop (2008), multiple universal USB charging devices and, obviously, the official charger.
If there's a problem with the ports .. isn't it the port/devices problem?

DeathStorm said:
I think you mean manufacturing, I would have thought engineering is part of the design process.
Click to expand...

Okay, Manufacturing then :D
 
Meatball said:
Success! Managed to get it out and it's still functioning ok. Seems like poor design on Apples part :mad:.
Click to expand...

Good times :) Yeah the lightning cables have a tighter (if that's the right word :p) USB connector and some people are finding it difficult to release from some accessories. I even find it quite difficult putting the USB end into the power plug sometimes :p
 
I had this problem while the connector was plugged in to my car's USB port, I just wiggled it a bit and pulled. I haven't had a problem since then.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom