Broken usb 3.0 header pin.. MSI B550m Pro

greengiant · 13 Nov 2021 at 16:36

Being the klutz that I am, I've managed to break one of the pins off my MSI B550m Pro vdh WiFi motherboard.

I was only using it for a 3.5" bay memory card reader / usb hub.

I take a reasonable "repair" would be to just fit a pcie usb 3 header card, then those use the ports on the pcie card instead to hook up the memory card reader?

Or just forget about the front panel usb connectors and go for an external USB hub and card reader instead?

I am very annoyed at myself though!

While I have seen replacement usb 3 header connectors on online auction sites for a few quid, it's probably not worth risking damaging the motherboard further!

Just a bit annoying as the motherboard and CPU etc isn't even two months old yet! I really don't want to spend another £90 on s replacement motherboard!

Has anyone else done similar, and how did they get round it?

drakulton · 13 Nov 2021 at 16:44

Another reasonblel repair would be to desolder the tatered connector and drop in a replacement.

greengiant · 13 Nov 2021 at 16:46

drakulton said:
Another reasonblel repair would be to desolder the tatered connector and drop in a replacement.

I had thought of that, my concern would be how easy a job especially if it's a multi layer PCB ?

drakulton · 13 Nov 2021 at 16:50

greengiant said:
I had thought of that, my concern would be how easy a job especially if it's a multi layer PCB ?

The connector pins will usually be through hole, so once the remaining connector/pins are removed and the holes cleaned up, it's not too much of a big job to pop in a replacement and solder from the back side of the board.

HecFam · 13 Nov 2021 at 16:59

When I had broke my USB3 header, I did buy a PCIe card, only issue with that I had was it used a different USB controller and some particularly picky perifs weren't happy.

Doesn't seem to tricky to re-solder with a bit of precision. I can also think, depending on use and if you're willing to sacrifice the speeds, you can get USB2 to USB3 header adapters for a few quid.

greengiant · 13 Nov 2021 at 17:33

HecFam said:
When I had broke my USB3 header, I did buy a PCIe card, only issue with that I had was it used a different USB controller and some particularly picky perifs weren't happy.

Doesn't seem to tricky to re-solder with a bit of precision. I can also think, depending on use and if you're willing to sacrifice the speeds, you can get USB2 to USB3 header adapters for a few quid.

That is another option as well.

I'm now thinking about just getting an external USB 3 hub, along with a decent usb 3 multi card reader, there isn't much choice in the way of decent combination usb 3 hubs with in built card readers.

For the two usb ports on the top of the case, I could live with those being Usb 2.0 rather than usb 3.

For the sake of a few quid, I'll probably order the replacement motherboard connector,but I'll refresh my soldering skills before I attempt!

greengiant · 13 Nov 2021 at 17:35

drakulton said:
The connector pins will usually be through hole, so once the remaining connector/pins are removed and the holes cleaned up, it's not too much of a big job to pop in a replacement and solder from the back side of the board.

Might be worth buying a replacement connector, especially since it's just a few quid for one. I'm certainly not intending on selling my current motherboard CPU etc, so I could live with a repair job! Of course that will null any motherboard warranty...

drakulton · 13 Nov 2021 at 17:39

greengiant said:
Might be worth buying a replacement connector, especially since it's just a few quid for one. I'm certainly not intending on selling my current motherboard CPU etc, so I could live with a repair job! Of course that will null any motherboard warranty...

I've done it, and there's plenty of vids on youtube showing methods of doing it.

greengiant · 15 Nov 2021 at 08:32

Anyway, I'm back in action! Fitted a PCIE to dual usb 3 header card yesterday. So now I can use both the front bay card reader as well as the top usb ports on the case. I do wish I'd went with a full atx motherboard though, as that's me out of PCIE slots now

Oh well, it'll do just now. Perhaps next year I'll upgrade the old HTPC, which currently which uses an Amd a8-6600K cpu & FM2 motherboard to a entry level ryzen and use the current motherboard from my main system for that build, upgrading my main rig to a full atx motherboard & perhaps a bigger and better case too.

But meanwhile I'm leaving things alone!