Question How to prevent the USB3.0 header coming off the motherboard?

[box o rocks]

How can I prevent this from happening?

The header itself comes off the board when unplugging the 20-1 pin USB3.0 connector. This time it just pulled the plastic part of the header from the board. Other times some pins come with it. And sometimes it actually comes out with no damage.

 

[rgd1101]

it shouldn't have come off from the motherboard.
can you rma the motherboard?

 

[box o rocks]

it shouldn't have come off from the motherboard.
can you rma the motherboard?

Thanks. Yeah, could do that. But why does this happen so often on so many different boards I have/have had. It's about a 50/50 chance the connectors come out clean. Is there a trick I'm missing? I squeeze the connector and pull straight out, or at most gently rock it ever-so-slightly end to end (never side to side).

 

[drea.drechsler]

Thanks. Yeah, could do that. But why does this happen so often on so many different boards I have/have had. It's about a 50/50 chance the connectors come out clean. Is there a trick I'm missing? I squeeze the connector and pull straight out, or at most gently rock it ever-so-slightly end to end (never side to side).

These are just fragile parts. They were never designed for, nor expected to see, a lot of mating cycles. What you could do is epoxy the plastic shell down.

The most troublesome aspect in your case is that pins are also coming out of the motherboard. That means they broke at the solder fillet or were never soldered in the first place. Definitely RMA your board as that is something it should not do.

 

[hedwar2011]

Thanks. Yeah, could do that. But why does this happen so often on so many different boards I have/have had. It's about a 50/50 chance the connectors come out clean. Is there a trick I'm missing? I squeeze the connector and pull straight out, or at most gently rock it ever-so-slightly end to end (never side to side).

If you're having that many boards have the issue where the connectors are coming out 50% of time it might also be time to look into a different maker/distributor/etc. as there could be faulty QA going on.

 

[box o rocks]

If you're having that many boards have the issue where the connectors are coming out 50% of time it might also be time to look into a different maker/distributor/etc. as there could be faulty QA going on.

Different motherboards over the years. Doesn't seem to be attributable to one manufacturer.

 

[CountMike]

Crazy glue.

 

[box o rocks]

Crazy glue.

I've seriously thought of doing that. (The pins are all still intact... it's just the header 'box' that came off)

 

[CountMike]

I've seriously thought of doing that. (The pins are all still intact... it's just the header 'box' that came off)

Pins are soldered to MB but plastic housing is held only by very small notches on pins. USB3 connectors are notorious for being too tight but I've seen some other ones like fan headers also come off. A drop or two of glue fixed them all.