I’ve noticed lately that a lot of devices that have a USB socket (hubs, chargers, whatever) won’t work if the male USB is pushed all the way in.
In most cases pulling it back a bit will make it work, so I guess the problem is that pins do not align properly. I have seen this behavior even in expensive, high quality devices, like the charger from a Samsung Note II or the USB host of a digital oscilloscope.
I have been using USB stuff since they came out (is it 10 or 15 years ago?) and I don’t remember ever having this problem except maybe with some really dodgy, crappy devices.
Is it due to a batch of bad sockets or did they change the specifications?
I’m not an expert in the field, but I’d attribute it to two developments:
1 - USB is orders of magnitude more popular than it was ten years ago. It has become a high volume commodity connector (compared to, say, firewire), so manufacturing has naturally gravitated toward outfits that can produce them inexpensively. You see where I’m going with this.
2 - Connector density has increased. IIRC there have been two separate revisions of the sockets and connectors (USB 2, then 3). Each revision added new pins… er, stripes I guess. Connector seating is now more important than before.
I’ve noticed similar issues recently, if it makes you feel better
I’ve noticed that while the wall warts we getting the better the actual cables themselves are getting worst. Never have a problem at the wall adapter or on the device itself; all problems I’ve had have been fixed by throwing out the cheap ass cable and replacing it with a new one.
