I thought the USB C port on my phone was failing, the plug wouldn’t stay in. Then I remembered that pockets are fluffy environments, so I cleaned a load of fluff out of the port with a stiff brush bristle (not metal) and it’s fine. Then I took another look at my Garmin that’s had dodgy USB for ages. A quick clean, and even though nothing came out it’s now fine.

Clean your ports kids.

That explains why I’ve never successfully charged my iPhone by plugging it into my belly button

Oooh it’s like Take a Break top tips.

@perchypather, wet myself at that

I would put in a “Cool Story Bro” meme, but this thread doesn’t even warrant the effort

Not all cables are equal though.
My phones USB 3 and the cable it came with is really snug, it won’t come out unless you pull it out.
I have 2 other cables, one for the office on one for traveling, cheap ones off amazon, both different makes and they are a lot looser. One is so slack the plug will drop out of the phone just by picking the phone up.

Oooh it’s like Take a Break top tips.

Prefer the Viz ones

‘hands perchy a long extension cable’
Does that reach now? ;-p 🙂

Does that reach now?

Yes, but now I can’t sit down.

I thought the USB C port on my phone was failing, the plug wouldn’t stay in. Then I remembered that pockets are fluffy environments, so I cleaned a load of fluff out of the port with a stiff brush bristle (not metal) and it’s fine. Then I took another look at my Garmin that’s had dodgy USB for ages. A quick clean, and even though nothing came out it’s now fine.

No amount of cleaning is going to help if your technique is wrong. You’ll just have the same issues over and over again. One top tip is always to make sure you’re plugging the correct end of a USB cable into the port. If it doesn’t work first time, try reversing the cable ends and see what happens.

Yes, but now I can’t sit down.

Well, just put up with it for a bit while you download 🙂

Greetings, port pickers!

Anyone had problems with USB-C having to be the correct way up – new to me phone only charges with the cable in one way up – the other looks like it’s charging (battery symbol / led lit) but doesn’t charge

Anyone had problems with USB-C having to be the correct way up – new to me phone only charges with the cable in one way up – the other looks like it’s charging (battery symbol / led lit) but doesn’t charge

Oh, the ironing! USB C was designed to avoid that exact issue.

Those pesky directional cables innit 😉

Slow news day Molly?

disappointed there’s not a usb key logger dongle epidemic.

By coincidence the bloke who invented the USB died last week. At his funeral they lowered hs coffin, took it out, turned it around, realised they’d got it right the first time so took it out again then lowered it.

Is his funfair next monkey?

Oh, the ironing! USB C was designed to avoid that exact issue.

Yes, I know! even more annoying cos you can’t tell which way up it’s supposed to be – only by waiting 20mins to see if the charge has gone up

More than you need to know about USB.

Yes, I know! even more annoying cos you can’t tell which way up it’s supposed to be – only by waiting 20mins to see if the charge has gone up

Shirley your high tech phone would change the battery symbol to let you know whether it’s on charge or not?

Android have definalty missed a trick there.

Anyone had problems with USB-C having to be the correct way up – new to me phone only charges with the cable in one way up – the other looks like it’s charging (battery symbol / led lit) but doesn’t charge

No. Sounds like that’s a faulty cable.

No. Sounds like that’s a faulty cable.

I suspect he’s taking the mick, unless it’s faulty or, what wouldn’t supprise me, a really cheap Ali-express special cable that only has contacts on one side.

Sounds like that’s a faulty cable.

I was thinking that, there’s no MFi for USB-C cables, so there’s nothing to say how well they’ll work, although, to be fair, cheap Lightning cables are crap, only allowing charging with no data at all; which you only find out when you try to download something.

We have just had brand new USB port replicators installed on every desk at work. They only work with the USB-C plug in one way around. It’s taken me about two weeks to figure out that this is the reason why we were seeing lots of intermittent failures.

Well, that’s just bloody weird.

A USB-C plug is basically the same pins mirrored on both sides of the plug so it can be inserted either way around. If you had an issue with the ports being asymmetrical or something it should still work. Are you sure it’s not a problem with cheap cables rather than the port replicators? Did you buy a job lot of cables at the same time?

cheap cables often cause problems. My phone would only charge at like 3% per hour, tried 3 different chargers, was on the cusp of sending the phone back as faulty then realised the other common element was the same cable (plugged into 3 different chargers). Bought an amazon basics one, job jobbed

to be fair, cheap Lightning cables are crap, only allowing charging with no data at all; which you only find out when you try to download something.

Download via a cable? How quaint.

“Are you sure it’s not a problem with cheap cables rather than the port replicators? Did you buy a job lot of cables at the same time?”

Quite possibly. The cables are wired in (presumably to stop people wandering off with them). Windows does moan about the cable quality but seems to work anyway. Apple Macs just refuse to play.