Repairing (not replacing) micro USB port ?

The pins are thin slithers of metal, presumably copper and thin layer of gold layer on a plastic substrate.

Sorry, but unless you can see the substrate and move it back into position and it's just deformed , it's going to be a new connector, or a new phone depending on residual vale etc.

BICBW

There's supposed to be a rectangular tab in the middle which holds the pins:

But if it's just for charging you only need to give it 5V and ground, so you may not need to replace it - just find somewhere with continuity to them on the board (ground is probably easy, 5V might be more work) and attach flying leads. You can even get little boards with a USB-C port on them and through hole pins that give you 5V that you could wire in.

You may find your phone camera macro mode is good enough to solder with, or else there are cheap USB microscopes (and nicer units with displays).

Theo

The contacts are on a "tongue" that sits closer to the flat side than the chamfered side.

If she used sufficient force to actually get the plug in upside-down, I guess the socket is toast, unless your name is Louis Rossmann?

sounds like a new connector will be needed. Not necessarily that difficult to do (or get done). Local phone repair type outfit might have the capability.

(also worth googling the part number of the headphones - you may be lucky and find that the connector is on a daughter board, or on the end of a flexie that is a replaceable part.

Depending on why, that might be a harder fix.

Thanks for all replies.

Noting that replacement items (not necessarily the same brand, but would do the job) would come to around £30 from Amazon, then even £10 to a local simply doesn't make sense.

The speaker is one of those things. But I know I gently said to SWMBO a while back not to bother with the headphones and leave it to me.... (I am sure some here can sympathise)

Not much help now, but to avoid the same thing happening in future you can use magnetic USB charging cables.

I have this design, not sure if it is the best, but it works, and protects USB ports from being damaged/dirtied.

I have long been a fan of any form of charging that doesn't require physical manipulation. To the extent that my early adoption rather queered the pitch for me as I have a drawer full of various incompatible leads and tips.

I remain surprised that no one saw fit to follow Steve Jobs declaration about phablets and stylii with a similar one about charging and cables. In 2025, if you need to plug your wHatEver gizmo in to charge it then you have failed.

A new unit is likely to have USB-C which can be plugged in either way.

I hope you have apologised to her for causing this problem?

USB-C doesn't seem to be taking over the world quite as quickly as I imagined. I have just installed a brand new motherboard in this machine, and the back panel connectors include 9 USB-A sockets (of various speeds), and a single USB-C socket.

Computers are the one place I don't mind type-A, but phones, mice, tablets, e-readers, hubs, docks, car chargers, desk chargers are as near as damn it 100% type-C for me, and thank $DEITY for that.

USB-C can still suffer from dirt, and rough handling.

USB-C on computers is more complicated because people expect it to also do video, power delivery, Thunderbolt, ... It's not just changing one connector shell for another.

If your mobo has internal USB headers there's nothing stopping you attaching front-of-case type-C ports to those, but you won't get any of the above. On the front is probably better than scrabbling around the back looking for the port anyway.

Theo

As will all mechanical solutions.

If you can do it wirelessly you should. I am sure this explains the long life of my 2018 A7 ....

Magnetic tips do not provide the same leverage for damage. They can be easily replaced if they get dirty.

But yes, wireless is good. I have a Braun electric toothbrush that makes your A7 look newish.

I'd never heard that expression before, or so I thought! I thought the 10cc line was "don't you pee on me pitch"

As I said, I had magnetic tips in 2015. However when I went to get a second cable for the car, I realised there was no standard and that despite looking like they interchanged not all tips worked with all cables.

And they there was also the data/charging divide ... some tips only supported charging. Some were full fat.

However, not having to plug something into a device every so often will obviously extend it's life.

Well, in a demonstration of something, I spent £5.50 (inc P&P) on brand new replacement wireless headphones. Bit basic, but they do the job.

Ordered last Wednesday and shipped from China.

Cut the Gordian Knot, future-proof yourself, chuck away the headphones, and buy a set with a USB-C charging port.

If your speaker is up for replacement, consider going USB-C for that as well.

These moves could work out cheaper in the long run.