Are USB C ports on my elitebook soldered to the motherboard?

[huroland]

Hello,

I have an Elitebook 850 G8, and i would like to know wether the two USB-C port are repleacable without soldering?
If not, then is the question there, how hard/expensive is to repair it? Also, how durable are these ports/are there problems with that oft?

Thanks.

PS. I do not have any problem yet, I am just curious.

[TzortzisG · Accepted solution]

Hello Huroland.

According to your manual http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c06980364.pdf pages 44,45 the USB-A charging port on the left side has a separate replaceable board. The USB-C ports on the other side however are soldered. Instructions on fixing USB soldered ports can be seen here (for example):

http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c07067378.pdf  pages 26-31.

It's a bit of a hack, and not always successful....

USB-C receptacle durability is very good (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_hardware) :

"USB-C receptacles are designed for a minimum rated lifetime of 10,000 cycles of insertion and removal."

As with everything else in life, they will eventually fail, but much much later than any other kind of USB port.

[huroland]

Thank you very much for your reply.

Do you mean that if it is not successful, then the port cannot be helped anymore, or just another try? What if it is not succeed, then only with a motherboard swap can it be resolved?

[TzortzisG]

I mean that the official repair method for broken USB ports is MOTHERBOARD REPLACEMENT. So if anyone wants to try and solder in a new USB receptacle, this is the unorthodox approach and many times it is successful. Obviously HP service won't do it. Even if it works however, there are no guarantees for how long or how well. As I said, a hack.

[huroland]

Okay, thank you very much.

[TzortzisG]

My pleasure! I wouldn't worry too much about the USB-Cs lifespan. Other things might fail way before, or most probably you'll get bored of the laptop and get a new one.