USB-C · Lightning · DC Jack · Charging Circuits
Charging problem? The port is only one possible cause.
If a device will not charge, charges intermittently, or only works when the cable is held a certain way, the cause can be debris, the physical port, the battery, the charger, or the charging circuit on the board. We identify the failed part before replacing anything.
Section 01 / Symptoms
What happens when you plug it in?
Each of these points at a different link in the chain.
Section 02 / Diagnosis
Where charging can fail
Charging is a chain, and any link in it stops the whole thing. Which link it is decides both the repair and the price.
The port and its solder joints
Every plug and unplug puts mechanical force into a connector soldered to the board with fine pins. Over years the joints fatigue and crack. The symptom is charging that only works at a certain angle, and it gets worse each time the cable moves.
Debris in the port
Worth checking before anything else, and free. Pocket lint compacts into the end of a phone port until the cable can no longer seat fully. It looks exactly like a failed port and it is not one.
The charging circuit
Behind the port sit filtering components and a charging controller. When that controller fails the device takes no charge from any cable, any charger, or any port, and reports nothing useful about why. This is a board-level repair.
USB-C power delivery negotiation
USB-C devices negotiate voltage with the charger before accepting power. A failed negotiation controller means the two never agree, so nothing flows even though the port and battery are both fine. Common on modern laptops and easily mistaken for a dead battery.
Section 03 / Devices
Charging repair for
Section 04 / Questions
Before you book
It only charges if I hold the cable a certain way. How urgent is that?
Urgent, and it is the cheapest moment to deal with it. The port is partly detached from the board and each further connection tears the remaining joints. Repaired now it is a port replacement. Left running it takes the pads and traces underneath with it and becomes a substantially larger job.
Do I just need a new battery?
Usually not, and this is the most common wasted spend in device repair. A battery replacement is the right answer when the battery drains quickly or will not hold a charge. It is the wrong answer when the device is not accepting charge at all, because the fault is upstream of the battery entirely.
My laptop will not charge from any USB-C port or charger.
When every port and every charger fails, the problem is not the port or the cable. It points at the power delivery controller on the board, which negotiates charging before any power flows. That is a component-level repair and it is very commonly misdiagnosed as a dead battery.
Could it just be dirt in the port?
Genuinely, yes, and it is worth checking first because it costs nothing. Pocket lint compacts into the bottom of a phone port over time until the cable cannot seat fully. If cleaning it carefully with something non-metallic solves it, you have saved yourself a repair.
Book
Do not keep forcing a loose charging cable.
Bring the device and, if the problem may depend on it, the charger or cable you normally use. $40 diagnostic credited toward approved repair.