I have a Sony VAIO, about 5 years old, where the USB port that I use for the mouse is wearing out and making a poor/intermittent connection. I transport the unit back and forth to work every workday, and so there are two connect/disconnect cycles a day, leading to the wear.
Thankfully, the unit has two other USB ports, but is there any good way to "rescue" the worn one? Is it likely that my friendly local computer repair hack can replace the port? Is there any sort of standard repair device/scheme for this?
Note that any scheme that leaves something projecting out more than 1/4" or so would not allow the unit to be "bagged" for transport and is a non-starter.
Best Answer
If it is only used for a mouse, get a wireless mouse with a stay in port dongle. Some are almost flush. Logitech Unifying type dongles are flush. If you want to generally refurb the port you can try chemicals like DeOxit to clean the connectors and there is supposed to be a companion chemical to shield the gold conductors and provide a little bit of lubrication so there isn't so much mechanical wear.