A pivot or cable is bent, cleaved, or missing

Updated: 01/24/2018 by Computer Hope

VGA cable with pins

Many figurer cables have pins on ane or both of the connector ends, and those pins cannot be bent, broken, or missing. If y'all apply a cable with a damaged or missing pin, it may cause connectivity issues between the computer and the other device. A bad cable may effect in lost data, which causes issues such as a malfunctioning printer or video distortion.

If you lot notice that one of your cables has a bent, broken, or missing pivot, see the following suggestions.

Straighten the pin

If a pin is bent, it may be possible to straighten the pin out using needle-nose pliers. Depending on the severity of the bend, you could straighten the pin out plenty to make it usable once more. However, if the bend is astringent, information technology may not exist possible to repair. As well, exist aware that yous could cause damage to other pins when attempting to straighten a pin out, then have extra care when using pliers to straighten a pivot.

Repair a missing pin

If a pin is broken, y'all tin can try taking the cable to a computer repair shop and accept them supersede the pin. In most cases, however, the computer repair shop recommends you lot supervene upon the whole cable. The cost of replacing the broken pin may be more than the price of a new cable, when you figure in labor costs. Some cables cannot exist repaired in this manner, requiring you to replace the whole cablevision.

Replace the cablevision and foreclose future damage

If the cable cannot be fixed, the only other pick is to supersede the cablevision. In the future, to prevent cable damage, be careful when attaching a cablevision to a computer or related device (monitor, printer, etc.). Attaching the cable slowly helps prevent damage. Never force a cable that doesn't want to connect.