ClayDots

The root cause is cold solder on the USB connector shroud. Assuming a new unit, prevention would be touching up the shroud solder tabs to be sure they are properly soldered. You'll never do better than that with any tie down idea. I don't remember what's between the tabs on the solder side, but you could lay in some mylar and solder a wire across the tabs down tight, a la your strap idea. Be careful with all the heat. That with the magnetic break away cable should be pretty good, until the cable separates at a gig!

"Seriously, Line6. A 3-week turn-around for warranty replacement? This is pretty disappointing." *That's* what's disappointing?

A tempting thought process, but, at the end of the day, whatever is plugged into the connector, no matter how, or how far removed, it's still the soldering job that's holding it on. ALL stress handled by the magnet connection will be "felt" by the soldered connector (unless you epoxy the male part to the case or something). My buddy's was literally dangling. Playing a show, dependent upon either the connector holding OR the breakaway, still not good IMHO. Don't mean to be argumentative, but still sketchy at best. I understand the open it, soldering, drilling etc. is daunting for some and this cable seems an alternative. For a bedroom player, it may translate the connection cycles to the magnet instead of the connector so gingerly doing that could extend the life. But if you're playing out, that won't be acceptable, and the mod works a charm. It's a shame, 'cause love the product, works great otherwise.

This break away idea is premised on some disruption to the USB port, during use, as the cause of the separation from the printed circuit board. Very unlikely. Once it's plugged in, that connection is pretty stable ... your amp doesn't move, right? The separation is caused at insertion time due to the connector's solder just letting go; either not enough, or cold, solder, or both. IF the connector design was done right, it could actually be OK, but it's not. I've been gigging with the 5V mod and loving it. It's what you would think it should be. Solid, repeatable, reliable. Luckily, I did mine while the USB is still good, so I have robust power and USB data too. Hate to have some think the break away is a potential "fix" for this problem. In some cases, I bet the break away force is higher than the failure force of the USB connector any way. If it was me, I would get a warranty replacement and still do the 5V mod, Unless there was visible evidence of them modding the board and the USB port for the better.

You're welcome. You may be able to update your transmitter using a friend's base. Not sure, but look around here, I think so. I have not and IMHO it's fine. It's actually pretty good otherwise, I've seen engineering "nightmares" and this isn't one, just a bad design choice by some engineer with the micro USB double as power, should have left it for data and provided a more robust power port, a la what we did.

What did the updates do specifically? Mine seems to work perfectly timewise, otherwise. I'll go look for them.

Sitting here I think only the power is used on the USB, not data. Needs to be confirmed. And, my USB is still good, I only shunted the 5V on the input so I can still use my USB, *OR* my 5V input, but not at the same time. This won't be the case if yours is broken and left that way. Aside from this disaster of a power design, is a great unit. The next Gen will address this most certainly?

Dump the 9 to 5 and go straight 5V, no issues.

HERE IS WHAT I DID AT MY OWN RISK AND VOIDING MY WARRANTY. I KNOW HOW TO HANDLE TOOLS AND SOLDER SAFELY. I AM NOT SUGGESTING ANYONE DO THIS, MERELY DESCRIBING WHAT I DID. I TOOK PHOTOS ALONG THE WAY TO KNOW HOW IT GOES BACK TOGETHER. 1. Poked through the label on the bottom with a small Philips head and removed the screw. I rubbed around the label to indent it where the hole is. 2. Used a small flat head and pry and work the case apart. This is a pain and left marks, small since I was careful. There are tabs on the lid and body that snap together. 3. Using wrench and needle nose pliers, unscrewed the 1/4" jack nuts. 4. Removed XLR screws, and two circuit board screws. 5. Lifted out the board. 6. Drilled a hole to just fit the 2.1/5.5 mm jack I bought in the middle of the usb hole and the bottom edge centered with the usb hole. Blew out the plastic bits from drilling. 7. Mounted the jack and tightened it down. 8. Soldered about two inches of red and black wire, about 22g., to the + and - pads of the 100uf cap right near the usb connector CAREFULLY. There is a + printed on the board near the cap. 9. Installed the circuit board by reversing the removal steps. 10. Carefully soldered the red wire to the center tip of the DC jack and the black to the other tab on the jack. 11. Snapped the bottom on and screwed it down. I KNOW THAT I CAN'T USE BOTH THE USB AND THE DC POWER I INSTALLED AT THE SAME TIME. I MIGHT FILL THE USB CONNECTOR WITH EPOXY OR SOMETHING TO PREVENT THIS AS I'LL NEVER USE IT AGAIN. ** I CAN ONLY USE A 5V 1A + TIP DC SUPPLY WITH THIS. *NOT* A 9V, ELSE I'LL LET THE SMOKE OUT.

I skipped the 9v to 5v converter. Happy to just use a 5v supply. Much simpler, just 2 wires, and under $10 all in. You can see the tip (red) soldered to the + side of the 100uf electrolytic cap and the ground (black) soldered to the other side.

Why not just parallel across the G10's USB 5 volts from the added jack and use a 5V 2A supply? Just don't want to plug in the USB supply too, but who would? ... or plug it up with epoxy. This eliminates the 9-5 converter. Is it 'cause pedals are mostly 9V and using one's existing 9V supply is attractive? This is just the jack and wires.

The problem is definitely the USB connector. 5 surface mount pads mean nothing for mechanical support and the shroud is through hole soldered with four tiny tabs and easily pulled out, especially if cold soldered in production. Where did you put the 5V on the board? Thanks.