Intuos 4 Loose USB ports

[Arshes Nei]

seems like wacom reacted...

http://forum.wacom.eu/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=1628&start=50

Yeah but it's for the wireless version. I noticed a user saying something about heating issues for the wireless?

Where does that leave users who want a large or small of the non wireless version? Did they bother to improve that?

What about those who are stuck with the same problem since it's not really a fix for those with the problem with the first release of tablets?

[le sweets]

that link says they fixed the regular tablet usb ports, which was posted today. now i'd just like to know when they did that because i wonder if the stock the stores have now are the fixed ones or not

[dieseltier]

that link says they fixed the regular tablet usb ports, which was posted today. now i'd just like to know when they did that because i wonder if the stock the stores have now are the fixed ones or not

That's my problem, too. i cancelled an order for the i4 large after reading about the issue. it could take some time for the not fixed stock to get sold...

[vapsman88]

I guess I have been lucky on the loose port issue. I bought mine early in 2009 and have never had an issue, though I never move it or unplug it since my other device is a MC LE1600 and is penabled.
Though now I am paranoid about unplugging the cable.


~John

[equilerex]

Frackin terrible design i must say!
dont carry mine around almost at all but managed to fuck up 2 ports... for something that is so stiff on the table, the wire either has to be stuck on the board or the port should be clamped onto the circuit board...

aaanyways, this is what i found in mine...

first port.. it was completely loose... didnt have the tools to fix it...


second one gave up later, only some of the connections were loose so soldered it back tight (looks like an axe job but didnt have the right tin'n paste)


and to top it off i used hot glue to fix the damn thing permanently on the casing

just an informative post to show what the hell's wrong there.

[SoufMeng]

I live in the US and it broke within the warranty period so I could RMA it. It cost me about 50 bucks in shipping so about 10% of the tablet's worth.

I received it back but do not know if it was just a new board with the same problem. I since went to Amazon.com and bought one of their Gold plated Mini USB cables, because a month later the USB cord that came with the tablet went out.

The Amazon one: http://amzn.com/B001TH7GUK fits actually rather snug and I bought an extender cable. I still am very nervous about using the tablet.... it's a problem I never felt with my other tablets.

While Travis and I believe Steve at Wacom have been helpful with me, unfortunately my confidence is shaken a bit with the quality of the intuos4. It has great editions but poor execution in terms of parts quality.

I broke the stylus of my Intuos3 a couple days ago and rather than buy a replacement pen I'd considered getting an Intuos4, although more expensive than option 1, but I came to CA and saw this... So thank you Arshes!
Im currently working within deadlines and I dont need any of that kind of trouble.

[Wiggins]

Just installed, and tested a bit, my new Intuos 4. Being an upgrade from my main go to for quick edits tablet, a graphire 4, I can say I'm in love with how the new tablet handles. But of course I'm wary of the same problems everyone else seems to be vocal about.

I'm not in love with the non-smooth surface, though I think I'll certainly follow the sticky to adjust my pressure for 100% to minimize my paranoia/nib wear.

The pen is a bit bulky for me, but for what they charge for the replacements, I'll deal and get used to it, for sure.

The ability for the tablet to sense the pen so far away from the tablet? Awesome, really felt like I had control over where I laid my lines down, felt really natural once I got sketching.

but OH GOD, I'm a lefty, so I'm using the top left USB port (if you've got your keys on the right side, and btw, I love the wheel/keys, gonna really improve speed for me) and it's SCARING THE CRAP out of me. I've unplugged it and I'm gonna either go the electrical tape route, or some mild rubber cement or something, I noticed when placing the tablet on my desk that the USB plug moves really easily from left to right, it wiggles while connected!

Totally weak, and lazily constructed, if you ask me. But that's what we've been reading for a while now, pretty muted responses from Wacom unless it's something that can take care of remotely like driver/software issues....


All in all I'm VERY VERY thankful for the ConceptArt WACOM forum section, Thanks to everyone who's posted in detail about their issues, hope everyone's been able to remedy theirs, and it's certainly keeping me on my toes about what I hope, are never my own issues.

Peace. Thanks again!

[equilerex]

yeah, the wiggle was pretty creepy!
i've been running on the hot glue'd port for half a month now and it's rock solid, definitely solved the problem for me ^^

[arsieiuni]

If anyone that posts on that EU Wacom thread Arshes linked could ask the Wacom rep that keeps replying when the new version started being sold I'd love to hear. I only got mine this past Summer and I'd love to know if it's one of the old or new.

Of course, it's under warranty and I bought through Amazon so could contact them about it too. I keep mine on my desk most of the time but occasionally carry it with me in a laptop bag to draw away from home. Haven't done this much and I'm always very careful with it. Now I know to be even MORE careful.

[311002965]

I don't have my receipt anymore, do you think I'm screwed if my USB port goes out or do they go by the online registration?
You're pretty brave hauling yours around. I'm too paranoid that I will inadvertently destroy my tablet. My Intuos4 has been in the same spot pretty much since I got it. I've been back and forth on either getting a cheap tablet (Bamboo or something even more inferior) or a tablet PC to take along with me.

Of course, it's under warranty and I bought through Amazon so could contact them about it too. I keep mine on my desk most of the time but occasionally carry it with me in a laptop bag to draw away from home. Haven't done this much and I'm always very careful with it. Now I know to be even MORE careful.

[mcarp]

I'm glad to find out it's not just me. I might try to fix the broken port myself. I'm not going to RMA it.

[justjean]

hey guys, it's me again. I'm ordering another tablet, it's the academic version from Amazon, a medium. Hopefully this tablet's from the "improved" batch.

[Genghis Dahmer]

@ equilerex

Great info. Have you, or anyone else, looked into having an electrical technician type person fix these?

Has anyone found more info on this topic?

I'm looking into getting my wireless intuos4 repaired, bought used. Already took it apart thinking I could have a go at it, but after seeing the way the connector broke and how tiny the connections are, it doesn't look promising for me as an amateur solderer.

BTW, my wifi model intuos connector looks slightly different from the one equilerex photographed, having four smaller mount points instead of his two larger ones on each side of the usb connector "box" thingy.

[CartoonImp]

Yeah, I have to say that my Intous4 is a $350 piece of garbage. Both USBs broke so I spent $30 (after discount from work) for the repair. One broke again after just 2 months so now I'm about to solder and glue gun it. When it breaks I'm getting a Hanvon Art Master 3. I had a small intous 1 that lasted 8 years and this new one didn't last 6 months.

[johnnyoctopus]

How do did you get it to open? I unscrewed it but its impossible for me to take it apart. Any suggestions? I have to reattached the usb connector inside. It was loose and then i tried opening it, that little guy just feel right out

[equilerex]

@ johnny theres some extra screws under the rubber feet.

Heres a little update... the fix and hot clue worked for a year and then it got loose again... really god damn cr"ppy design. took it to the repairs since my tools were pretty blunt.. got told that its cheaper to buy a new one. so i took it home and went for a bit more radical solution... bypassed the plug and traced the connections to their source and soldered them there...





(the orange wire is not from the usb wire... i just used it to make a bridge between the circuit board connections as the plug used to.. not really sure if was needed... just in case)

[Kangum]

I got my intuos 4 medium about 2 years ago. typically it was plugged in and never moved. I assume because of its age it doesnt have the newer fix that wacom may have done to newer models. Im actually afraid of wiggling the wire now to even see if mines loose. That would be my luck. touch the wire then have it break. I have a soldering gun and know how to solder but not on contact points that are that small. after reading about this im even afraid to sell it. what if the user breaks it then tries to send it back. Im really upset how many people have had issues with this.

[Shahan]

is this for just intuos4s with non mini/micros on the tablet itself?

does large and up have to regular usb s on both ends of the wire?

my meadium has a micro/mini connecting it to the tablet surface drawing area. the end to the pc is regular usb


is this different for different sizes?

[Arshes Nei]

It's with any intuos4 model with the detachable wire. The largest one is not detachable and I haven't heard much issues with it. However, there aren't that many that have one that large either.

[Shahan]

oh crap i have an intuos4 medium!!!

it hasnt happened to me yet..... are their any preventative actions or things i could to prevent this?

[Arshes Nei]

oh crap i have an intuos4 medium!!!

it hasnt happened to me yet..... are their any preventative actions or things i could to prevent this?

Yes, go back and read the whole thread.

[bartyb]

Hello, I happen to be good at soldering, and my brother's unit has the same issue, so he gave it to me hoping I could fix, and I'd hate to disappoint him. Yet I'm having a hard time opening the thing. I removed all the screws, including the 4 hidden ones under the glued pads, but something still keeps it together right where the 4 buttons are, and I don't want to break it prying it out. How do you fully open it? Do you need to remove the buttons?

Thank you.

[yannickl88]

Hello, I happen to be good at soldering, and my brother's unit has the same issue, so he gave it to me hoping I could fix, and I'd hate to disappoint him. Yet I'm having a hard time opening the thing. I removed all the screws, including the 4 hidden ones under the glued pads, but something still keeps it together right where the 4 buttons are, and I don't want to break it prying it out. How do you fully open it? Do you need to remove the buttons?

Thank you.

By removing the screws I got it open just fine.

I like to note I have a similar problem as everyone else, and I'm from the Netherlands, so yeah. EU versions have the same problem.

[clow901]

I'd like to thank everyone for your posts. With limited funds and in need of pen tablet, I won an Intuos4 large on Ebay for $80 bucks. Both usb's broken off. With little to no soldering skills at all, no flux, $7 soldering iron from wally world, and a used usb cable out of the junk drawer, it was fixed in about 30 minutes. Looking at the photos from this forum really helped tremendously.

[Oblivious Red]

I'd like to thank everyone for their input on this thread and thought I'd contribute something of relevance. I purchased the Intuos4 Medium December of 2011 after researching it heavily, finding problems with nib wear and the USB ports through this thread and others like it. Never the less, it remained my first choice and has been excellent!
Recently I opened the tablet to fix a creaking problem in the lower right hand corner, due to my heavy arm when using it, and discovered Wacom's fix to the USB hub's integrity.

As you can see, a tiny plastic piece was applied to the top of the connector to sandwich it between the two halves of the device's black shell. This seems to work very well (sometimes the simplest fixes are the best). I have unplugged and plugged the USB cord into the tablet many times since I have had it. Just to be sure, I use a right angled USB cord which is taped to the tablet. This prevents it from stressing the connector and keeps my workplace very tidy.

[dnova]

I had the exact same problem. And I fixed it thanks a lot to this thread for giving me clues and hints. Here are some instructions I wrote for how to do it!: http://theaydin.tumblr.com/post/3100...m-intuos-4-usb

Thanks for all the people who contributed to this thread and helped me solve this!

Edit:
The jist of it for those who don't wanna read all instructions!

[Star Eater]

That's a great diagram dnova. My ports are fine, but this
will be very useful for other people. Thanks for taking the time
to draw that out and share it on the forums.

[MVN]

I'm a long time lurker on Concept Art, so I'm really, really sorry to resurrect an old thread, but the same thing that some of you are describing happened to my Wacom Intuos4 Wireless and I'm hoping someone can help me out. I rarely used my Intuos4 Wireless even though I've had had it for more than two years. I would just occasionally use it to sketch pictures and it was just fantastic, but I mostly never used it at all (something I deeply regret now that it's broken). Anyway, the other day an old friend contacted me telling me he wanted me to do some designs for him, so I pull out my trusty tablet and turn on the bluetooth. It turns out the battery was low and it was being laggy, so I decide to plug in my USB cable to charge it and that's when the USB port just broke and fell inside the tablet! I didn't even use any great amount of force, I was just casually connecting the USB cable, as always, and it just broke with no effort whatsoever. I opened it up and the little USB thing had come loose and now I don't know how to fix it.

I started googling solutions and it appears Wacom's official position is that USB ports are "never" supposed to break on the intuos4 wireless model, if it broke then that means you used too much force on it. That's ridiculous, I'm not a very strong guy to begin with, and I'm not prone to breaking things either. On a lot of other forum posts on Wacom's website where people were enquiring about broken USB ports on the intuos4 wireless, they either got no response, or they were told its their fault because Wacom had "fixed" that problem. Bottom line is, my tablet is waaay past its warranty period, so even though I only used it once in a while, there is nothing I can expect to get from Wacom at this point, and I figure getting them to repair it will probably cost more than I can afford right now.

Luckily, I happened to come across this thread in my googling, and I'm really interested in the permanent USB fixes that some of you have suggested, soldering the USB cable wires directly onto the board. The problem is, the board on which the USB port is connected on the intuos4 wireless is different from the one on the regular intuos4 models. Some of the pictures posted in this thread are fantastic, but I can't follow the diagrams to repair my intuos4 wireless because they are not the same. Here are some hi-res pictures below so you can have a look at it (I hope they are clear enough):

Here are some view of the circuit board (the USB port broke off that square cut-out area):




This is the broken USB port:




Here are some pictures I took of the USB port in position so you can get an idea of how it fit (it's just sitting on the board, not attached in any way):



Different view of the thing, hopefully with clearer view of connections:



And finally, here are some pictures of the USB port side-by side with the position it broke off from (please note, the USB thing is upside down so you can see where it sits on the board):



And a picture of the circuit board in position, with the USB port missing (the USB port is supposed to be where that square cut-out area is along the edge of the tablet):



Sorry for such a long post. I hope the pictures are useful. Please, someone help me out. I was hoping someone who has an idea how everything fits together could help me out with a diagram roughly like the one dnova posted above showing where I would connect USB wires in this scenario. Or even just pictures of an intact Intuos4 wireless USB port could be useful so I have a reference to try and fix it with. I would really appreciate any help at all fixing this.

[dnova]

Just to make it clear: I am not an expert or even good at electronics nor have I have seen a wireless intuos4's circuit board before.

However if I were you I would solder it like this. I think this is the correct way.

[MVN]

Sorry I took so long to respond, I had completely forgotten I had posted in this thread. Thanks so much for your reply dnova! I really appreciate it. Unfortunately, in my efforts to try and repair the USB port in the time since I made my post, I ended up screwing it up worse than it was before, so the thing is now a complete write-off . I've had to go back to using my Bamboo, but I am planning to buy an Intuos5 sometime in the next month or so. Cheers!