Hardware Bent HDMI port of graphics card

[MichiS97]

Hey guys,

to be honest, this is more me venting my anger than anything else but still I feel like I need to share this with you and ask you for advice.
Two hours ago, I played FIFA 16 on my PC. As I like using my TV for games I plugged my HDMI cable into my graphics card (GTX 970) and into the TV and started playing. Everything worked flawlessly. After an hour or so I stopped playing and unplugged the HDMI cable from my PC and surfed around on the internet for an hour or so. Then I decided that I'd like to watch a series on my TV, I got all the episodes on my PC so I just wanted to plug in the HDMI cable again like I always do but the cable just wouldn't fit. When I looked at the back of my PC I saw that the HDMI port of my graphics card was bent up so you couldn't plug anything into it.
I took the graphics card out of my PC and saw that the HDMI port is indeed bent like half a centimeter up at its front end, like the front part of its soldering somehow gave way. I really don't know what happened there, I didn't apply any force or anything to the card or the port.
Do you think I can get a replacement or at least get it fixed for free since I'm still in the warranty timespan (bought the card in December last year)? I tried bending the port back down but after like half a minute it goes back up again.
Also, if I wouldn't get it covered by the warranty, could I buy a HDMI <-> DisplayPort adapter and just put the HDMI cable in one of the two DisplayPorts of my graphics card? Would that let me display the picture on my TV just like it did with the regular HDMI port? This would only be a last resort solution but better than having to pay another 300€ for a new GPU.

Anyway, I guess my best course of action is to call the shop I bought the card from tomorrow. Like I said, I just needed to get this of my chest. This really bothers me.

The weirdest thing is that it was fine two hours ago...really don't have a clue what's going on.

 

[FAST6191]

I imagine it is a similar problem to all those broken USB charge ports on things over the years (something like http://www.sertdatarecovery.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/pads-lifted-from-usb.png ) -- you have a bunch of pins at the back and usually four small ish feet soldered onto some small pads (which may only be bonded lightly to the substrate) and they call that a mechanical join. I could go into further detail and talk about creep and mechanical loading (said four pins against a rotation about the pins or edge of the connector is about as bad as it gets) or cascade failure (one pad goes and suddenly the other has double the force applied to it) but it would not really serve much purpose here.
Do you know anybody familiar with electronics repair for it if is that then they might be able to do something about it. It will be a quick repair if it is fixable and they will hopefully just have to tack down the solder pads again, if not then some epoxy or super glue should help if the pads have been lifted from the substrate.

I hesitate to suggest it but you have a space HDMI cable you can shove in there that will rest against the back plate of the graphics card to keep the port down then it might be a good idea.

Taking it back to the shop. You could try but they would probably argue that you broke it, and indeed you may well have if there was force on the cable. It could have been a manufacturing error that caused it but it will cost you far more than 300 Euros to find that out and possibly take it to court.

Displayport adapters would be an option if the mechanical failure of the HDMI port does not lead to further issues. I do not imagine it will and any further failure will probably be limited to said point but I would be lying if I said I have not seen extenal ports get ripped off and take out a circuit in the process (usually by taking out a ground path between a few points in a circuit but not limited to that by any means). Back on topic you might want to read up what said displayport adapters can do -- it might be less than what the HDMI might have done (especially for audio) but if you just want a 1080p or lower video signal then you should be fine.

 

[MichiS97]

I imagine it is a similar problem to all those broken USB charge ports on things over the years (something like http://www.sertdatarecovery.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/pads-lifted-from-usb.png ) -- you have a bunch of pins at the back and usually four small ish feet soldered onto some small pads (which may only be bonded lightly to the substrate) and they call that a mechanical join. I could go into further detail and talk about creep and mechanical loading (said four pins against a rotation about the pins or edge of the connector is about as bad as it gets) or cascade failure (one pad goes and suddenly the other has double the force applied to it) but it would not really serve much purpose here.
Do you know anybody familiar with electronics repair for it if it that then they might be able to do something about it. It will be a quick repair if it is fixable and they will hopefully just have to tack down the solder pads again, if not then some epoxy or super glue should help if the pads have been lifted from the substrate.

I hesitate to suggest it but you have a space HDMI cable you can shove in there that will rest against the back plate of the graphics card to keep the port down then it might be a good idea.

Taking it back to the shop. You could try but they would probably argue that you broke it, and indeed you may well have if there was force on the cable. It could have been a manufacturing error that caused it but it will cost you far more than 300 Euros to find that out and possibly take it to court.

Displayport adapters would be an option if the mechanical failure of the HDMI port does not lead to further issues. I do not imagine it will and any further failure will probably be limited to said point but I would be lying if I said I have not seen extenal ports get ripped off and take out a circuit in the process (usually by taking out a ground path between a few points in a circuit but not limited to that by any means). Back on topic you might want to read up what said displayport adapters can do -- it might be less than what the HDMI might have done (especially for audio) but if you just want a 1080p or lower video signal then you should be fine.

Thanks for your answer. Well like I said, I'll call the shop tomorrow, usually they're pretty customer-friendly when it comes to repairs, I'd pay a small fee, too. Sadly I don't know anybody who could fix it and I wouldn't feel comfortable with taking the card apart and glueing the pins back on.
If the store isn't a good enough option I'll just give the displayports a try. From what I've read they behave just as well as HDMI with video and audio.

About what you said about the pads breaking due to force being applied to the cable. Well I'd understand that if the pads at the back would be broken like in the picture you posted but instead of that it's the front of the port that is lifted up from the board.

 

[FAST6191]

If the store is willing to repair it and has someone that wants to -- I can not say I have done it for HDMI ports before but the amount of USB ports, charge ports and whatever else I have done it for is more than I care to count right now and it would be basically the same thing. If you get a bored teenager on the returns desk then they might even swap it/refund it for you.

The adapter is well worth trying and will probably be absolutely fine, however if you have some odd requirements then I have seen drivers and video bios get in the way before. If you just want a 1080p60 video signal to go into your TV then that should be fine, audio should be good as well as long as you do not want to try to do fancy stuff as well. Such adapters seem to be around 10 Euros and probably worth having one in a box like you have spare cables (I have seen a few laptops have only displayport out) so that is probably worth a go anyway.

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

If your warranty or store will cover it, then definitely get it fixed/exchanged. If not, a DisplayPort/HDMI adapter will work just fine, and you can pick one up for a few bucks online.