Venue 8 USB charging port problem

I am having the same issue with mine. The Hardware port is the problem and not the USB or charging adapter. I have had mine about 10 days.

View this post at http://en.community.dell.com/support-forums/mobile-devices/f/4586/t/19531607.aspx  RE: Dell Venue 8 Pro not CHARGING!!!!

Pages 4 and 5 of this post have your answer about the DV8 pro USB a-b port and b plug.

Exact same issue here. Mine stopped charging today. I was very careful on not inserting the microusb the wrong way. but it still broke.

Contacted Dell CS, they will repair it for me I guess.

I wish they would just send me a new one since this is their fault.

Exact same problem here, but mine's about 4 weeks old and the micro USB cable no longer seats properly in the port on the Venue 8 Pro, so charging is impossible. It's a shame, really, because I absolutely love this thing.

I'm glad I had bought my Venue 8 at my local Microsoft store. After the first one went belly up, they exchanged it for the 2nd one right away that same day. When the 2nd one broke, they offered me one more but I didn't want to take another chance with this poorly designed tablet so I asked for a refund, which they gave me. So glad I didn't buy from someplace else.

For anyone reading this who has one of these tablets, or is thinking about it, you'd better be careful about plugging it in. My second unit "broke" after TWO/THREE DAYS. If you think about how many times you charge your tablet, what, maybe once a day. That means mine essentially broke after plugging it in maybe 3 times. Seriously. That's beyond user error, that's a defect.

The other big downside to having your tablet unable to plug in to a charger - if you have to return or exchange your tablet, Windows 8 won't let you "wipe" or "restore" your computer without plugging it in. Yes, all your personal information will be exposed unless you manually go on a big slash and burn hunt of all your configs, accounts info, and data before your battery dies and you have to hand over the tablet for exchange or repair.

I liked the Venue 8 while it worked, but I wouldn't buy another one unless they replace the charging port on this thing. In the mean time, there are other good 8" Windows tablets out there.

I had purchased 3 of these as Christmas presents. One had the port fail just before it's warranty went out; as was exchanged.. Now a 2nd has failed shortly after warranty is out... Really unhappy with the poor design of the USB port. From the searches I've done it looks like it was lucky that 2 survived past their warranty..  :(

By any chance did you purchase with a credit card that doubles the warranty period?

After being out of warrantee this problem caught up with me too. Noticed a problem of having a poor connection over a long time period requiring re-plugging, seeing charging light go out and so on, This got progressively worse until complete failure and loss of connection. Inspection shows that one of the metal electrodes on the small PCB board inside the connector housing had lifted up and tore off.

My background is in Reliability engineering of connectorization and it is clear to me that for consumer product like this shortcuts are taken. E.g., the intensive plug - unplug cycling that would have been conducted to check for Quality/Reliability issues on more expensive machines would immediately have flushed out this type of problem for correction before going into manufacturing. Shame on Dell for sloppy Reliability testing and work.

I called Dell and was quoted $259.- for repair. Sorry to say, but someone has lost their marbles in that corporation, especially since this is clearly a poor design and product qualification issue, for which Dell should assume full responsibility.  For that price I can purchase 2 new 8 inch tablets made by someone else. Naturally, my confidence in Dell concerning how they stand behind their product is tarnished and that will influence my purchasing decisions.

I also agree with the opinion expressed somewhere in this thread that it is precarious to turn in your tablet someplace for repair without having had a chance of sanitizing your personal information.