Loose USB c port on MacBook Pro 2017

I have a 2016 MacBook pro 15" with touch bar and I have the same issue. I don't have an apple store anywhere close to me and they didn't have the part at the 5th ave NYC(Went there for a work trip) store and wanted to send it off. This is my primary and only computer for work and home and they have no way of helping me. If they put good ports in the first place this wouldn't be an issue. They need to start replacing peoples laptops or something. My ports disconnect when I barely move the Mac.

My 15" MBP 2017 ports are also coming loose - I got one repaired already now another one is having the same problem - literally can't plug in any disk or charge cable in while on my lap any movement causes disks to eject and charge to stop.

I have contact apple and the reply was no issue here ! This is really not going away and I'm pretty sure Apple are aware of this problem.

It seems that an outer metal sleeve like on the charger plug is the solution.

I had the same problem with my 2017 MacBook Pro 13". I returned it to the Apple store about a month before the warranty expired. They ended up replacing the 4 USB-C ports and the mother board. The new ones are much more solid than the old ones. They felt more like plugging into the charger block. To minimize wear and tear from charging, I purchased an "Apple USB C Charger Power Cable" by Tesha from Amazon. So far this are working fine. In the past I tried other magnetic connectors, but the cables wouldn't handle the charging load. It's unfortunate that apple refused to produce USB-C magnetic adapters. I bought my wife a MacBook Air to avoid these USB-C issues.

Update - after 3 Genius bar visits Apple finally sent my MBP to TX. THey replaced all the ports and the motherboard which meant a complete reinstall. This created a big issue for me with Lightroom because somehow the LR catalog was corrupted on the backup. But so far after a month of trial, the new ports are not creating an issue and I am able to mobilize the MBP and move it around as I expect to. I still have my extrenal Hard drives velcro’d to the lid to minimize risk of a HD falling or moving much, but I am OK with that but it makes for a very heavy peice of gear of lap where I could otherwise distribute the weight a bit more. My MBP was out of warranty but within Applecare, otherwise I am sure they would have charged me and they made of point of tellin me how expensive it would have been and how lukcy I was to have Applecare. This is their design fault and I should feel lucky they fixed it for free? I should have charged them for my time thsi took - all the hours of research I had to do to suggest what the problem was and then document when I was sure I found it thanks to this thread and you kind people! You al made a difference for me. Thanks. Will update again if it goes south.

I also have this problem.

My ports continuously disconnect while I barely move the Mac. It is impossible to use it connected to anything while in my lap. This is creating havoc in my external hard drives. Just now I am running the "first aid" repair (again) in one of them, because of the corruption generated by the continuous USB-C ports disconnects. What a pain.

This is my only computer, which I use for work. There is no Apple Store near me and losing access to the computer for repair for some days, will be troublesome for me. Reading this thread, it is saddening to know that, even with a replacement, the problem will reproduce again in the future.

This is not what I expect from such an expensive computer. Apple should find a solution and recall the affected units.

Don’t waste your time with software analysis etc. I had 3 apts with the Genius’ before we sent it off and it should have been the first thing I did. You need to demand the ports get replaced by Apple and they will have to send it to TX so you will be without it for several days. I think I had mine back in 5 work days. They did that and I can toss the MBP all over the place with no disconnects (well I don’t but you know what I mean). Once my ports were replaced it behaved as I expected. Whether or not these will become loose over time is another matter and I have the documentation to go bak if it does. For my model, MBP 2016 Touch bar, they had to replace the entire board which meant a reinstall and caused havoc with my Lightroom. Make sure your backups are not corrupted becaise apparetly my last LR backup was corrupted was and would not restore.

I have the same issue with my 2017 15 inch i7, I find myself keeping a finger on the power cord most of the time the laptop is in my lap.

I think this is a design issue, the magnetic power connectors at least stayed on.

I have opened up a ticket with Apple and am taking it in this Sunday

As others have said, if yours is in warranty, take it in asap.

It really is just a bad design and the ports are attached directly to the power section of the logic board so its not a cheap fix after warranty. I'm on my second set of ports. They supposedly replaced the whole logic board each time and most recently they replaced the top casing of the body as well (the actual metal enclosure of the laptop that the bottom cover gets mounted to which surrounds these USB-C ports). This time it was given back to me with odd black stickers surrounding the ports. I'm not sure I'm supposed to take them off or not and it all just seems a little insane. You'd think that the very absolute least you should be able to rely on in a laptop is the ability to charge and turn it on. It seems like every year these macbook pros are getting less and less worth the money.

Same problem here - all USB C connectors are very loose and I frequently find out my MacBook hasn't been charging because the cable wiggled out by about 1/10th of a mm. God knows why they think they can sell e-gpus to MBP owners if this is the connector people will use it for.

Alienwarenow wrote:

Thats why i don't use macbook pro since 2016. THEY ARE ALL LOOSE. and the user is looser 🙂 i changes to alienware, same price with 5X BETTER PERFORMANCE

That's all well and good and I can absolutely see why someone would make that switch (I've considered it myself), but for those who are already pretty invested in the whole Apple Ecosystem; removing a MBP from the equation isn't such a great proposition.

That being said, I'm now on my 3rd logic board because of these ports and I haven't had this thing for a year yet.

August 2018 update after 2 logic board replacements on a late 2016 MBP touch bar 15" with 4 USBC ports...I got my MBP back several weeks ago and quite frankly have been so frustrated, busy, anxious I have taken my time to mess with it! But I finally did today. When it came back from the second logic board replacement it had black tape around the ports as a previous poster mentioned - the first visit it did not. The last failure my La Cie HD was not recognized and I got many disconnect errors - too many to count 'disk eject improperly" error messages that would pile up with no activity i.e. I was asleep or at work. Took MBP and LaCie to store and got a persistent tech who cared to troubleshoot and he took the LaCie drive to another MBP in the store to confirm it was not the drive. 9/10 times the store blames everything but the MBP especially a spinning drive! So off it went to TX for the second time. Just be persistent with the Genius and make them really do their homework and troubleshoot. I think the word is starting to get out that this is a huge problem even in a town with multiple Apple stores like Seattle it took a while. So all seems OK with the MBP so far but again first day messing with it really first day plugging in LaCie (had WD passport backup drive plugged in for several weeks and no eject improperly errors) and I am trying to catch up on a huge backlog of photo transfers. I have not moved it around and used on my lap (imagine that I am scared to use a laptop on my lap! because of these blasted ports!). So I thought I would update the board in any case. Note that it worked fine for a month or two after my first repair also. Thank goodness I have Apple care into 2019! If not it'd be on me and I would be on a PC by now! Ludicrous! Three strikes before they will replace the MBP which really means 4 failures. I got one strike/repair left and am afraid it's gonna crap out right for the fourth time after the Apple Care expires! I will be happy if it is fixed this time believe me but I am not a fan at all of the MBP or Apple. I have iPad, iPhone, AppleTV so I bought into this brand, but this experience is pushing me away big time.

One more note, the second repair they replaced the 2 I/O boards, logic board AND the Top case with battery. 1st repair they replaced only the logic board, and 2 I/O boards. Same as previous poster.

Wish I could welcome you under better circumstances lol.

I read your post, I'm waiting for my 3rd repair to crap out as well. It's sad that after spending so much on a "premium" product that anyone would be at the point where they're anticipating a any sort of failure on the device. I too would probably have jumped over to the PC side if my work and personal usage wasn't so engrained into the Apple ecosystem. It's now August 5th- on August 13th, my repair and service coverage expires. I've been told that Apple guarantees their repairs for up to 1 year but thats honestly of little comfort as I am sure that, should they feel compelled, another excuse could be found for the same problem which would void that guarantee.

In the past it was easy to justify to myself that I should stay with a Mac when buying or upgrading. The fact that most of the software I need is just easier to use on a mac and the cost of having to re-license all of that software or find better alternatives for a PC was enough to keep me with a Mac. But once this one goes and it's no longer covered, I just dont know if I can justify another one especially looking at the prices for an equivalent 2018 model.

Update that the "disk not ejected properly" issue came back after a few weeks of uninterrupted performance and bliss and two trips to the Mac repair shop. I get the message when I am not at the keyboard and come back to dozens of error messages.

Just got back from Apple. Tech reviewed my history, introduced himself, asked what was going on I basically said same thing as previous 2x and I am ready for a new computer. He agreed. End of discussion. Took quite a while to set up paperwork. Said he worked there 4 years and only second time he replaced a machine for same unresolved problem. A replacement is being ordered. Don't know what vintage it will be, but specs will not be less than what I have. If I get a late 2016 first run vintage again, that will be the end of it and I will go nuclear. He made no promises as to what vintage, but it would be ludicrous if they repeated that vintage with me. Yes this has been going on that long! Will take a couple weeks.