Got the mess of cables attached to the grotty travel hub thingy caught up in my office chair and when I rolled back dragged the entire lot onto the floor. The iliad still works but the plug that attaches into the bottom of the iliad ripped out and was very bent with bits of plastic snapped off. Got a pair of pliers and my best spectacles and bent it roughly back into shape. It fits and charges and attaches to my laptop but is a bit wobbly. :angry:

I will order a new travel hub in the new year but am going away to the Richtersveldt :D next week so I need to keep using this thing for now. Do you think that if something in the plug touches something it shouldn't in the device that disaster could result or should I be OK if I am careful and put no tension on the thing when it is plugged in?

Boy was I annoyed with myself. I was actually shaking by the time I got it all sorted out. I seem to have aquired a massive attachment along with the iliad. Not so good for a Buddhist really.:smack:

mmmm not god news there Martin. I did something similar, only thankfully I busted the plastic housing. Am much more careful now, I can really relate to the strong attachment to the device.

Just be really careful with it and always watch it - I did something similar with a cell phone and while it worked fine as a fix for oh, a good six months or more, the connectors kind of kept shifting about slightly and eventually one day it started smoking.

So I'd be really careful about leaving it unattended while it charges!

Thats what I am afraid of, smoke. I will be very careful and order a new travel hub as soon as I get back from holiday.

Oh, HappyMartin, this is bad but it could be even worse [for instance a broken screen]. It's a blessing in disguise. Just try to be a happy Martin, SICR.

Well its charging and working just fine so I am happy. Hope it doesn't give trouble before I get the chance to replace the travel hub. I never liked that thing and now i hate it.

Gack! I'm so glad it wasn't worse!

I did this once with a laptop and one of those silly PC card dongles for an ethernet interface. (This was before laptops routinely came with ethernet on board.) It worked, despite broken plastic and bent pins (carefully bent back into place) until the laptop was stolen about a year later. :( Just keep an eye on it, be very careful about moving it while it's plugged in, and replace the silly travel hub as soon as possible.

I, too, HATE the connector on the bottom of the iLiad. That's right up there with lack of sleep mode in design errors, to my mind.