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(Update: anatomy of a disaster) What can happen when your USB cable is bad
Jul 25, 2025
Update, February 3:Benson Leungfollowed upon his Type C horror story with a more detailed explanation of what happened. Let it forever be a warning to those tempted by off-brand accessories.
Original post, January 2:What’s the worst that can happen if you get a bad cable? You might be thinking about crummy data transfer speeds or your battery charging at a crawl. That’s about what we thought before today, but product reviewerBenson Leunghad a far worse experience than this. He lost three devices to a bad cable, prompting him to give the product aone-star reviewon Amazon. In his words: “DANGER. PELIGRO. BAD CABLE. PLEASE DO NOT BUY THIS.”
The product isSurtech’s 3M USB A-to-C cable, and Leung’s initially run-of-the-mill review of the cable wound up slaughtering his 2015Chromebook Pixeland two USB PD analyzers. His very first interaction with this cable saw him connecting his Pixel to a 12W wall charger with power delivery sniffers buffering each connection for reviewing purposes.
As soon as he plugged in the cable, the sniffers failed immediately in what he describes as permanent damage. Even attempts to reflash the firmware were worthless. The sadder story here is the Pixel. Leung’s damage report and analysis reads thus:
Just goes to show the importance of making sure that your electronic appliances and products are up to code before using them on your devices. Special thanks to reviewers like Leung who put their hardware on the line to get us the best information possible.
What are your thoughts on this news? As of the time of posting, the product is still up for sale, and Leung’s review has received almost 1,000 positive responses. Let us know what you’re thinking in the comments below!
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