Hi, I've just "almost" successfully repaired my N900 broken microUSB, It was a real mess, I had only basic soldiering skills and had to learn a lot with this experience, I both soldiered the shield to the base and fixed it with epoxy and even used a Cyanoacrylate glue to fix it even more, when I knew it was "good"... It took about 2 weeks for me trying to soldier some micro wires I got from a cheap earphone, and also broke a soldiering iron bought specially for this by twisting the cable a lot so had to use an old less powerful one... the point is, accidentally I hit and detached a component, and I guess it's the one circled in this diagram... Now, anybody knows if such component is "essential" in someway to some function?
I have verified it actually charges without problems, but I don't want to blow my computer's USB if it is somehow needed for data access...

http://flic.kr/p/bnYEsb

Besides, I want to thank everybody in this thread who shared their knowledge and/or experience to help less skilled/experienced/ingenious people like me... :P