I've got two metal ones too. I might try those.
Hell, if I break this thing, I've gotten five years and nearly three months out of it. So I've got nothing to lose by trying. If I mess something up, it'll force my cheap ass to go to AT&T and get a nice black 64GB SE 2.
UPDATE: Ken, you is the man. I put the metal one to it and some pretty sizable chunks of lint and crud were coming out. I went around until nothing was coming out. And I plugged my phone in 6 times, with no extra/special effort or contortions and I got the "beep" and the little lightning symbol immediately, all six times.
It's still an old phone with a severely depleted battery,
but, hopefully, just charging it won't be the hassle it's been these past several months.
Thank you!
Drew, do this.
