Toshiba Satellite M35X and Satellite A75 power jack and battery charge problem
A bad connection between DC-IN power jack on the system board and the system board is a very common problem with Toshiba Satellite M35X and Toshiba Satellite A70/A75 notebooks. If your laptop is out of warranty, then you can fix the problem by resoldering DC-IN jack on the system board. If it’s still under warranty, it would be fixed at no charge to you.
Problem symptoms:
- Laptop randomly shuts down without any warning.
- Power LED and battery charge LED start flickering when you wiggle the power cord or the AC adapter tip on the back or your laptop.
- The battery will not get charged.
- When you plug AC adapter, the laptop appears to be dead and there is no LED activity at all (DC-IN jack on the system board is broken).
To fix the problem, you have to take your laptop apart, remove the system board to resoleder or replace the DC-IN jack. Toshiba Satellite M35X and Toshiba Satellite A70/A75 disassembly guides will help you to remove the system board. Take a closer look at the power jack on the system board with a magnifying glass. In most cases you get the power problem because of a bad connection between the DC jack and the system board, you’ll see a crack between the DC jack connector and the system board.
Here is an example of Toshiba Satellite M35X power jack. The crack occurs between the DC jack pin and the system board.
In some cases the connection is good, but the DC jack is bad itself. You can find a new DC jack for Toshiba Satellite M35X and Toshiba Satellite A70/A75 laptops here. Search for DC jack M35X or DC jack A75.
How to resolder laptop power jack yourself.
UPDATE:
Sometimes, after you replace the jack, you can see that the system board doesn’t get power at all. The battery will not charge and the power LED will not light when you plug in the AC adapter. So, here’s a possible explanation.
When a connection between the positive pin and the motherboard breaks (cracks), the power jack gets loose. You can feel it when you plug in the adapter plug. A loose power jack can damage the trace inside the hole in the system board. Take a look at the picture.
As you see, the positive pin goes through the hole in the system board and you solder it on the top side. Right? What if the trace between the top side and the bottom side is broken somewhere inside the hole? I’ve seen it before a few times. In this case everything looks nice and clean on the top side. When you plug in the AC adapter, you get normal voltage readings between “+” and “-“ pins on the top side, but the power DOESN’T go to the motherboard at all, because there is no connection between the top and bottom sides. Test with a multimeter if there is a connection between the top and the bottom.
If the trace inside the hole is broken you still can fix it. You can run a wire to connect the top and the bottom sides. Be careful not to short something on the board.
Update:
Here’s another solution to fix the power jack problem, it shows how to relocate the power jack outside the laptop base. Check it out here: Toshiba Satellite A75 failed power jack workaround.
When you repair a loose power jack, it’s a good idea to check the jack on both sides of the motherboard. When you remove the top cover from a Toshiba Satellite A70/A75 laptop you can see only points where the jack is soldered to the motherboard as it shown on the second picture in this post, but you cannot see the jack itself as it shown on the first picture.
Removing the motherboard from Satellite A70/A75 laptop is a good idea because the jack itself might has a broken “+” pin, as it shown on the picture below. If the “+” broke off the base, you’ll have to replace the jack.
UPDATE:
Today I received another well written and well documented guide about fixing Toshiba Satellite M35X power connector issue. This guide was submitted by Stephen Macuch. Thank you Stephen for great pictures and detailed instructions.
If you are tired of fixing your laptop and want to sell it for parts you can do it here:
Any Notebook Part - free classifieds. Only laptop stuff.
Entry Filed under: Toshiba Laptop Problems
633 Responses to “Toshiba Satellite M35X and Satellite A75 power jack and battery charge problem”
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Pages: « 64 … 24 23 22 21 20 [19] 18 17 16 15 14 … 1 » Show All
October 2nd, 2006 at 2:25 pm
Thanks for the great website. I had a friend with this problem. I am Dell certified but did not have access to Toshiba manuals to do the disassembly. I had our Instrumentation guys resolder the connection and everything is fine now. Thanks for posting this material.
September 30th, 2006 at 6:44 pm
I have the same problem! I was told that this is the main problem with toshiba laptops. at first, my laptop shuts down without warning so im not sure if its the cooling fan or the battery or the hard drive. then somethings wrong with the power too when i plug in the powr cable (connected to wall and laptop) sometimes the light that indicates u have it on ac power comes on while the light for the battery doesnt come on so its not charging er
September 30th, 2006 at 4:12 pm
cj2600,
thanks for the reply. no, i don’t think it’s the fan, the sound only clicks when there’s erratic light flashing. also, i hear a clicking sound even if it’s turned off. after reading this text on the common failures of A75 laptops, i’m pretty sure it’s a jack problem. *sigh* good thing i haven’t bought the AC adapter yet.
September 30th, 2006 at 10:30 am
Rika,
Looks like a power jack issue to me.
Are these sounds coming from somewhere under the keyboard? I do not have a straight answer to this question. It could be a failing fan, a bad HDD, or something else. I cannot tell you until I hear the sound.
September 30th, 2006 at 8:24 am
i’m guessing this is the problem with my laptop.. only i’m not sure. i have a toshiba a75-s21, for a couple of months, i have been having problems with power. at first i thought it was only the ac adapter, (i was planning to buy a new one), i thought wiring was loose, so i fix the problem by repositioning the wires. recently, that quick fix doesn’t work anymore. what happens is, when i turn on the laptop, the battery doesn’t charge, but when i turn it off, it does charge. and also recently, the power light flashes, and i was hearing some clicking sounds where the dc jack is in.
i don’t know how to resolder or whatever, but i need confirmation if the problem is truly the dc jack connection, or only my ac adapter. if it’s the dc jack, i’ll be bringing it to the repair guys.
please reply. ^__^
September 29th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
Ok, I just submitted a question and resolved it finally…
If any of you replace the power connect on your A75 system board, make sure you didn’t pull the processor loose during your work. I just bought a new sytem board thinking I screwed the pooch when in fact I just lossened the processor by mistake. I reseated the processor and It works perfectly now. if your system powers up and the fans turn on, but you get no video and the thing won’t boot, open her back up and reseat the processor and relock the lock screw on it. This fixed my problem. I had no idea this was it and I replace the system board to resolve it.
Email me at mikevail AT netzero.net if I can help you. After tearing apart my Toshiba A75-S229, I’m now an expert! HAHAHA Take care!
September 25th, 2006 at 11:46 pm
I have old Toshiba T1900 laptop. Past month it has been difficult to turn on the laptop. DC led will appears when I connect adapter normally to the wall but when i try to powered the laptop on few led lights only flashes and dc led starts to flash. Computer won’t start unless I continue to powered it on few minutes it suddenly starts. Whats the problem?
September 20th, 2006 at 1:07 pm
Guys, I have Toshiba M35X-S309 and the power connector is so lose that I rarely get the battery charged. Also, the new problem now is that I am stareting to get a Blue Screen Errors–something to do with drivers.
Please help me with this. Looks like repair cost will exceed the laptop value.
- Pete
September 17th, 2006 at 5:13 pm
Bill,
No it shouldn’t. If the battery is charged and the AC power cuts off, the laptop should run on the battery power. Remove the battery and start the laptop from AC power without the battery installed. Does it still shut off when you move the power plug?
I would check if the power jack is soldered properly, AND the power jack itself is in good condition. May be it shorts something when you move it? Take a look at the “+” pin that connects to the back of the jack (right in the middle). Sometimes the problem with power still exists even after you resolder the jack because the “+” broke off the jack.
It doesn’t look like the power jack problem. With a bad jack, the laptop either shuts off completely (if there is no battery or if it’s completely discharged) or runs on the battery power (if the battery is charged). I think you that you might have another issue with the motherboard.
September 17th, 2006 at 10:44 am
Jon,
I just searched on eBay for “A60 motherboard” and found 3 different boards. One board is in working condition, so far it’s $40 including delivery, and 2 more motherboards for parts, starting $12. I guess you can use one to borrow R15, R16 and U4.
I don’t know values for this components, cannot help here.