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.
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October 11th, 2006 at 12:02 pm
Victor,
To backup files from a laptop hard drive, you can buy an external USB enclosure for laptop drives. These enclosures are cheap; you can find one for about $10 on eBay or for $20-30 in any local computer store.
Remove the hard drive from the laptop and insert it inside the enclusure. After that you just connect the enclosure to a working computer and it will detect a new drive automatically. After the hard drive is detected, you can back up all needed data.
October 11th, 2006 at 3:33 am
Rika,
I tried that, it doesn’t work. The computer just powers off. Any other suggestions?
October 10th, 2006 at 4:28 pm
Need help
I have a toshiba M35x laptop , the problem is this
When i plug it in and pwr up it comes on for a second or so
you can here the fans spin up – then it just stops – but the power botton light is on and the led’s are on in the front of the laptop –
I have call customer support – but the laptop is out of warranty
, I have wiggled the pwr connector as stated in the posting here and everything is stable – no blinking lights
Do you think i could be a bad power supply? , if so can i replace it myself ?
Need some help
Thanks
October 10th, 2006 at 1:01 pm
just take off the battery. the problem with that, is when the cord is moved, the laptop will turn off
October 10th, 2006 at 11:45 am
Is there any way to bypass the battery and run stricly off the AC adaptor?
I have given up on this laptop and just want to transfer the files to another computer.
October 10th, 2006 at 9:05 am
I’m having trouble finding a technician that will do soldering work, is there another way to go about it? If someone knows of a techie that will do the work in Dublin, Ireland, let me know.
October 9th, 2006 at 12:27 pm
hi
i was wondering if you could help me i’m currently in the process of replacing the power jack in my advent 7081 laptop i am having trouble removing the keyboard to get into it any suggestions.
thanks
October 5th, 2006 at 8:13 pm
@Kevin
Yeah, I experienced the overheating problem as well. What I did was buy one of those cleaners in a can.. I don’t know what it’s called exactly.. but the ones that spray pressurized air. I clean my fans regularly, as the dust causes the overheating.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
I have a couple of these A75 machines. Erratic light flashes and clicking are both indicative of a loose power supply. Do not go out and buy a new power adapter. You will need to have a technician solder the jack.
Also notorious on the A75 machines is an overheating issue. This causes the computer to shut off without notice. Always leave a space for air to get to the fans if it is on your lap. If you are using it on a desk, invest the $30 to get a laptop stand. Go to keynamics.com to view some nice stands. These hold the laptop off the desk so more air can get to the fans. That will fix the problem for sure (I have the aviator stand).
October 2nd, 2006 at 3:45 pm
I have a Toshiba A75-S231 and I cannot charge the battery while the computer is on and it charges once the computer is shut down. I am hesitating to re-solder the jack since it is perfectly charging while the computer is off. (Sometimes it does charge even when the computer is on)