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.
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November 3rd, 2006 at 8:38 pm
I just pulled my A75-S229 part & replaced the faulty power jack. After I reassembled the unit, the unit seems to be working on AC power & the battery seems to be charging, but the LEDs on the front do not light up at all & the touchpad is not working. Any ideas why? Any help would be greatly appreciated>
November 2nd, 2006 at 2:30 am
DEAR SIR, YOU ARE REALLY GREAT….. I SENT MY TOSHIBA A75 FOR REPAIR HAVINHG THE SAME DC JACK PROBLEM AND THE SAID U NEED A NEW BOARD FOR 475 STERLING POUNDS.. DO U BELIEVE???.. SO BETTR TO TROUGH IT AWAY AND BUY A NEW ONE. I WENT TO THIS MARVELOUS SITE YESTERDAY ONLY AND PRINTED OUT THE STEPS FOR DISASSEMBLY AND REPAIR.. I BOUGHT A SOLDER AND A GUN, AND A SCREW DRIVER ALL FOR 10 POUNDS.. AND HERE WE ARE.. IT IS BACK TO LIFE AGAIN AND SEND THE TOSHIBA CUSTOMER SERVICE TO HELL..
THANK U VERY MUCH AGAIN AND AGAIN
October 30th, 2006 at 5:26 am
Hi cj2600 thanks for your help. I have just come off the phone to the place that fixed the laptop for the faulty connection i had last time. When it was in with them they only repaired the DC jack socket on the motherboard, they said to bring it in and they will have another look and fit a new DC Jack connection. So hopefully this will be the cure of this terrbile P30. Ive still got 13 months left to pay on this machine so i wont give up hope on it just yet
thanks
will let you know the outcome once i have the laptop back from them
October 29th, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Andy,
It’s very hard to say what is going on with your laptop without looking at it. It might be a defective power jack, bad AC adapter, bad connection between the jack and the motherboard, or even bad motherboard.
To me it looks like the power jack problem or possibly the power supply fault but you said the jack has been repaired and the adapter was replaced, so I really have no answer. I don’t think that anybody can give you a straight answer without looking at the laptop.
October 27th, 2006 at 1:34 pm
Hi thanks for getting back to me,few more things which i aint added before, the ac adaptor i took into the shop was dead when they tested the voltage, they repaired the dc jack and did not replace it, the laptop now gets a great charge, no flickering etc but just cuts out at random times. When i discharge the battery and run from AC the laptop green light comes on and as the laptop boots up it stlll cuts out and turns itself off. when the laptop gets fully charged and all 3 green lights are on, a hissing noise from the adaptor starts and the battery lights goes off and 2 green lights stay on but then it wont run from ac adaptor , the battery just runs right down, u cant charge the laptop again untill u have switched the machine off. since my laptop went in they gave me another ac adaptor in case it was that, but stil getin this problem
October 27th, 2006 at 11:53 am
Andy,
You said:
Sounds like a loose power jack, but it also could be a loose wire inside the AC adapter cord. Did you leave the AC adapter in the repair shop too? Did they test the AC adapter plug for a loose wire?
Here’s what you can try. Remove the battery from the laptop and plug in the AC adapter. The power LED on the front should light up green. If it will non light up, wiggle the power cord/plug on the back of the laptop and see if the power LED on the front flickers. If the power LED flickers when you move the AC adapter plug/cord on the back, then it’s either the power jack issue (resolder or replace the jack) or the AC adapter has a loose wire inside (replace the adapter).
October 27th, 2006 at 5:49 am
Hi guys its been an entertaining read all this. My problem with my Toshiba P30- 141 is sending my hair gray. Usual DC jack problem where it had become loose. Took it in to shop and they fixed the Jack and it worked for about 2days. The laptop charges now and again but when plugged in to ac adaptor and switch it on the battery light goes off and it wont work from the ac adaptor. Battery runs dead in the end , constantly does it after about 20 tries the battery light will charge and it will stay on for a few hours. Spoke with the people who fixed the machine and they said that it is definatley not the DC jack as they repaired it and it is another issue ie the charging board on the laptop. i have also noticed the heat on the laptop goes very hot as i ran speed fan and it goes from 29c to 40c after an hour or so, they said all the fans where cleaned so i dont know why this thing is overheating so much. if anyone can shed any light on this that would be great. Thanks
October 27th, 2006 at 2:12 am
I have exactly the same problem, but with a Toshiba Satellite 1905-S301.
Has anyone seen a guide that shows how to get to the board of the 1905? The only guide I have found for the 1905 shows how to replace memory, which is way too easy.
Actually, after opening the cover for memory replacement, I can solder the bottom side of the board to the power module (with a long solder tip). I am unable to get to the other side of the board to solder the top side of the power module.
Thanks!
October 23rd, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Hi Mike,
That’s a good question and honestly I don’t know the answer. I asked the same question other technicians and didn’t get a straight answer.
I think yes, the laptop should work if you remove the onboard memory and install an external memory stick. But I’m not sure. I don’t know if the BIOS requires the onboard memory to be present in order to start up the laptop.
I’ll try it as soon as I can find an abandoned motherboard with failed onboard memory. Please let us know if it works for you.
October 23rd, 2006 at 6:24 pm
Ozzyyz,
I guess it could be a grounding issue. Remove the LCD panel and the top cover and start the laptop with an external monitor. If you still have the same issue with video, check if the motherboard is seated properly. Make sure that metal pieces located on the laptop base are not bent and not touching the motherboard. Check the top cover too.
Just recently I had a similar issue after I replaced the jack. The laptop had an intermittent boot up issues. After I removed the top cover I found that a metal piece located on the top cover was bent and touched the motherboard when I had my hands on the top cover.
Check the video cable connector on the motherboard. Make sure that the connector has no bent pins and the cable plugged in all the way down.