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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November 21st, 2006 at 7:36 pm
power jack problem happened on my M35X laptop. Followed these instructions, they are just absolutely wonderful … allow me to add that you will need thermal paste once you replace the CPU and video chip cover
November 21st, 2006 at 2:21 pm
SO YEA!
I had the dc jack problem and resolderd a new one on. I still have a black screen with no power indicaters. I dont know where to turn now. Please assist me.
November 21st, 2006 at 12:07 am
Greg,
Check if you have any memory module installed or if you have it installed, make sure it’s seated properly. I think that’s your problem.
Usually when Satellite M35X is screaming for help on startup and say BEEP-BEEP-BEEP it translates like PUT-SOME-RAM.
November 20th, 2006 at 9:43 am
Hello there,
I am working on my M35x-S249 Laptop yesterday because of the power jack issue (crack!!). I followed your instructions here in your website on how to disassemble my laptop. I got it all squared away and was able to solder and put the laptop back the way it was before. Unfortunately, after charging the battery and pressed power on my laptop, I heard a beeping noise (probably 3 times) and then it freeze. There is no power in the LCD but the LED light in the front shows it is on and also the power button is lit up. What do think happen?
November 15th, 2006 at 5:47 am
First of all – THANK YOU so much for the info on this site. I repaired the charging problem on my m35x by using the “workaround” and it has worked great for about a month now! I highly recommend doing the workaround since I attempted twice to replace/resolder the jack and it came loose again quickly each time, although the JB weld sounds like a good idea too.
I am still, however, having problems with this lemon I bought. It will freeze/lock up (regardless of whether or not I’m touching it) EVERY time unless I am either playing a DVD movie or have something plugged into a USB port. Yes, you heard correctly! It’s not horrible, I just keep a wireless mouse receiver constantly plugged into a USB port and it doesn’t ever freeze, except for on shutdown when it disables the USB device in the shutdown process, and it will freeze in that 2 second window before it actually shuts off. HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD OF SUCH A THING?? I have shown it to some smart computer people and they can’t explain it or have ever heard of it before.
On the bright side, Toshiba has apparently agreed to a settlement in the class action lawsuit granting us a 12 month warranty extention from 11/7/06 – 11/6/07 (WOO-HOO!). In case you haven’t heard, go to http://www.a70m30xsettlement.com for details. I want to bring it in now to see if someone can fix my freezing problem, but I’m wondering: 1) since I’ve been inside my computer messing around with the power jack, is this new warranty automatically void? 2) do we have to wait for the court to approve the settlement before the warranty can be used, or do we get that automatically regardless of the settlement outcome? That could take a while with all the appeals, and that 12 month period may be over before everything is settled. Please post your thoughts.
Thanks again for all the great info. Take care everyone.
Matt
November 14th, 2006 at 11:44 pm
I have an M35X-S349 and have had problem after problem regarding power. First of all, my actual power cord shorted out, and I had to buy a new one. Worked for a few months, and then I found the short in the old one, fixed it, worked good as new. Then, several months ago, the DC power port started to become loose, but since the computer stays mostly on a table top anyway, I didn’t think of it as any big deal.
Well, tonight was the last straw. I moved the computer, and it just shut off with no warning at all. Pulled out the power cord, and the tip was scalding hot, and the DC jack is rattling around aimlessly on the inside of my computer.
My question is, I have small re-soldering experience, and no experience at all in taking apart and repairing laptops. As a college student, I’m naturally tight on money, so I’m hoping I can do this myself. Is it really as easy as it seems to take these apart and fix them, or do I have to shell out the big bucks to get this thing working again? I don’t have a warranty anymore, the computer is almost 2 years old. Saving up for a new one as of now, but if it keeps breaking, it could be years before I can get rid of this nightmare of a notebook.
Thanks in advance you guys, you seem to really know your stuff, and I’m so glad to have found this.
November 8th, 2006 at 5:54 pm
I followed advise in this thread and re soldered the jack on my 1135. Also cleaned out the heat sink.
Now it is back togehter and it shuts off during boot up. I also have no led lights on at all. When once it got far enough to see the battery status it did say I had full battery and was on as charging.
I don’t know what to do.
Also, on the 1135 there are two wires coming out of the monitor in addition to the ribbon cable. I don’t think they were connected and I don’t see anywherre for them to go. The actually just hand in the memory compartment.
Any help appreciated.
Don
November 7th, 2006 at 12:58 am
Nym,
I would try it. You have nothing to loose.
November 6th, 2006 at 11:05 pm
Hi, I am repairing a Toshiba A75-S206 for a guy who is going to college & since he don’t $$ for a new one I told him I would try. The typical power jack problem except he got heavy handed & jerked so much that it shorted & smoked. With nothing to lose, I took a dremel & cut the burnt end of the board off. It was burned so bad that it was causing shorts between layers. Now I plan on connecting postive side of an external jack to the fuse & the neg. side to a ground. Of course the fuse doesn’t show an ohm reading to the battery. When I connect a battery I can get 19 volts on the copper layer that passes under the fuse which is one layer down. Since the motherboard is no good anyway, do you see any problem with running a jumper wire from this copper layer to the fuse so the power will be able to reach the battery? Thanks, Jim
November 5th, 2006 at 11:23 pm
No the JB weld will not conduct. It will keep the power jack from wiggling
loose which causes ther solder to crumble.Solder the jack back on and then
apply JB around it with a toothpick. It will never come loose.