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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August 15th, 2007 at 5:45 am
I seem to be having the same problem with my A55. Do you think these plans will help with my model???
August 5th, 2007 at 10:44 pm
I have the same problem with my Toshiba A 70, first I had a sound problem, sometimes it play sometimes it doesn’t. Then I have power problem. When I switch on laptop it does not charge, when I switch off it charge but never full! Last week smoke came out of my keyboard and power jack. I think Toshiba should recall all A 70 laptops in the world and replace them. What do you think?
August 3rd, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I have a M65-S9092 and have experienced some of the power up problems in these posts. The first incident took place 8 months after my purchase. As instructed by Toshiba, I took it to an authorized service center and they concluded that the mother board was bad and replaced it. (Took a month to get the part) Then . .. 4 days out of warranty the same problem start again . . . power light comes on for a few seconds and nothing. Toshiba basically told me it was too bad since it was out of warranty and when I tried to log a complaint with the company, I was forwarded to a customer service line that never answered. This happened several times before I finally took it to a local service center. Interestingly enough . . . they are able to take it apart and remove the battery, reset the cpu . . . and it starts up and runs with no problems? They have not been able to determine what is putting the laptop into this state, but it has happened 3 times since May. So I am wondering if anyone else has figured it out yet.
August 3rd, 2007 at 11:10 am
I seem to be having the same problem with my Toshiba A30 laptop. When I plug in the adapter the LED on the the front of the laptop blinks or just shuts off after a few minutes. I have tried unsucessfully to take the laptop apart to see this dc jack. Can anyone direct me to a site where it gives me directions on how to take the laptop apart to change this jack or possibly solder the part..
July 31st, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Very helpful information. Thankyou all. A point that seems to be missed. The solid +ve pin connection is just asking for trouble since the forces from the plug are transferred directly to the solder connection. Solder is not meant for that. I have an A70 I need to repair and will be replacing the solid connection with small insulated flexible hookup wire. The socket casing may also disconnect but that is another and less likely problem.
July 24th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Megan,
Satellite A85 is a little bit different the Satellite A75. The power jack is attached to the motherboard via cables. I believe the jack comes with the motherboard and is not sold separately. Probably it’s possible to solder a power jack from another similar model but right now I cannot tell witch one you can use.
Are you sure this is a problem with the power jack itself? Maybe you have a damaged wire inside the power cord on the AC adapter?
You can find the laptop disassembly help at http://www.irisvista.com
July 24th, 2007 at 5:25 pm
Hi I am having the same problem with my A85 Satellite. Does anyone know where I can purchase a new DC Jack for this model? I have looked on ebay and to no avail.
Also, does anyone know if the A85 requires the same process as the A75 as far as fixing/replacing the DC jack?
Thanks in advance,
Megan
July 20th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Stop!!! If you have this problem with the DC Power outlet on your Satellite A75 there help.
Toshiba has extended the warranty on them till November 2007. If you have this problem you can call them and tell them that because of the class action suit that you warranty has been extended and you need a case number and the nearest repair shop that they recomend.Also check out these sites http://www.a70m30xsettlement.com/notice.pdf
http://www.a70m30xsettlement.com
Good luck
July 20th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
I can’t thank you guys enought for the info about the extended warrenty for the Toshiba Satellite A75 . I hand the DC power problem and was ready to start the repaire myself but with the extended warrenty I just called and they gave me a case number and I took it to repair shop that they recomended and I have it back and it’s working great. Best of all it didn’t cost me anything. They also fixed the short on the top of the laptop which is what the extended warrenty and classs action was about.
Thankyou Soooooooooooo Much!!
Suzie Humarock
July 18th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
I have changed and resoldered the jack, but the problem persist….what can I do now?