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.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
February 13th, 2008 at 5:57 am
Aaron C,
Sounds like overheating problem. Check out this post. Why my Toshiba laptop suddenly shuts down by itself without warning?
February 11th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Hi,
I have a A75-S206 and would like your opinion on what could be the possible problem. When it is connected to the power charger both lights on the front are green however after being in Windows for a short time the unit unexpectedly turns off. It is not being moved at all and just sitting in front of me on the table untouched. When the laptop turns off both lights on the front remain green. They do not flicker at all. Does this sound like the laptop is overheating and may need a heatsink cleanup or something else?
Aaron
February 4th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Hi
I have an ARM 3100C I am trying to repair for refugee family. It is an old P3 but will help them learn English. The dc power connector is broken but the mother board seems to have a connecter in the middle somewhere. I have all the edges free.
Do I have to remove the keyboard as well?
Jim
January 31st, 2008 at 8:51 pm
john gerbich,
In most Toshiba laptops the battery plugs directly into the motherboard. If you have a problem charging the battery and new battery didn’t resolve the issue, there is something wrong with the battery charging circuit on the motherboard. It means you’ll have to replace the motherboard.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:11 pm
jack fredrickson,
Yes, it’s possible that you have bad motherboard but first check the memory. Try reconnecting the memory module, move it in the empty slot. Test the laptop with a known good RAM.
January 30th, 2008 at 8:59 pm
My toshiba lsatalite battery just charges to 1 – 2% and computer dies out. Works with just the power cord if the battery is removed.
Tried a new battery. Orange light just flashes?
Any suggestions.
Liked your articles but didnt address my issue.
Thanks,
John
January 29th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
cj2600…
Man would you be able to tell me how to emply the power jack holes without damaging the board.
Thanks.
January 28th, 2008 at 9:58 am
searching for help have a toshiba m35x s329 start button light comes on shows all the lights on the front lit up battery charging but when you push the start it sounds like the fans runs but for a short time and will not boot up could this be a motherboard issue
January 27th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Pierce,
Yep, that’s the first thing to try if your touchpad doesn’t work after reassembly. On Toshiba laptops press Fn+F9 to enable/disable the touchpad.
January 26th, 2008 at 11:37 am
never mind, the client had the touchpad disabled