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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July 18th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
OK, here’s a way to make this resolder repair in 30 minutes without removing the motherboard or taking apart all the internals. It’s a less elegant finished product, but as you will see, it’s actually very simple, much less risky, and it should be possible for anyone who is reasonably skilled at using a Dremel tool to accomplish.
The approach is to create a removable access panel to the bottom section of the case. I used a Dremel tool with the speed reduced to about 30% max and a disk cutter approximately 1″ diameter.
With the case turned upside down, battery removed, computer powered down, I made one cut in the case just perpendicular to the bottom just to the right of the location of the screw on the bottom. (There is a circular plastic support leg on the case immediately to the right of this screw. Remove the screw and save it.) Continue the line of this cut on the bottom of the plastic case to slightly beyond the raised section of the bottom.
I mmade another cut parallel to this one on the other side of the DC plug at the point where the case indents next to the external VGA connector. Also continue the line of this cut on the bottom of the case to the corresponding point where the bottom of the case is raised.
Then parallel to the back of the case I made a cut that connects the prior to cuts.
As you make these cuts in the plastic case with the Dremel tool, be very careful and go slowly so you do not cut too deeply. You will see hint of metal when you have reached the proper depth of the cut. This metal is the metal shielding for the motherboard. You don’t want to cut through it, just up to it.
With these 3 cuts finished, you can insert a small jeweler’s type screwdriver at the 4th edge of the case, which is just below the LCD panel mount. You will find it easy to pry up the newly created “access panel”. If you want, you can completely remove it, or just swing it back. We’ll talk soon about how to re-assemble. First let’s next get to the repair.
With this portion of the case now removed you have clear access to the bottom of the circuit board where the DC plug is soldered to the board, except for the metal shielding. Use a small wire cutter to carefully cut into the shielding so you can swing it back to get to all of the solder lugs of the DC connector.
Now you can either re-solder the connector (which is what I did) or you can do as some have suggested (maybe even better) and solder wires to bring a new connector outside of the case. This is a matter of preference. The problem with this Toshiba design is that there is not a nice secure mechanical mount of the DC connector to the CASE. Each time you insert or remove the power connector, strain is placed on the lugs and circuit board. That’s why the external connector, though less elegant, is a better long-term repair. To add some mechanical strength, before I re-assembled my unit, I placed a few drops off Krazy Glue at the back end of the connector where it meets the circuit board. This adds some additional strength.
REASSEMBLY: The section of plastic that has been removed does not compromise the integrity of the case. You can put it back in place, use the single screw to re-attach it, and then, depending on your preference, re-seal the joints with some hot glue or similar sealant (silicone sealant also should work well.)
With this method of repair, you do not have to worry about breaking connectors or the host of other re-assembly issues that some have experienced.
July 8th, 2009 at 12:40 am
I have repaired the dc jack as instructed but after assembly my ether-net cart is not detected plz some one help me on this. where did a go wrong.
June 29th, 2009 at 7:32 pm
Each time I open my sony laptop, Explorer Outlook said its error, I click on Tools – click accounts – show mail, click properties, open Servers, in the Incoming mail needs to be “mail.copper.net but in it is Localhost=this is the one that don’t need it in. It keep doing this each time I open E.O. I’m tired of keep doing this all the time. How can I change the word so it won’t come back again? Its got to be some way to get to it somewhere. I think that is a program somewhere behind it in there. Please help me find it so I can change the word to mail.copper.net & not Localhost. Thanks.
June 10th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Hi. Thanks for these great instructions. My M30X was working fine, but charging inconsistently, so I replaced the power socket with the help of these instructions.
I feel like everything went fine, but…
When I plug in the power cord, both the green and orange lights come on like they are supposed to and they stay on. When I press the power key, all lights continue to work properly, and the fan turns on for about 5 seconds, all lights remain lit, but the computer doesn’t make another sound and nothing shows up on the screen.
It seems that I fixed the power connection problem fine, but caused some other issue. Does anyone have any thoughts on what could be going on. By the way, this also happens if I just try to turn the computer on with only the battery.
Thanks for any help.
June 7th, 2009 at 9:25 am
Steve Palmer,
1. It’s possible that your power AC adapter has a damaged cord. Maybe there is a short inside the cord and when you move it, you make is work again. It’s not likely but possible. Before you do anything with the laptop, I would suggest testing the AC adapter with a voltmeter as I described in this post: Laptop charges when I move power cord.
2. If the AC adapter works fine, most likely you have a problem with the power socket (DC-IN jack) in the laptop. Apparently the DC jack is not making good connection with the motherboard and has to be resoldered (or replaced if it’s broken).
I posted instructions here: Resoldering DC-IN power jack.
June 6th, 2009 at 12:16 am
When my Satelite 1905 is plugged in, usually the power supply light comes on as well as the power light, but the battery light only comes on for a moment. I have to jiggle it slightly to get the battery charging light to stay on. (which most of the time goes off within a minute) any ideas?
sometimes the power supply light goes off as well but most of the time it is just the battery recharge light.
Is this just a loose +pin or some other problem?
June 2nd, 2009 at 11:54 am
I have a Satellite x200 with what appears to be the same problem. Is this an inherent problem over a range of Toshiba models. I am trying to get Toshbia to come good for the repair as it started acting up a month before the end of the warranty then fail 7 weeks after the warranty. My daughter however didn’t take it in when the problem started and now the battle with Toshiba any suggestions to convince them to fix it under warranty as th eproblem started in the warranty period
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 am
I have an M35X-S109 and I am having a strange problem. My laptop shuts off randomly, as though it has simply lost power. It does not shut off before the OS is loaded, only after (usually within 5 minutes, but it varies every time). I ruled out problems due to overheating and memory. I noticed the laptop sometimes shuts off when I plug in or unplug the ac adapter. The battery charging light comes on when the ac adapter is plugged in, and I haven’t seen any evidence of a loose jack (the ac power light does not flicker at all when I plug it in). The laptop will start up and run on battery or ac power (or ac with no battery installed). The computer is 5 years old now, so it is possible the battery life is near its end. Any suggestions on how to fix a problem like this?
May 21st, 2009 at 12:06 pm
ghazanfar,
I think that your Toshiba Satellite M40X is very similar to Toshiba Satellite M35X. Search for a Satellite M35X socket, you’ll find plenty of them available.
May 21st, 2009 at 7:47 am
i have toshiba laptop and its power sockets is broken.i am very hard to find m40x power socket.can i use m40 power socket instead of m40x.or which one is similar to m40x