This email I received from one guy last evening. He had a problem with DC jack on his Toshiba Satellite 1900 laptop and fixed the problem by resoldering the DC jack on the system board. The problem is very similar to Toshiba Satellite M30X, M35X, A70 and A75 power jack issue.
I finally got around to using the guide you provided to try to solve the problem on my Satellite 1900.
The power plug kept not making contact somehow and ultimately it would shut down.
You would see in the Toshiba Power Management Utility in the Battery Power Meter, the charge bar would show “Online Discharging”, which doesn’t logically make any sense anyway.
If you wiggled the plug at the back of the laptop it might make a connection but could fail at any time with no warning if you weren’t paying close attention to the red/green charge light on the front edge of the laptop and discharge the battery.
I took it apart and discovered that the barrel power socket on the back of the unit that is soldered in to the motherboard had over the course of time worked the center post contact loose and pulled away from the solder.
There is no real anchor for the socket to the motherboard or anywhere else on the case plastic. The solder on the motherboard that holds the socket in place is very weak, there is not much there at all.
Over the course of normal use, and being a laptop people trip over the power cord from time to time adding to the stress of the almost non-existent solder.
All I did was to re-solder the damaged connection, and I beefed up all of the other three solder points on the motherboard as well to try to strengthen the contacts against failure in the future.
I have provided a picture that if you look very closely at the base of the pin as it goes through the circuit board there is a slight gap between the pin and the solder it used to be attached to.
I search all over the internet and the only resolution I could find for this problem was to have the motherboard replaced. It appears that is not the case. I repaired it 6 hours ago and it hasn’t failed since.
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March 20th, 2006 at 9:15 pm
Hello There,
Do you guys know were to buy used M35X-S149 other than ebay.
I need motherboard.
Thank you,
Al,
March 15th, 2006 at 1:12 pm
Hi Ernie,
Does you laptop lock up after you touch it? There is an issue with improperly grounded top cover. In this case the top cover should be replaced. Toshiba should replace it even if your laptop is not under warranty anymore. Just call to Toshiba.
You can find more information about the top cover issue on their website or just follow the link:
Satellite A70/A75 and M30X/M35X may lock up or reboot when touched
March 14th, 2006 at 6:25 pm
Hello,
I have a Toshiba Satellite M35X-S149, that locks-up after about 2-3 minutes after boot-up. Everything freezes and the ctrl-atl-del does nothing. What can be the problem? Thanks
Ernie Alvarez
March 14th, 2006 at 6:31 am
Hi, I have a Dell Latitude L400 laptop. However, it failed to start up. I plug in the AC adapter into it. I switched on the switch, the power LED blinks on and then off. After which I press the ‘Start’ button, but it fails to startup. I cannot even see any displays on the screen.
Could someone please help me? Thanks.
March 12th, 2006 at 3:52 pm
I just fixed my M35x-S149, unfortunately before I noticed this tip….I had the same sysmtoms described, and used the very helpful disassembly tips to get the system board out. I did not observe the +Volt post to have loosened from the system board but maybe I missed it. In any case my soulution was to epoxy a phoenix-type 2-pin connector on to the back of the unit and to solder a new +V wire to that post on the old connector and a -V wire onto a handy ground pad on the system board. Maybe heating up the post to solder to it was enough to fix it. It seems to be working fine now using my new connector system (which also comes out parallel to the system case rather than perpendicular so I’m hoping there will be less stress on the connector.) Good luck to all and thanks for the disassembly advice.
March 11th, 2006 at 9:47 am
Hi Lee,
This fix is not only for Toshiba laptops. You can have a similar problem on any laptop model, if the DC jack is a part of the system board. Yesterday I fixed it on Compaq Evo N610c. Make sure that it is actually the DC jack problem and your AC adapter plug is good.
March 11th, 2006 at 9:37 am
I have a compaq evo n1000c notebook that is in need of repair. The problem is that it will not hold power. I haveto wiggle the ac adapter to the dc jack. If I let it go the computer will cut off. I guess that I will have to replace the dc jack. In all of your above hints you only mention Toshiba. Do the same rules apply to any laptop or just Toshiba.
Thanks in advance.
March 10th, 2006 at 1:36 pm
Hey Rob,
If you do not plan to use the solder gun a lot, then buy something simple, not expensive with a small tip. Also I would use a flux filled solder instead of a regular solder. In our shop we use “Weller” solder guns. I do not solder a lot myself so I usually borrow this stuff from other technicians.
March 10th, 2006 at 1:20 pm
Thank you for the excellent research and information. I currently have the Satellite M35X-S149. The DC adapter actually broke off from being wiggled so much. This is the second time this has happened with this laptop. Toshiba replaced the motherboard once already but I’m 3 months over my 1 year warranty and they will not replace it for free this time around. I have no experience with soldering but I’m willing to give this a shot. I have disassembled the laptop and I’m ready to solder. Do you have any recommendations in regards to what kind of solder gun and or solder I should use on this motherboard. It seems as though Radio Shack has a plethora of guns and solder. Thank you, Rob
March 9th, 2006 at 5:02 pm
Hi Shelly,
If your DC jack is bad, it is not necessary to replace the entire system board. In most cases re-soldering the DC jack will fix the problem. Most companies replace the system board because they do not want to take a responsibility. It is much easier just to buy a new (I mean refurbished) system board from Toshiba and replace it. You can search on http://www.craigslist.org for somebody who is offering laptop repair services.