Today I received an email from Tony Sakariya (tsakariyaATyahooDOTcom) who was experiencing a problem with the power jack on his Toshiba Satellite A75 laptop. He’s been able to fix the problem by relocating the power jack outside the laptop case away from the system board.
I would like to share with others a tip for repairing their Toshiba A75 laptop for the DC Jack and battery charge problem.
I have a Toshiba A75-S209 for a year now. After the first 3 months it developed the exact same problem. Battery would not charge and I had to twist and turn the power jack to make the connection. Since it was in warranty, I returned it and they repaired and sent it back to me. The problem recurred again after about 4 months and I sent it again and they repaired it and worked fine for 5 more months and it failed. This is a design flaw with Toshiba. Now that I am out of warranty, I decided to repair it myself. Your guide for dismantling A75 was awesome. Thanks for the info. Now here is what I want to share with others. Resoldering the power jack with a new one does solve the problem for a while but it will reoccur. Hence I decided to bring out a wire with the Jack outside. Of course it looks dirty but it is a permanent solution. I am attaching the photo of the repair I did. I got the DC jack from ebay and insulated it with a electrical insulation tape. Now it is working fine, I do the connection and disconnection on the dangling power jack outside the laptop and hence no chance of breaking the soldering outside.
• Coil the pair of wire one round through the ventilation grill before taking it out as shown in the picture above. This is to prevent any external shock or force being directly transmitted to the soldering joints.
• Now we need to connect a new DC Jack to other end of the wire. I purchased the new DC jack from here for a price of $6. Shown in the picture above the white wire is the positive terminal (+) and hence must connect to the inner ring of the DC Jack. Similarly the blue wire being the negative terminal (-) should connect to the outer ring of the DC jack. Refer the picture below on how the wires are soldered to the DC Jack. Be careful not to short the leads as they are very close.
• Now neatly wind a round of insulation tape over the wire and especially on the exposed DC Jack exterior. This will prevent any short-circuit and also give a better appearance.
Toshiba Satellite A70/A75. Disassembly guide with pictures.
Valued Comments.
Submitted by Binney:
The workaround relocates the jack externally. When I did this, a short occurred between the metal casing on the top cover (the one removed with the guitar pick). This happens if the solder repair is too tall. I covered my repair with electrical insulation tape and that fixed the problem. It took me quite some time to figure out where the short was and would like to save others the headache.
Comments #282, 286 submitted by Jake and John:
Size N: DC Power Jack #274-1576 from radioshack works perfect and looks great. Costs $2.99, easier to solder, snugger fit, 5.5mm O.D. x 2.5mm I.D.
Here are some pictures of the end result of the repair with
the Radio Shack type jack. I added one of those quick release
key holder that I had lying around as a retention holder.Here is what it looks like unplugged: Power tip unplugged.
Here is what it looks like with the adapter plugged in and
the key holder reattached: Power tip plugged.
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March 1st, 2007 at 7:16 am
I’ve had the same problem with my DELL, but I can’t seem to pull the laptop apart, I’ve looked over the whole thing for hours and can’t seem to find any screws that I”ve missed. does anyone know if I’m just missing something important? I’d like to try to do the same thing that was done with the Toshiba, and has anyone had problems with their DELLS as well? I was unable to get their help for anything. I’m a little frustrated! ANY help would be appreciated
February 28th, 2007 at 3:01 pm
Why hasn’t this been a recall item? My connection also kept coming loose and not charging my battery. I even got a new battery. After all this running around, I found out it was the jack. Anyway, b/c I purchased the ext. warranty through Best Buy, they fixed the jack and replaced the fan. My notebook was also overheating and shutting down for no apparent reason. Now, it seems to be shocking my leg while wearing shorts. Ouch!!!!! Anyone else experience this???
February 28th, 2007 at 4:01 am
You are a genius! I have had my jack repaired 3 times now and I just know that it doesn’t matter what i do, it will just keep braking. I now know what I am going to do next time mine breaks. Thanks heaps!
February 26th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
Hi,
I have another SONY FX370 that the DC jack is broken. Like the post above me, i also need to twist and adjust the dc jack with my AC adapter to get power and then finally broke.
I am wondering if there is some demonstration of pics and explanation on SONY laptop, particualy FX370
February 25th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Paul Tang,
Its possible that you have a blown fuse somewhere on the motherboard but unfortunately I cannot help you in this case, I do not work on the component level. I don’t know any way to test the motherboard. If the laptop appears to be dead (no LED lights or other activity) with a good power supply, most likely it’s a motherboard problem.
February 22nd, 2007 at 3:05 am
DEAR SIR ,
I HAVE APROBLEM WHIT MY SCREEN TOSHIBA LAP TOP. I BOUGHT IT FROM 10 MONTHS I NEED NEW SCREEN .
WOULD YOU PLEASE SEND TO ME THE PRICE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. TANK YOU
I AM WAITING FOR YOUR ANSWER
February 20th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Hi cj2600,
Thanks for analysis the situation I had. I disassembled the whole M45 last night. Don’t know what to do next? If the motherboard goes bad, I assume there is no point to get a new OEM motherboard that costs $400 to $500 or more. But before jumping into this conclusion, Is there anyway to test the motherboard to confirm it good or bad? It sounds challenging to do so. Any help will be a great appreciation. Thanks again.
February 19th, 2007 at 10:40 pm
Paul Tang,
If you connect a known good AC adapter to the motherboard and it still appears to be dead then you have either a problem with the power jack or you have a bad motherboard. On a Toshiba Satellite M45 the power jack is located on a harness as it shown on the step 23 here, it’s not soldered directly to the motherboard.
I think that you have a problem with the motherboard because
1. the laptop just suddenly died at night, the power jack usually do not fail this way
2. you still have some charge left in the battery but the laptop will not start from it either
February 19th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
David,
Did you remove the CPU from the motherboard before taking it to the repair shop? If yes, then make sure the CPU is seated properly and it’s LOCKED in the socket. There is a screw-lock on the side of the CPU socket and it has two positions: “Open” and “Locked”. If you forget to lock up the CPU the laptop will not boot.
Make sure the RAM module is seated properly. Reseat the RAM module just in case.
February 18th, 2007 at 11:15 am
I had all the problems all at the same time too. Temp fix for overheating if you dont have time for disasembly. Go to the car wash and use the vaccum there to clean it. For the power cord , loosen the screws on that corner of the laptop. dont take it apart just take the screws out , wedge it open and with the power cord inserted heat the solder and wiggle it at the same time. this will temporary fix it . i didnt have a solder iron so i used a hot nife because it was thiner and less chance of melting the computer. but when u get the chance dismantle it and remove the ac inlet from the board and bend the pin up like this
http://img2.freeimagehosting.n.....764345.jpg
and finally solder it back to the board omiting the positive for the time. Get a wire and solder to the board where the pin usually goes, then solder to the erect pin :lp like it shows in the following pic. i drew the red line to represent the wire ok
http://img2.freeimagehosting.n.....1f577b.jpg
dont forget to glue it after for stiffness, the play is harmless now , but it is easier to sell if it isnt wiggly. Since the pin isnt in the board. Mine isnt glued i have no problems for the record.
Carefull not to heat the board too much also
good luck
Phatty