Toshiba Satellite A75 failed power jack workaround
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.
Entry Filed under: Laptop Tips and Tricks
337 Responses to “Toshiba Satellite A75 failed power jack workaround”
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Pages: « 34 … 25 24 23 22 21 [20] 19 18 17 16 15 … 1 » Show All
May 20th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
I would like to suggest an improvement/tip to supplement the “work around” for the Toshiba Satellite A75 power jack repair. The workaround relocates the jack externally. When I did this, a short occurred between the metal casing on the top (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. Furthermore, I would like to sincerely thank you for such useful information. I couldn’t have done the repair without this.
Binney
May 20th, 2007 at 7:38 am
Do I have to remove the jack that’s on the motherboard before I add the wire to the external jack.
ie, will this work the same with or without the jack that’s on the motherboard???
May 20th, 2007 at 2:26 am
Robert,
Most likely all 4 negative holes are already connected on the motherboard, you can test it with a multimeter. In this case it will be enough to connect the wire just to one point.
May 18th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
I have a Sony Vaio PCG-Z1WA and it not getting any power at all, The adapter is new so thats not the problem, I think it’s the jack itself..This DC jack is not soldered at all. now I bought this laptop off ebay so I don’t know if everything intact but anyway the DC jack is connected to the board by alittle plug no solder at all..I’ve tried to look up info on this laptop, and there’s none…Just the basic manual at Sony.com…If there anyone out there that can help me out, with picture of what the laptop looks like on the inside, Just so I chould see if everything is hook up right..PLEASE HELP1!!
May 18th, 2007 at 11:53 am
I’ve got a similar problem on another laptop.. It has 4 holes for the negative connection and 1 hole for the postive.. do I need to connect all the negative points to the wire?
May 6th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
did you leave the old jack in?
April 23rd, 2007 at 12:52 am
Have done this mod myself, used a jack plug from a hardware store that was insulated as well as a small cover. Just had to check it was rated for the correct voltage and currrent. Thank you for this fix, it haas saved me a small fortune. Mr X
April 19th, 2007 at 6:00 am
In reply to problems listed under 188 and 189.
If you have soldered the DC jack in and your laptop and it still does not work then your problem is not the connection of the jack anymore. You’ll probably hear a beeping from your Power Supply Unit. If you run a continuity test across both poles of the the jack connected to the motherboard, you’ll note that your meter will read that it is a closed circuit. This means it is shorted out. Your problem now ,which is an easy fix, is to focus on the thin aluminum stamped sheet mounted to the bottom of the laptop case and in the upper bezel that you remove to access the mother board. That thin sheet has little leaf springs that contact many things including the motherboard, your DC jack (Be sure to check this point) and even to the RAM memory module replacement cover. You should dissassemble your laptop again and bend those leaf contact springs up so that they have positive firm contact with whatever they should be touching. On my laptop, I just bent them out in the direction that they were pointing a little bit more. This action assures complete contact allowing a circuit to be completed essentially telling the motherboard you are grounded so that there aren’t any shorts. Your beeping will stop and your computer should work fine with charging. When you last had taken your laptop apart, you probably accidentally bent those tabs so not all of them are contacting their appropiate locations.I’d like to not thank Toshibas shitty customer service that had me making a 55 minute drive to “recognized” repair facility only to be turned away for making mods to the jack after I had my jack fall off. So much for no questions asked. I I figured this problem out after I had taken it appart again and spotted that when I removed the jack,I had bent the little spring under it. I went over them all though and tweeked them just in case. My laptop is back in business. Good luck!
April 18th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Followup to comment 190: I was advised that the beeping is a signal that the adapter is bad. Tried a new one and that one, too, started beeping, so I returned it today. Guess I’ll try a local techie, tho not one in a big box store.
April 18th, 2007 at 4:23 am
Last comment 187. M35X-S109 back to authorized dealer for third time. Again replaced mother board and this time also face board. Looks like new computer. So far working great. Time to sell on e-bay !?