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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December 9th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Hey i would sudjest taking the motherboard right out , to apply solder on both sides of the pin. Also you should be able to access it from just loosening a coulple screws at the bottom, then wedge it open to do the work. Bad advise but sure saves time. Just remember you need the solder on the otherside tight to the board too. Dont do the workaround yet try to solder both sides! i just let it drip on the pin then heat it tilll it runs to the board.
The board is sorta hard to get out i looked up the way to take it out.
For example my a70 motherboard came out dvd area first.
good luck
Mike
December 9th, 2006 at 6:44 am
Just wondering for the Toshiba Satellite A75 failed power jack workaround –
What kind of wire do you use for it?
December 4th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
I have a toshiba tecra 8200 and I have the motherboard disconnected. I can’t put it back together because I don’t know where the black and white wire I must have unsnapped from the motherboard go. Can anyone help? sprint cell phone 214-450-1444 Thank you
November 29th, 2006 at 12:42 am
Shiheng,
If I understand right, you don’t want to remove the system board and plan to solder the wires wile the power jack is still installed? I think there shouldn’t be any problem.
November 28th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Hey body ,
Ill explain in detail if needed. Take the battery out.
Loosen screws in main area of the power inlet. Get a hot nife going on the burner of the stove. Wedge it open with something enough to let the nife in. I would sudjest protecting the suroundings of the entrance with something.(tape) so it dont melt if accidently touched.Stick the plug in the jack and wiggle it while touching the positive with the hot nife. I use the nife because its skinny. This is easy and can be done quick
November 28th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
You can get the original connection to worlk again just as easy. I did it the redneck way and wedged it open with pens sticking a hot nife in the solder.wiggle the connection to the ac jack while heating for a good solid connection. I also didnt take it all apart i just took some screws out where the location is. So if you wanna do that every 3 months it takes 5 min. I recomend your cord because toshiba’s cord puts stress on it and the solder is like a liquid, the same way glass is. When the heat and the strain from that thick cord combine the connection is doomed. Also remember to vaccuum the dam thing every 3 months or it will really do weird things!!!!!
November 28th, 2006 at 8:27 am
Hi cj2600/Tony,
Can I just leave the old power jack there and use a new one and wires to follow the instruction to fix it ?
November 27th, 2006 at 10:53 am
LOOKING FOR A DC POWER JACK FOR A TOSHIBA PORTAGE R100 NOTEBOOK.CAN’T SEEM TO FIND A VENDOR THAT HAS THIS JACK IN THERE INVENTORY.PLEASE CAN YOU HELP.
November 26th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
thanks guys for helpping me with my problem like all of you hade. i guees were all in the same boat. thank you gret site.
November 11th, 2006 at 8:55 am
Hi i have a problem in Power Jack on my Toshiba Setellite A75-S206. Firstly i would like to know the part no. that power Jack.
and seconly i want to know some technics of soldering the power jack with motherboard. I am not professional with soldering if u tell me the processer i will thankful to you. like what kind of material i need for soldering and many more which u think it would be helpful for me to do this job.
Thanks Gurjinder Kang