DC power jack repair guide. Do-it-yourself instructions.
This guide will explain how to repair a failed or loose DC power jack on a laptop computer yourself. Here’s my previous post related to DC power jack related issues.
Disclaimer: I’ve made these instructions only for people experienced with soldering and repairing computers. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this job, please do not open the laptop or you can permanently damage your computer. Take your laptop to a professional repair shop instead.
Use this repair guide at your own risk. 
First of all, you’ll have to disassemble your laptop and remove the motherboard. Here you’ll find disassembly instructions for some major laptop brands such as IBM, Dell, HP, Compaq, Toshiba. If your laptop is not on the list, you’ll have to figure out yourself how to take it apart.
For this repair you’ll need the following tools.
1. Soldering iron or soldering station. I use Weller WES51 soldering station and for this job I set temperature to about 800-850°F.
2. I use high-tech rosin core silver-bearing solder from Radioshack with diameter 0.022″ ( Catalog #: 64-013 ). I think standard rosin core solder will work just fine.
3. Desoldering pump for removing solder around component leads. I use Edsyn Soldapullt pump, model DS 017.
4. 99% isopropyl alcohol and tooth brash for cleaning the motherboard from flux.
5. A new DC power jack, you can find a cheap one here.
Laptop DC power jack repair guide.
As you see on the following picture, the solder drop on the positive terminal looks different than on other three contacts. That’s where the problem is. The positive pin is not making a good contact with the motherboard and because of that power to the laptop cuts off when I move the power plug inside the power jack.
I’m going to desolder the power jack from the motherboard, clean contacts on both power jack and motherboard and then solder it back in place - this is the proper way fixing the power problem.
Start desoldering process with adding some new fresh solder to all three contacts. This will make old solder more flowable, easier to remove.
While heating one of the contacts, remove the solder from this contact using the desoldering pump. Repeat the same steps with all power jack contacts until you remove as much solder as possible.
Grab the power jack and carefully try removing it from the motherboard. Most likely you will not be able to remove the power jack the first time because there will be some solder bridges left between the contacts and traces on the motherboard. Carefully wiggle the power jack without applying any significant force and at the same time heat up all contacts one by one. This will help you to remove the power jack.
The DC power jack is almost removed from the motherboard.
Be careful. Inside the positive hole there is a sleeve witch connects the terminal on one side of the motherboard with the traces on the other side. If you are removing the power jack with force, you can pull the sleeve from the hole. You don’t want to do that. So, do not apply any force and make sure the solder is melted when you are removing the power jack. I hope you understand what I’m talking about.
After the power jack is removed, clean all oxidized contacts with a knife.
Apply a fresh coat of solder to all contacts on the power jack.
The power jack terminals will look dirty because of melted flux.
You can remove the flux using the tooth brash and alcohol. It’s not necessary but it will make your job looking clean.
Apply a fresh coat of solder to all power jack terminals on both sides of the motherboard.
This side has been coated.
And this side has been coated too.
Now you can install the power jack back on the motherboard. Put something under power jack so there is no gap between the jack and the motherboard. Now you are ready to solder the jack back in place.
Solder all power jack pins.
The job is done and the laptop DC power jack is fixed. B-E-A-utiful!
Now just install the motherboard back into the laptop and you are done.
Entry Filed under: Laptop Tips and Tricks
December 6th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
[…] Instructions for replacing laptop power jack yourself […]
December 6th, 2007 at 10:15 pm
[…] How to resolder laptop power jack yourself. […]
December 10th, 2007 at 2:30 am
The dc jack area has broken 3 times (compac presario 2500). It is a fragile corner. Is there any ‘external physical support’ apparatus, that could suppot the area on the outside of the laptop, so that the area does not get so much pull/pressure on it?
December 10th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Thank you for putting this on the internet in such a well organized easy to follow format. You are the Greatest man alive.
December 11th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
[…] Repair Guy now has a great step by step guide (complete with many pictures) to repairing the power […]
December 24th, 2007 at 9:56 am
What an incredible site!
My son’s laptop has not worked for about a year.
While looking at it, and wiggling the power connector, I noticed the front lights flickering. Bad solder joint on the motherboard.
Using your directions, Toshiba A75-s226: I was able to take it apart, reflow the solder: made it slightly beefier, and repair it!
Good as new,
Thanks very much.
William Milkie
December 28th, 2007 at 1:24 pm
I replaced the jack on a Dell Inspiron 1150. The battery is not charging. If I start up the 1150 with the AC adapter plugged in, I get a message that the AC power adapter cannot be determined and gives me some setup options. If the adapter is not plugged in, the 1150 starts up okay. However, my battery is just about dead.
Any suggestions?
Thanks,
Jeff
December 29th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Jeff Finnan,
Did you check the AC adapter? Maybe the adapter is dead?
December 29th, 2007 at 4:04 am
The charger is relatively new; however, there were some problems with the cord for it. I have ordered a new cord for it and will wait until it arrives.
I will report back.
Thanks,
Jeff
December 29th, 2007 at 8:28 pm
You are exactly right-on. My old laptop has exactly this loose power connection problem. You’re da Man!
December 30th, 2007 at 11:29 am
I discovered that I had an extra tip for the adapter, IGO 130. When I connected the one I had on the adapter, it would shut off. With the new tip, the battery started charging. Something must have happened to the tip, with the jack started loosening. It is my daughter’s laptop, she was pushing the tip around to get some intermittent charging until it would go no more. Now with new jack and tip, all appears well.
Thanks,
Jeff
January 1st, 2008 at 7:13 pm
I have this power problem with my Toshiba Satellite P20 & will try to permanently repair my problem. My short term fix was to heat the power pin from the jack to the motherboard to repair the solder connection.
Now that I know how to take the laptop apart, I am going to attempt to replace the power pin with a piece of flexible wire so that the problem does not happen again.
I think the original cause was the flexing of the power pin & breaking away from the mother board when the power cord is flexing during usage.
January 4th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Will any alcohol work or do I need 99% isopropyl alcohol?
January 5th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
to Jeff Finnan about the Dell:
Some of Dell’s laptops look for a proprietary signal from the power supply sent through a 3rd pin. If they don’t see this signal, they will refuse to operate from AC power. This is to prevent you from using a 3rd party power supply, or one that isn’t matched to the current demands of that model notebook.
This 3rd wire is fragile and gets broken in the cable. This is most likely.
You could also have a problem at the jack which would be fixed by this guide. A 3rd possibility is that the PSU isn’t sending this signal anymore due to some internal failure - mine wouldn’t send when it was running off a battery back-up unit, for example, because it didn’t like the ‘dirty’ power input.
Contact Dell for a PSU swap.
January 8th, 2008 at 10:46 am
I had problems with my toshiba a75 s231. The battery would not charge and the power could not get to turn on my computer. Took it to a repair shop some 100 miles from my home and they told me that I would have to get a new mother board and other thing plus labor cost it would run around $650.00 to repair my computer. Then they told me that it would be better to just get a new computer instead of fixing it. I went back home thinking about buying a new one then I used my other computer to see if I could get help on the internet to fix it. After finding this sight I went to the store to buy me a soldering iron and took apart my computer for the first time. It wasn’t to hard and I got it fixed by my own hands and just paid $15.00 for the solder iron. Thanks for the step by step instructions I got my computer going and it feels realy good to know that their are people out there that can hep out and make a difference and save some major dollars. Mahalo nui loa, Thomas in Kona Hawaii
January 10th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I ws wounder if you new y after i fix the dc jack the lights come on but thay go right off and the computer dose not come on
January 15th, 2008 at 10:37 am
This is the most philanthropic site on the internet! I have been Googling for a site like this for hours for instructions to do it on my own and here it is! Thank you for your contributions to humanity and by undermining those swindlers who charge $280+ for this service. I am about to hit up Radio Shack to buy the supplies and do it on my own. I will update you on how it went! But one question that had been addressed before: is there an external physical apparatus that I can attach to the motherboard or jack that can provide extra support (i.e., to prevent this problem for ever occurring again?)
Thank you!
January 16th, 2008 at 3:12 am
Well I took apart my laptop and I need help with removing the power jack. I tried to desolder it using the iron and a desoldering band. The thing just won’t come out and the solder barely melts only at the exact point of contact. I’m using the generic $8 Radio Shack 15watt pencil solder. Any help is much appreciated.
January 18th, 2008 at 6:13 am
“Be careful. Inside the positive hole there is a sleeve witch connects the terminal on one side of the motherboard with the traces on the other side. If you are removing the power jack with force, you can pull the sleeve from the hole”
Is there a fix if you remove the sleve also?
January 18th, 2008 at 8:42 am
interhan,
I’m not sure if you can provide any extra support for the power jack soldered on the motherboard beside gluing it to the motherboard with epoxy, but it’s possible to relocate the power jack outside the laptop case. It doesn’t look sexy but it works.
January 18th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Harlan,
You still can solder the power jack on one of the sides, right?
If traces on both sides of the motherboard has to be connected to each other, you can connect the with a pice of wire as it shown here.
Also, take a look at the power jack workaround guide.
January 18th, 2008 at 10:54 am
cj2600,
Thanks for the help and the link
January 18th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Great tutorial. I have had this problem on my toshiba m35x with battery not charging/DC jack loose contact for a long time and couple of days back it stopped charging completely, leading me to this site. I am a complete newbie wrt soldering and stuff, but I went ahead and bought all the equpiments suggested here for under 20 pounds, and it took me about six hours to dissemble the laptop again following the tutorial here, fix the soldering and put it back together. Needless to say it worked!!! Btw few variations between the instructions here and what I did
1. Didnt remove the modem card
2. Didnt remove the CPU
3. Didnt the remove the JACK completely - actually I tried but it was kind of stuck. So I just applied fresh solder on top of it.
Thanks again for putting together this tutorial. Great work!
January 18th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
im trying to do this and it is going well so far, but two screws on the base will NOT come out. my hands are bruised from applying so much vertical pressure to my screwdrivers. the screwdrivers are now all stripped. how the hell can i get these two things out?
January 19th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I’m about to start my third “repair effort” on my Toshiba. Couldn’t remove an F8 screw last time - had to drill into it with a small bit about the diameter of the screw threads - the screw head popped off and ran up the bit - later I was able to back the rest of the screw out of the base with needlenose pliers - I’ll replace the screw if I can get the Toshiba working. Other wise I’ll sell the whole mess cheap!
January 21st, 2008 at 4:11 pm
I have removed the power jack from the mother board successfully. I have a huge problem now……..The three holes are now filled with solder and I am having a hard time clearing them. I have tried using “wick” and I have also tried a solder pump, neither have been successful.
Does anyone have an idea as to how I can clear those holes so that I can reinsert a power jack? PLEASE help…….this site has been a life saver. Couln’t have gotten this far without it!!
January 21st, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Brad,
Add some fresh solder into all three holes. Do not try installing the power jack at this time, just add some solder so the hole is filled up with the solder. Now melt the solder with the soldering gun and remove it with the pump.
Repeat the same process again: add solder - melt it - remove with the pump. Do it until the hole is clean. You have to repeat the same process a few times in a row for each hole. It’s very hard to clean the hole on the first try.
Usually I add/remove solder about 5-8 times until the hole gets clean.
January 21st, 2008 at 7:36 pm
cj2600,
Thanks for the quick reply! Can you please explain how adding more will clear out the holes? It seems as though each time I add, I am only picking up what I have added each time.
Do you think getting a smaller tip for my solder will hel with getting the excess that has filled the holes? Thanks……..looking forward to your help again.
January 24th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
I have the same problem. My holes are all blocked with Solder. I tried adding more Solder but didn’t work that well. Can somebody guide me and Brad in right direction…..Much appreciated.
January 28th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
i tried using a toothpick and it got most of the solder away and made sure that the toothpick could go through the hole. you might have to wither the toothpick a little so it opens up the hole while heating it up. once the solder gets soft the toothpick should be able to poke through the hole
January 29th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Does anyone have reviews of repair sites for the dc plug. I’m just going to send mine in to have it fixed.
January 30th, 2008 at 4:47 am
I’m having similar problems with my Compaq Presario M2000 notebook too. I had to wiggle the adapter to the power connector of the notebook or my laptop battery won’t charge and won’t turn on if it doesnt have it’s battery on. That metal thing which I plug into the DC gets extremely hot very quickly in matter of minutes also.
I’ve been looking for information on how to dismantle my notebook to get access to the DC power jack but looks like there’s too much risk involved. Too many screws to look out for and thin wires in the way. Almost made me feel like Im defusing a bomb or something. Im a college student living on college budget and couldn’t afford to buy a new laptop and the warranty is already up. I bought the laptop only 2 years ago.
I would really really appreciate it if anybody could give me a guide on how to dismantle my laptop and get access to the DC power jack. I’s gonna cost me $120 if I were to send it to the shop to repair. My email address is hafiz_felix2000@yahoo.com or Instant Message me at hafiz_alone2006@hotmail.com
It’s hard to go to sleep without knowing what’s to come.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I see a lot of guys in over their heads here.
Guys, like said in the article, don’t do this if you’re not familiar with soldering techniques.
Pick up your phone book and find a local computer shop (NOT a box store, but a shop that does real repairs). Ask them if they do DC jack replacements. If they say “huh?”, hang up and call the next guy, until someone knows exactly what you’re talking about. Plan to pay $75-175. It’s a 2-3 hour job on most models.
January 31st, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Nur Hafiz,
Here you’ll find links to HP/Compaq maintenance manuals. Find your laptop and download the maintenance and service guide, you’ll find step-by-step disassembly instructions in there.
February 3rd, 2008 at 4:16 pm
I would like to say thank you for this guide. Before I found this I was about to give up completely.
you see, recently, the power pin connector bent backwards inside my laptop and I had to leave the ac adaptor plugged in all the time to prevent the module from bending back in from re connecting the adaptor. Even more recently, the adaptor was knocked loose on the corner of the desk and the power pin broke completely. since I have had no experience replacing parts in the past, I tried looking for replacement motherboards, or alternate ways to power the laptop, but that didnt work out well.
The laptop, by the way, is an HP Pavilion ze4240
now I just need to collect the rest of the materials and a new power jack and I’ll be set. thanks again
February 5th, 2008 at 2:32 pm
Greetings from Scottsbluff, Nebraska …. Thank you for this wonderful advice and instruction. Harry
February 6th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
thanks for this write up. I sought out a repair shop, but the ones that I called said they would not do it and referred me back to dell. they were lookin to charge around $200 bucks for the repair. I only bought the machine for $350 so it didnt seem worth it. This guide provided the extra look that I needed to do the repairs. thanks
February 9th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Thank you for the tutorial. My gf’s HP notebook wasn’t working anymore and the little power symbol would only briefly flash when you stuck the jack in. I researched and assumed it was the same common problem and came across this site.
Taking apart the notebook was a bit of a hassle though I got it all apart, bought a solder iron and solder and a magnifying glass and seen that the back pin wasn’t making a good connection with the motherboard. I tried to solder it and then solder sucker it off, but that was futile. Also since I have never soldered before it was a little harder then I thought though I suppose a smaller tip would have made it easier. So I just put fresh solder all around the connectors, used some epoxy to hold the jack on a little better and put the notebook back together.
Everything is working great, and I saved $175 which the local shop quoted me. And best of all, my GF leaves my computer alone now!!!
February 9th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
This is a very good right up, nice clean pics to boot.
Hi, one thing that some of you may find a little more useful is a de-soldering iron like in the link. I’ve found that between this and the regular soldering iron much easier to use than a de-soldering tool like in the guide.
However, if anyone is interested, I own a shop call The Computer Doctor of Richmond and this is one of the most common repairs we do. We are a very very reasonable in our pricing. See our site for more information. www.TheCompu-Doctor.com
February 10th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Tried this on my A70 and it worked! The disassembly guide is very accurate! Thanks and more power.
February 12th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Hi,
I had the dreaded intermittent DC connection with an old Tosh Tecra 8100. Seemed a lot of hassle to strip it down completely so I very very carefully “dremeled” or milled a 1/4 inch rectangle of fthe bottom of the case where I reckoned the positive pin solder point to the PCB would be. Sure enough, exercising the connector had caused the usual, the soldered joint had failed. Remade joint thru the created hole. Then covered up hole with tape. I could glue something more substantial on but it is fine as it is. All working now for bout 10 minutes effort
cheers
Peter (UK)
February 14th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
[…] with the power connector on your laptop and want to know how to fix it yourself? This step-by-step power connector replacement guide will be very helpful for you. The guide will explain how to resolder a loose power connector or […]
February 16th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Thankyou so much …You made it so easy… I saved $$ ….really appreciate it… keep up the good work… now my laptop is up n running better then ever. Thanks Again.
February 23rd, 2008 at 8:24 am
hi,
thnaks for this guide
but i’m having a serious problem after adding some solder to dc jack contacts . in facts i fixed power problem (battery charges normally but laptop in no longer booting
we could hear fans but nothing after black screen.
surely is not screen problem i noticed it’s ok when i increase brightness.
i’ve tried also by removing one of memories but nothing.
i’m sure that i’ve damaged Nothing in the mother…
could you nhelp me please.
ps: my pc is toshiba satellite p20 s103
February 25th, 2008 at 12:24 am
I’ve got a Toshiba Satellite A35 series laptop that needs a new USB port (one of the two ports broke). Do you have soldering and replacement instructions for this component? Thanks.
February 25th, 2008 at 5:23 am
Do you have to go through all 25 step of disassembly to perform the power plug replacement? Thanks in advance for your help.
K
February 26th, 2008 at 10:13 pm
o dear pitty thank you its actually functining now (although i may have killed my internet card in the process….) thanks though !
February 29th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Just can’t thank you enough for the beautifully lain out guide. I actually received a Toshiba Sattelite as a “hey if you can fix it it’s yours” type deal. Lucky for me I found your guide first!
Thanks again,
C Tobin (USA)
March 6th, 2008 at 8:24 pm
[…] and replacing the power jack. By the way, if the power jack is loose you can use this tutorial for resoldering the jack yourself. The second source offers basically the same laptop disassembly guide but with better […]
March 7th, 2008 at 10:49 pm
When I plug my power adapter in, the light on the front of the laptop comes on for a second then shuts off. It will keep doing that if I pull it in then out. Is that most likely a bad connection with the power jack? or something else? Thanks a lot.
March 8th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Rob,
1. Can be bad power adapter. Test the laptop with another good adapter.
2. Can be loose power jack.
3. If not 1 & 2 then could be bad motherboard.
March 9th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
This is exactly what I have been looking for. The problem with the laptop I have is the middle pin broke out of the DC connector. I see there is a work around to remote the connector but do you know where I could get a replacement connector that I could solder to the motherboard?
March 10th, 2008 at 11:23 am
I tried a brand new power adapter. I’m going to see if I can resolder the power jack now. I hope it’s not a bad motherboard, it’s probably not even worth buying a new motherboard with laptop prices going down so much. Thanks for your help.
March 10th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
I’m in the process of resoldering the power jack. Is there any way to test if it is powering the motherboard without putting the whole laptop back together first? I have a volt tester if that helps. Thanks.
March 10th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I am trying to resolder the power jack to the motherboard on a Vaio PCG-GX600 notebook. Only one little problem - I’ve removed every screw I could find on the exterior of the case, but still can not open the notebook to access the motherboard. What am I missing here??!! Toward the front of the notebook, it is reasonably loose (I could separate the top and bottom halves of the case without too much problem), but the back halves of the case are firmly sealed. Yet I can’t find anything else to unscrew to loosen that area.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Bob,
It depends on the model of your laptop but most likely you can find it cheap here.
March 12th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Rob,
Yes, all you need is three main parts: motherboard, CPU and memory. If the power button is located on a separate board, then you’ll have to connect this board too.
Assemble everything on your desk, connect an external monitor, plug in the power adapter and turn on the laptop. If everything is OK, it will start and you should get video on the monitor.
March 12th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Greg Ritsul,
I tried to google for PCG-GX600 and the only one site pops up, it’s my site with your comment.
Are you sure PCG-GX600 is correct model?
I posted links to some Sony Vaio manuals (including disassembly instructions) here. It’s possible that you can find model similar to your Sony.
March 13th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
You are an absolutely fantastic human being! I’ll be using this over the weekend to try and repair my sad little Dell Inspiron 2200. Thank you thank you THANK YOU!
March 13th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
Nice tutorial, great pictures and instructions. Will bookmark, and use when needed!
March 15th, 2008 at 2:54 am
Hi there, thanks for the advice. I took the lazy way, cleaned up all four solder points with a screw driver. Soldered all joints and bingo all working 100%, pity I bought a battery and adapter first. Great site.
March 15th, 2008 at 7:10 am
nice gonna go buy a soldering iron now for £5 :D, hope it works well as nothing will oot on my computer ^^
March 15th, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Many thanks for the very clear and detailed instructions. Without them, I could not even have disassembled this overgrown calculator!
One question - is there any other source for the part other than ebay?
Best regards,
Ron
March 15th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Ron,
First of all thank you for your generous donation to Irisvista.com
You can buy a new power jack from this site.
I bough a few jacks from them and I have no complains. I usually place order over the phone.
March 16th, 2008 at 11:42 am
if this doesnt work, what else should i replace/repair to see if i can power up these two freebie laptops i have?
Toshiba Satellite A75-s206
March 16th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Randy,
Why did you replace the power jack in the first place? Did power LED flicker when if you wiggle the power plug or what?
March 17th, 2008 at 3:09 pm
yes, but nothing else.
I am going to find some new plug replacements and try again though, waiting for the mail man so to speak.
I got a slight orange blip of LCD light, then a red flashing one, then nothing.
March 20th, 2008 at 3:27 am
Looking at this tutorial, it gave me an idea, i have soldered on at least 4 power jacks to my laptop(presario 2500), so i totallly dismalted it, took ou the old jack, and replaced it with wires heading directly to the power suppoly, because im not using this laptop for the batter functionality anymore, becuase 10 min doesnt get you far if u know what i mean, i just used a cheap 30 watt harbor freigh soldering iron, and the whole “repair” went smoothly. It took me a little over an hour to do it, but then again, this thing has been apart 7 times now.
March 21st, 2008 at 6:50 am
Hi,
Great tutorial…definatly gave me some confidence boost :P. The laptop i want to repair is a really good one and i realise that if i don’t repair it, it will cost a bobm to get it proffesionally repaired, yed? So all im stuck on now is how to correctly dissassemble the case and also how to correctly SOLDER! Does anyone have a link to a useful website about these two problems (no offence). Ok thanks alot anyway,
Luke.
March 21st, 2008 at 10:44 pm
Luke,
I posted links to some service manuals here. You may find your laptop in there.
You cannot learn it from books. Only if you practice.
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:33 pm
Thanks for the pictures!! It helped out a lot.
March 28th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
Hi am in the process of doing this with my presario 2500. I was unable to cleanly get the power jack off so there are still pieces of metal in the holes in the motherboard. I was wondering if you had any suggestion as to getting this metal out? My new power jack is coming in the mail soon so if anyone has any suggestions.
email me at cbutterfi@comcast.net
April 1st, 2008 at 4:35 am
Hi there,
I have a Toshiba satellite P20 laptop that while working well for five years, after a few weeks of disorders in time and date, now it is completely blank (BIOS is not running). It seems that its RTC battery is dead now. Thanks to http://www.irisvista.com, I’ve already take out mother board but couldn’t find and recognize RTC battery or anything like it on the board and aroud. Could anyone help me with location of the CMOS RTC backup battery.
Thanks in advance
April 12th, 2008 at 4:24 am
Thanks for the pictrorial instructions they have helped me tremendously. I must say though, removing the old jack and cleaning the terminals is a lot more difficult for the unskilled than you make out, especially the positive post (or the one furthest from the edge) there is very little solder to anchor to. Nonetheless, I am thankful for your instructions.
I just hope I can put all the straps and screws in the right places. No doubt I’ll have one or two over.
April 23rd, 2008 at 5:33 am
Hi,
I have an ASUS notebook with the following problem:
The notebook only works with battery power.
As soon as I turn ON the notebook, and the external power is connected, the notebook switch automatically over to battery power. It does not work anymore with external power. I cannot use the notebook with external power anymore.
The problem appeared when an other external power supply adapter (not from asus) was connected. The polarity os this power adapter was inverted, so something inside burned out.
Does anyone have an idea what could be damaged in the power circuit line?
Thanks a lot
April 23rd, 2008 at 10:06 pm
jose,
did you test the power adapter? Maybe this adapter is bad? You can test it with a voltmeter, make sure it outputs correct voltage.
Also, make sure your new adapter matches laptop requirements. The adapter must output the same voltage. Amperage on the adapter can be the same or higher.
April 24th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I did this over the weekend, and the jack is coming loose again. I admit, I didn’t try to work solder onto each side of the holes, afraid of plugging them as others have mentioned. But, it’s already coming loose again. There doesn’t seem to be enough for the solder to grab onto to make a strong mechanical connection. I’m considering super glue for the mechanical hold, and soldering for the electrical connect. Anyone have better ideas or comments?
April 25th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Follow-up. Cleaned up the board, burnished the contacts on the port, and drew solder down them so that it looked like they were twice as long as they were. I smeard the bottom of the port with 2-stage epoxy, put it in place, and clamped it in place with a spring clothespin. After it had cured an hour, I hit the solder on the contacts with my soldering iron, so that it melted down and formed a good contact. Using a toothpick, I worked a little more epoxy around the front edge, and not the whole thing is set up like a rock!
May 3rd, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Hi. How do you know when you have to replace the DC jack or not. The center pin which goes inside the jack is a little loose I can feel it a bit. Should it be replaced or is this normal? This is the second time I tried to fix this. I admit I did not take out the jack the first time but just took off the old solder and put new on. It worked for awhile but then got loose again. I didn’t see my power lite come on at all just the battery and the ‘on’ lite. Why is that? Should I be using some sort of glue as well. I noticed that there was some on it.
May 19th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
I have a compaq presario R3000 and have a power jack issue and it seems that it just becomes unsoldered everytime i repair it although i’ve never cleaned the surface after removing the jack. Coul that be why or is there another explanation for my problem? Please let me know some ways to PERMENETLY fix my problem.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Josh,
That could be your problem.
In order to fix the power jack correctly, you’ll have to:
1. Remove the power jack and clean contacts on the jack. Apply some fresh solder on contacts.
2. Clean up contacts on the motherboard and apply some fresh solder on them too.
3. Solder the power jack back on the motherboard.
May 21st, 2008 at 5:46 am
Hey guys, I too am having difficulties removing the DC jack from my Dell D600. The jack itself looks like ti has 4 prongs that are affixed to the motherboard via glue and 5 points that are soldered in.
Picture - http://images.marketworks.com/hi/72/72457/dellside2.jpg
My question is what is the best way to remove a jack that is glued and soldered in? I don’t want to apply too much pressure to damage the motherboard.
May 21st, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Nevermind i got it
May 27th, 2008 at 5:04 am
hi, ref. DC Power jack.
when you move power cable, the power cuts out,
should the battery not kep pc running?
my laptop dont power up at all, but the blue power light on the front flahes 2 times,
so i am not sure if this is my problem
( HP Pavillion ze4800)
any other ideas?
May 28th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Thanks for your steps. But I ran into a problem trying to coat the holes for the jack on both sides of the board. One of the holes got blocked with solder. How can I recover the hole? One of the pins of the jack need to go in there. Thanks
May 28th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
George,
Apply some fresh solder on the hole, heat it up with the soldering gun and suck out the solder with the sucker.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Hi, I have Toshiba Satellite M35X laptop. I replaced the dc power jack as described in your instructions. Everything worked fine. The power works now. The problem is I see nothing on the screen. It’s black. I put everything back the way I took it apart. Can you tell me what I did wrong and why I can not longer view anything on the screen. Thank you for this site and your help.
Warmest regards, John Richard
May 30th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Fantastic walk through! I used this for my HP ZD7000. Ordered a 10$ DC plug from a guy on e-bay. Don’t get ripped off by going after the 25-30$ parts. Took my time working my way around the connectors desoldered the old one. Drank a beer to calm my nerves and continued on. Cleaned it up and put the new one on. Good as new. Only thing… I have about 50 screws left over. You think they really need this many fasteners to hold together a 8lb piece of plastic ;-)? Many thanks and again great walkthrough!
May 31st, 2008 at 2:56 pm
John Richard,
Did you test the laptop with an external monitor? If you have no video on both internal and external screens, make sure the memory module is seated correctly.
If external monitor works fine but you have no video on the internal LCD, check the video cable connection on the motherboard, make sure the cable is properly connected to the motherboard.
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
worked perfectly, thank you so much.
i originally thought this wouldnt fix the problem i had (having to hold the power cord in to charge the laptop) because on the outside the jack didnt seem to have any damage. im pretty used to soldering componants, usually much smaller than this, even though ive never worked on laptops before, so i figured the worst that could happen is i unnesessarily clean up a connection, so i went ahead and did it.
well it ended up being the problem, and this fixed it. once i opened up the laptop i found the jack itself had melted all over the place, and onto the contacts, so it was def in need of changing. the 4 prongs seemed to be making contact, but i guess the oxidation and melted crap was deterring them from being very good conductors.
June 3rd, 2008 at 9:04 pm
hi, is there any way to remove the solder from the mother board without a pump, as i don’t have a pump. 3 2 of the four holes are blocked and i need to put the new DC power jack onto the motherboard? Any suggestions?
June 6th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Hey, I found your “how to” instructions very useful several times- yes, I was a sucker for buying a toshiba a75. Now I have a related problem- the little black resister? next to the dc jack- labeled CH4h SS14 — it has poped/overloaded– I’ve called around and even taken it into Computek- Springfield– and no one seems to be able to
help me– surface soldier a new one in place– and I’d like to try it myself- but I need to find the component- would you know where I could find this part? And how difficult would it be to replace it? It appears to bridge over to the chassis ground?
June 6th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
headborg,
Sorry, cannot help you with that one. All my soldering knowledge is limited to power jack replacement.
June 14th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
[…] If nothing helps and the laptop is still dead, apparently the motherboard is fried or there is a problem with the DC power jack. It’s possible the DC power jack is broken and the motherboard is not getting any power from the adapter. In this case you’ll have to disassemble the laptop and replace the power jack. Check out this guide for fixing laptop power jack. […]
June 21st, 2008 at 9:18 am
Have compaq presario 1610. A tech who tried to fix it says dc adapter pulled away from traces and can’t be fixed. Maybe a dongle can be added further down the line as a work around. Anyway, need help finding dissassembly instructions. Tried your link but it takes me to a maintenence manual that is about cleaning, travel packing, but no dissasembly instructions. Thanks
June 21st, 2008 at 9:46 am
Bruce,
Not all HP manuals have laptop disassembly instructions, I believe only newer models have it.
June 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 pm
how do i check if the mother board is fried or if the jack is fried???
June 24th, 2008 at 9:11 am
John,
Solder wick. Its copper colored, sometimes its called solder braid. Comes in a roll and is fairly cheap.
Headborg, check out Fry’s. Its an electronics store, to get a cross reference you might try a company called haystack.
Brian, you should be able to check continuity through the input jack that connects to the mobo.. Most voltmeters have this function available.
June 24th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Brian,
1. Test the power supply itself. Make sure the power supply is not dead and outputs correct voltage.
2. Take a closer look at the power jack. If solder joints have no cracks, the power jack is in a good shape but the laptop is completely dead, most likely it’s bad motherboard.
As Chris mentioned in the comment 98, you can check continuity with a voltmeter. If the motherboard receives correct voltage from the power supply, but there are no signs of life, apparently you have a bad board.
June 25th, 2008 at 12:36 am
My A60 does not power p at all so i will try this method
as all that happens when i conect the power pack the pack starts to make this squeeking sound so im asumeing this is the problem I will post after i try this Thanx
June 25th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
i got a nec laptop the other day.it worked fine at my friends house,but when i took it home i think i messed it up,i forgot it was plugged in and i removed the battery while it was plugged in now it doesnt show any leds when i plug it up,do you think i fried the mother board or something,help me pls its a really nice lap top and i got it for free would love to fix it…
June 26th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
kyak,
Try the following. Unplug the AC adapter, remove the battery, wait for 2-3 minutes. Install the battery and plug in the AC adapter. Try turning on the laptop.
Maybe the adapter is bad? You can test the adapter with a voltmeter.
July 4th, 2008 at 7:10 am
my laptop is just new and i hope to use the idea u have give mi.thanks.But do i need to replace a new jack for my laptop to work properly?the problem is that its jack port pin became loose.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I have a Dell Inspiron and had the original ac power supply burn out on it (no green light on the box, nothing on the voltometer) and found a third party adaptor that worked for charging. Then it stopped charging my battery and would not run the computer with the battery removed. No matter how much I wiggle it there are no flickering lights on the the ac indicator. I am in Taiwan where there are no Radio Shacks and only one Dell store (in a different town). I don’t have a soldering iron so it is in the repair shop and I have them looking at the power jack but I don’t hold out too much hope since I had no flickering lights. My question is there a way to make a standalone battery charger so that if my motherboard is fried (still runs the computer) that I can just charge the batteries seperate. Due to an error in shipping Dell sent me three batteries instead of one so I have plenty to charge and keep me in power. I would be interested in this even if I the the problem fixed.
Thank for the help and sorry for the long post
Desperate in Taiwan
July 17th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
[…] You cannot simply unplug the jack and replace it with another one. You’ll have to unsolder the old jack and solder a new one back on the motherboard as I described in this post. […]
July 21st, 2008 at 8:59 am
Anytime I turn my laptop (hp dv 1000) the battery led is on but the machince wiil not boot.Explain to me what i can do to serve my machine
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:04 pm
David,
I’m not sure if you can make one but it’s likely that you can buy one. I’ve seen some external battery chargers for Dell laptops on the Internet. You can buy an external charger for Dell laptops here, they ship worldwide.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Quophi,
Could be memory related problem. Try reseating memory. Move memory modules from one slot to another. Test the laptop with another known good memory module if you have it.
July 23rd, 2008 at 3:10 pm
i have the Toshiba A70 laptop and the AC adaptor is not charging my laptop. i know theres a problem with the DC not connected to the motherboard right. so i took apart my laptop and try to solder it myself. when i’m finishe i plugged the AC to my DC and get this burning noise coming from the DC then it started to smell like sometings burning.
Did i short circuit something? if so, is it possible to fix it or did i fry my motherboard? i can still turn on my computer fine just not with the AC adaptor plugged. should i buy a new jack?
July 28th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
I have a M35X-149S Toshibha laptop, currently ot does not start. Does this laptop have a problem with DC jack? Yesterday, while i was working monitor screen went blank, however, power light was on. I tried to turn it on and off to see if I could see any display but without success. After a while, even power switch stopped working. Now it is completely dead!!!
Does this laptop has motherboard problem or power (DC) jack problem?
Thanks for your help.
Krish
July 29th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
Kish,
Can you see any LED lights on the front when you plug in the power adapter? If the power LED lights up but the laptop will not start when you press the power button, there could be a problem with the memory. Try reconnecting the memory, move the memory module into the empty slot.
If there are no LED lights, check the power adapter. It has to output 19VDC.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
thanks for your advice. i tried what you suggested, but it did not work. the laptop is still dead. the power switch still does not turn on the computer, and there are still no lights and no response. i also checked the power adapter, and it did show 19VDC output. do i have to take apart the laptop and look for defects in some hardware (like the power jack, etc)? what are my options here?
thanks again
July 31st, 2008 at 8:01 am
Kish,
If the power adapter is fine then either there is a problem with the power jack or the motherboard is dead.
It’s necessary to take a closer look at the power jack. When the motherboard is removed, you can plug in the power adapter and test if power comes to the motherboard. It’s possible that you have a blown fuse witch is located close to the power jack. It’s possible that you can fix the laptop by replacing the fuse.
If the fuse is OK and motherboard receives power from the adapter but the laptop is still dead, most likely you have a problem with the motherboard.
July 31st, 2008 at 1:58 pm
I just want to say thank you soooooo much for posting this guide and helping us with this problem. I have fixed my laptop after it has been sitting in my closet for 2 years. I have tried multiple times for the past year to try and solder the power jack back on properly, but I was just not able to. Your guide, and the comments, and your responses all helped me to do it finally today and I am really really thankful and happy.
The main problem I was having was with actually soldering the power jack onto the motherboard. I still have not soldered it fully and properly, the solder is only sitting on half of the joint for each of the joints, but it is the best I could get it. The laptop is powered again, so hopefully the joints will last a long time.
Is it okay that the joints are only soldered on partially? Will this cause any kind of problem if I continue to use the laptop like this? Or is the only problem in doing this that the solder is more likely to come off again? Thanks again!!
July 31st, 2008 at 8:37 pm
lcydude21,
I think you can use the laptop like that but I’m not sure if your soldering job will last forever.
Be careful when you plug and unplug the power adapter.
August 3rd, 2008 at 5:51 pm
Is there any way to figure out where the screws go if you did not label them? It is an Acer Aspire 1640. The repair manual does not tell you this.
August 5th, 2008 at 7:49 am
Can you tell me where to find a replacement DC-In for an HP DV8013CL?
August 5th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
This is an excellent guide, many thanks for taking the time to document your work.
August 8th, 2008 at 1:44 pm
Thanks for the informative site…the pictures are great too. Here’s my problem: I installed a new jack in my HP Pavilion ZE4900. When I barely insert the power tip into the jack, just making the connection, I get power. When I completely insert it, I lose the power. I looked at the design of my jack from the rear, and when the tip is fully inserted, the (negative?) plate or “tongue” inside compresses down, which looks normal, but it looks like it disconnects from another contact above it. Is this because when running on battery power, that completes the battery’s circuit? If so, I suppose my solder of the negative plate is bad?
August 9th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Hi,
I just want to say: “THANKS ALOT”.
i have a Toshiba A70 Laptop and the power adapter needed to be replaced. I took it to the computer shop and the guy coded me $240.00. I could not afford it so I stop using that computer. but few days back i found this site and i fixed my computer, resolder the jack, and also clean it from inside. With the help of all the pictures I found that it was not that hard. so thanks alot guy. thanks alot.
regards,
Lukh
August 17th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
I need help!!!! My notebook laptop won’t charge. I was told that it was the DC adapter. I don’t know anyone who knows or does this. Do you??? If so, what do you charge???
August 20th, 2008 at 6:23 am
In this guide, you used / repaired the DC power jack that was originally from the laptop. Correct?
I am buying a new DC power jack, so I do not have to “clean all oxidized contacts with a knife” or “apply a fresh coat of solder to all contacts on the power jack”.
Also, I do not have a de-soldering pump, is this tool necessary?
August 23rd, 2008 at 8:23 pm
My power jack broke off so I replaced the jack and soldered it on firmly. Now the power only comes on if I hold the power adapter in firmly. Did I do something wrong?
August 25th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Jason,
No, it’s not necessary to clean contacts on the new jack, it’s ready to be soldered on the motherboard. You’ll have to clean contacts on the motherboard.
This tool will help you remove the old power jack.
August 25th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Ann,
Make sure the jack is soldered properly. I cannot tell you what is wrong without looking at the laptop.