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 copper 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.
UPDATE: If you accidentally removed the internal sleeve, check out this post: How to fortify damaged power jack connection.
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.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
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. http://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
, 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,
. 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,
Great tutorial…definatly gave me some confidence boost
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/.....lside2.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.
September 3rd, 2008 at 6:59 am
I’m also a repairer like you. An hp dv9000 laptop powers up with dead screen and after 20 sec again reset. This loop happens for ever untill I power off the system. Screen is dead. Does it belong to graphic chipset? I tried external monitor, again no screen. Only reset and reset after 20 sec.
September 3rd, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Help! I have a Presario 2500. Once I’m in Windows XP the power shuts off at random. When trying to re-install XP the power keeps shutting off during the install process. There are times, where, I’m in XP desktop and the laptop is on a firm table, the computer will run for hours (with A/C power plugged in). Then, if I sit on the sofa with the laptop on the cusion, it shuts off in XP only after a few minutes. I ran a temperature program which only showed a yeelow flag warning on the hard drive at 56 degrees celcius. Sometimes I have to wiggle the A/C cord to get the laptop to come on. But I’m not totally convinced that the A/C power connector is totally at fault. Is there software that will check the memory, and hard drive? Is there software that will let the computer run without a windows enviroment? thnk you.
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:55 pm
gerald,
Your laptop shuts down because of overheating. You must keep the laptop on a flat surface. Apparently, there are cooling fan air intakes on the bottom of your laptop and when you keep it on the cushion, the air intakes are closed. Without air circulation inside the heatsink your laptop overheats and shuts down.
September 4th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Moa,
Here’s what you can try in order to troubleshoot the laptop. Disconnect the LCD screen cable from the motherboard. Minimize the laptop as much as you can. Remove hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card, unplug the keyboard.
In order to start any laptop you need only three parts: motherboard (I assume the video card is integrated), memory and CPU.
If the laptop still doing the same thing, most likely you have a problem with the motherboard.
Here are a HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop disassembly instructions if you need them: HP Pavilion dv9000 laptop. Removing hard drive, memory, wireless card, keyboard.
September 5th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
Laptop Toshiba A30 would not charge while running and the battery was going dead in about a 1/4 of the usual time. Lights flickered when plugging in the power jack. Took it apart and re-soldered. Worked well for 2 days. Turned it off and left on power supply over night. Next morning the laptop would not boot. Press the power button and all sounds good for 4 seconds then the fans stop and it does not boot and the power light stays on but the hard drive light never flickers during this process. Then realized the power supply had burnt out. It must have been trying to boot from the battery. I believe the positive pin of the power connector must have eventually shorted thus burning out the power supply. I have two of these laptops so I tested the cpu, hardrive, in the good laptop and they worked fine. Took apart the laptop and could see an indication of a short next to the positive pin of the power connector. I believe the pin shorted on the corner of the silver grounding of the female video connector located on the M-board. So I now have a couple of questions.
1. Is the positive pin supposed to make contact on both sides if the M-board or only one side? If yes do you solder both sides?
2. Are there several layers of tracing on one side of the circuit board or is there just one on each side.
3. What other steps to trouble shoot can I do?
Clearly the positive trace on both the cpu and other side of the positive trace connector for the power input is still shorting to the ground on the video connector even though I have removed the power connector. Things are looking a little messy even with the great care taken. I am considering to take a sharp exacto knife to go around the area of the video connector corner where I believe the positive pin traces are shorting, to sever the short. I don’t believe there are any traces there but not positive.
Any feedback or comments from the pros would be greatly appreciated. (Toshiba A30)
Thanks in advance for your comments and help!
Stew Lockhart
September 6th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Hi
Followed your instructions for taking the Toshiba apart and fixing a new power socket everything has gone well until I have tried to re screw on the screen, the hinges seem not to want to turn so I can’t re screw in. Its a Toshiba Equium A60-181 and I was following the guide from the Sat A65 which as near as I could find.
Very frustrating not being able to complete rebuilding to check out my handwork Can you help please. Cant see why the hinges will not turn logic says they must!!!!
Regards
September 6th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
Hello, thanks to your instructions I have managed to fix my wife’s ibm thinkpad 1200 which I dropped 2 years ago! Unfortunately during the soldering I broke off a component which looked like a resistor and it pinged across the room, never to be found. I think that it was part of the battery charging because the battery doesn’t charge now but it wasn’t any good anyway so it will be used like a dsktop.
Thanks again for posting all this useful stuff, I might have a go at the photo frame next with an ancient laptop of mine!
September 9th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Hi there, already done youre step by step instructions and the laptop still wont charge or even switch on. I really am stuck now! Please help!
September 9th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Stew,
Usually it makes contact with both sides. There is a sleeve inside the hole for the positive pin and this sleeve connects traces on both sides of the motherboard. You should solder the positive pin on one side of the motherboard but traces on both sides are connected by the sleeve inside the whole.
From my experience, Toshiba laptops has only one layer of tracing on each side of the motherboard.
Maybe you should try resoldering the power jack.
So the laptop actually gets power but will not start? That could be memory problem. Did you test memory in second working laptop?
September 9th, 2008 at 8:09 pm
James Bayliss,
Just recently I built a photo frame from my old Toshiba Satellite 3005. Here’s how I did it:
How to make a digital picture-photo frame from an old laptop.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:13 pm
Alan,
Not sure what could be wrong. Are you trying to turn hinges with your fingers? It’s not easy!!!
First, install the screen back into the place. Second, rotate the screen so you can access screw holes. It’s way easier to rotate the hinges when the display assembly is installed and both hinges are secured in the laptop base.
September 9th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
elizabeth white,
How can I help if I don’t even know what was wrong with your laptop and what you did?
September 12th, 2008 at 10:28 am
I resoldered my jack as explained, but with a meter I read continuity between the center pin (I assume the +) and one of the other pins (the outermost pin). Is this normal or do I have a direct short? I obviously don’t want to fry anything! Thanks!
September 12th, 2008 at 10:56 am
Don,
Something is wrong. Apparently you bridged traces with solder. Take a closer at your soldering job. Do not turn on the laptop like that or you’ll fry the motherboard.
September 13th, 2008 at 10:54 am
I need a way to source the generic connector name for the male dc power connector that plugs into a Dell Vostro 1400. I’m referring to only the actual plug on the power cord NOT the entire power cord itself.
THANK YOU very much for your assitstance
September 15th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
Karl,
I’m not sure if they have what you need but you can always call and ask.
http://www.computekinc.us/TheEndConnectors.htm
September 17th, 2008 at 7:45 am
I have a question about the power jack, do they have a positive and negative points? I soldered a dc power jack on a sony laptop but there was no indicator for + or – side. Ive tried testing the power jack but I cannot tell if its right, I dont want to short or fry my laptop.
September 18th, 2008 at 8:06 am
It can only go in one way, unless it’s wired
September 18th, 2008 at 8:18 am
This particular DC jack can go in several different ways. If it only went in one way I would know.
September 19th, 2008 at 10:22 am
Worked Perfectly! A nice $10 repair. Thanks for the great website!
September 19th, 2008 at 8:34 pm
thanks… its really work… thanks a lot.. at least i repair my lap….
you are so explicit and clear…
best regards..
marcelo
September 27th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
Amazing.. it works ! Simple, direct and useful .
Thanks a lot man.
September 28th, 2008 at 12:02 am
HI I have a HP Pavilion ZV5000 and the power jack has been repaired. The laptop worked for a while then it stopped working and the little light on the power cable transformer is lit before i connect it to the laptop but as soon as I connect it the little led goes out and the laptop does not fire up. What do you think may be causing this?
Many Thanks
Sanjay
September 29th, 2008 at 8:43 pm
Sanjay,
It’s hard to answer this question without testing the laptop. Here’s my guess.
1. Possible poor soldering job. Maybe the power jack is broken.
2. Bad power adapter.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:37 am
I have an acer with charging problem. I have tried resoldering the old power jack (having removed the old solder) but to no avail. I am planning to replace the jack but I have noticed that this jack has been stuck to the board with some sort of resin (glue?). I am wondering if it will be possible to remove the jack without damaging the board. Any suggestions for removing the resin (glue?) to get the jack out will be appreciated.
October 6th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
I replaced my dc jack and I tested the continuity and it beeps on my meter. But when I plug in the AC Adapter the led on the adapter goes out and get no power. I have to unplug the adapter to get the led back on. The AC Adapter is good because I charged my other laptop just fine. Why does the led go out and not charge my laptop.
October 10th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I plug in my apapter and i seen a spark on the dc power jack is this a short and can it be fixed.
October 11th, 2008 at 1:53 am
Thank you very much for your tutorial. Although not an easy process, it was successful and saved me over a hundred bucks in repair costs! Keep up your good work!
October 11th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Hey Cj..
Thanks for the illustration.. I have completed everything and reassembled. The laptop isnt recognizing the jack i installed or something. All pins are soldered nicely. However, I did not pay attention tto the “sleeve” on the positive pin. I did yank it out :/. Should have read on before pulling .. its a new jack from ebay as well. looks like the same one used in this article. any suggestions would be appreciated
Mike
October 12th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
resoldered the old jack back on and works like a charm..
let me clean out my heatsinks and fans too.. they were nasty
Thanks for the help!
if i followed the first instructions i wouldnt have needed to buy the new jack
Mike
October 15th, 2008 at 9:23 pm
what is the orange/amber color on the motherboard where you apply those solder coat? what happens if that orange/amber color got removed while desoldering?
October 16th, 2008 at 6:52 am
have same problem , but dont have power jack on motherboard
pls email me and send you pics
October 18th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
Rob Meyer it sounds like u have a short on the board, the boards are multilayered and have tracks inside the board. Did you notice any damage to the power jack area, was any of the power jack contacts on the board black or crispy? if so then its likely that this is where the short is and its terminal, new board required. If not then its likely to be a faulty IC or something on the board, if nothing is obviously damaged on the board like a burnt/crispy chip then its probably a faulty IC shorting. This guide is good, I’ve been doing jack repairs for a few years, the only thing I would suggest is never use the old jack, if the centre pin is loose then its likely to be damaged and will more than likely work loose again, always use a new jack, they only cost a few quid from ebay!
October 20th, 2008 at 10:57 pm
[...] Here are service manuals for some laptops. 2. Soldering skills and tools as I mentioned in the power jack repair post. 3. Inexpensive USB Bluetooth 2.0 adapter. I spent less than $8 for that thing and you can [...]
October 25th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Thank you for your help on the DC power jack as well as taking the whole thing apart , that was not easy. Now I’m afraid putting it back together is going to be a bigger nightmare for me , I would appreciate any and all information that would benifit the reserection of this master piece.
October 28th, 2008 at 7:16 am
Good advice! Everyone should read the part about the sleeves through the Mb,Very Importaint not to Damage the board.
Rob Meyer – Sounds like you have a bad Mb. Thats a short condition on the DCV.
I have the same Jack problem as so many do, Glad I found this. The service Manual is on Dell and works through your web browser. Thanks for the Detailed Steps. Going to have fun fixing the laptop.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:40 pm
[...] you’ll have to remove the jack from the motherboard as I explained in the previous post: Replacing DC power jack. While removing the jack you can accidentally pull out the internal copper coating (I’ll call [...]
October 28th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Hi, I was just wondering if you might be able to add a little thing about how to match the DC power jack to the barrel of your AC adapter in the case that you need to replace the DC jack.
The weird branded Enpower Laptop that I had to replace the power jack for doesn’t have a part number I’ll see if I can’t find it though. Just need to find a workable DC Jack that’l work with a LSE0202A2090 AC Adapter. 20V, 4.5A 90W Max. Looks like a 5.5mm barrel. I could be wrong though.
November 1st, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Hey i’m pretty sure mine has broken, i asked at the shop about it and they said it would cost £200 to repair -___- now that isnt far from what i paid from my lappy haha! is that amount accurate? because ur guide made it look not too hard (not that i would ever atempt it myself)
November 2nd, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Ron,
Yes, it is. I just posted a new article in witch I cover this problem more thoroughly.
November 3rd, 2008 at 7:41 pm
I can’t seem to get the last bit of old solder out in order to push the pins on the power connector through the motherboard. I am using a vacuum desoldering bulb. Any other ideas?
Thanks
November 23rd, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I have a Toshiba A65-S126 and Iafter desoldering the five contacts of the DC jack using a pump and wick, I still cannot remove the Jack from the Board. What am I doing wrong? anyone have any good suggestions? this is a five pin DC jack and know matter what I try it just will not come off.
November 26th, 2008 at 8:51 pm
I followed all these instructions and my A70 is now working again and no longer destined for the scrap heap.The only thing that you should do in addition to these great instructions is note where each screw goes as some are different lengths and I put the wrong one in one area and my DVD player would not go back in place as it protruded through the motherboard.I am no electronic wiz but will have a go at most things and for $40 australian for a new DC jack I am all up and running again and it was no too difficult.
December 6th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Toshiba, M35X
Thanks, I found your instructions easy to follow and I found that the problem was a little more then resoldering the jack. I have ordered a new jack and will install it when it arrives
December 8th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Thanks a lot for these instructions!
For $4.50, I saved my Dell Inspiron 6000.
A couple of things for those who might find themselves in the same spot, on the same laptop:
1) I could _not_ get the darn thing off. I finally snipped it in half, longwise from where the ac adapter plugs in, with a pair of wire snips.
Not for the faint of heart….. I imagine the right thing to do would be to be patient and not do something crazy.
BUT…I did it, and it made it much easier to pull it out, one-half at a time. Just use a pair of needlenose on the half-piece, apply heat and voila.
On my first attempt I reassembled the laptop only to find the same “ac adapter not recognized” message. I disassembled all the way down, heated up the iron, and took a second look at the middle pin, furthest from the adapter opening, the one that carries the voltage back (19v?) and tells the laptop that you have a genuine Dell adapter. Sure enough, I hadn;t gotten a good solderpoint. Heat, more solder, reassemble and sweetness.
Thanks again for the great instruction!
December 14th, 2008 at 5:36 am
Thanks to this article, I saved my HP ZD7000 from the scrap heap! Fixing it with a replacement part bought from Electronomax on ebay, I was able to replace the DC jack with little effort. Unfortunately, I should’ve documented my screw removal a little more carefully as I ended up with about 6 extras screws after reassembly, but everything else feels solid and I did it myself!
December 18th, 2008 at 10:25 am
after i resoldered power jack the led lights were flickering. what is that a sign of? loose connection?
December 19th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
you are a crack!
thanx for this wonderful tutorial!
December 26th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
if you find that the scren still flickrs it may be the pin insde the power supply s loose… relace the unit on te motherboard alltogether that should do the trick
December 26th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Hi,
is it possible that I use a small de-soldering bulb from radio shack, or should I get the elongated one that you use? Thank you.
December 26th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Whohlme,
I think so. As long as it works and you can remove the solder with this bulb. I haven’t tried it myself.
December 27th, 2008 at 6:53 am
wow! that was a fast reply! Thank you. I read a general soldering site and it said bulbs are good for general purpose work but the pumps have more suction power and make things easier. I got the bulb for Christmas, but since they are roughly the same price, i may exchange one for the other.
Also, would a solder accessory kit be worth keeping? It has heat sync, brush, and probes. Thanks again
December 29th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
The solution to my problem on the very first page of the first site I visit. Must be a world first.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:49 pm
Hi,
How am I suppose to resolder the connection at the same time follow the assembly steps on this page?
R/
David
December 31st, 2008 at 7:58 pm
David,
I guess you’ll have to have a second working computer or print the guide.
January 1st, 2009 at 6:08 pm
After following these instructons, my laptop now charges but my screen now won’t come on and the pc shuts down shortly after i turn it on. Any tips??
January 1st, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Laptop repair guy do you have a degree in engineering or something cause the content on this site is excellent !!!
January 2nd, 2009 at 8:15 pm
Replaced the AC Jack in my Dell Inspiron 5150 and when we plug it in the right and the left front green LED lights are flickering rapidly. The middle one does not come on. We checked the adapter and it’s sending 12 volts fine. Any suggestions?
January 4th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Laptop dc in jack repaired many thanks, I can not get the keyboard strip back into place it is very difficult as it sits under the motherboard,
PACKARD BELL EASYNOTE
can you provide any suggestions.
thanks.
January 4th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Can I use Silicone Grease instead of Thermal Grease to put on the CPU?
January 12th, 2009 at 6:27 am
After following these instructons, my laptop now charges but my screen now won’t come on and the pc shuts down shortly after i turn it on. Any tips?? could it be my CPU?
January 15th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
So my Dell Latitude D505 showed all the symptoms of a failed dc power jack; so I took it all apart down to the motherboard and then took the motherboard to a laptop repair shop to have the power jack resoldered. After putting it all back together the computer still has no power.
1. Is this b/c the battery is still completely dead?
2. Bad Motherboard?
Any suggestions from this point would be greatly appreciated.
January 17th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
On the picture where you see the pads you want to do more than just desolder and stick the new jack in. The offical Toshiba fix is to do this and then run a bead of hot melt glue around the connector. Thats a little better but will eventually work loose.
The trick to fix it so you can forget it is to scrape the entire pad free of the green coating (solder mask). Then insert the new connector and tack it in place with a small bit of solder on each pin. You do this so you get the position right. When you have it in place solder the entire pad. It will take a bit of solder but when you have it soldered you should have a smooth solder layer with the tips of three pins sticking out. Normally you don’t use anywhere near this amount of solder but in this case we are using it to provide mechanical and electrical strength. Not exactly what solder is meant for. You can also do the hot melt glue but its not required.
The problem or one of them with the Toshiba connectors was someone was a bit too tight on the solder mask around these pins. So the result is there is not much solder and the transition is too sharp from pin to pad. Normal use will crack the solder sooner or later and you know the rest. Scrape the pad and you have a bullet proof fix well until you wear out the pin ;-]
January 19th, 2009 at 2:49 am
hey ya all, i have a dell c640 that wouldn’t power up nor charge battery while pluged … i tried my battery on a friends computer and charged just fine… connected the dc adapter and worked aswell… i assumed that i had to change the dc jack on my motherboard , so i did and i still ha the same problem… it’s so tiny it’s a serious bi**h
what do you think the blem is ?
January 21st, 2009 at 7:57 am
Hey, I use an Alienware Aurora m7700, and this guide really helped me fix the power problem. I would have to swivel and move the cord just to get power.
However, after I put it back together, my laptop got power, but won’t turn on. It charges, but when I hit the power button, it blinks all of the lights, and then nothing. It goes right back to charging. Any ideas?
January 21st, 2009 at 4:30 pm
I have a Toshiba Sattelite L355D and it’s a great computer but the thing thta pisses me off about it is that the DC charger is sticking out so much when you plug it into your laptop. So, yeah as I was wakling by a door entrance on wireless, I had bumped the wall with it ever so softly and it got loose. I got so upset but luckily it was anything real serious. The guide is great but I don’t think I have those things to fix it lol. I’m only 16, I’d probably murder myself with that thing by mistake. But, it looks very handy. Nice work on the guide.
January 24th, 2009 at 5:58 am
Thanks for these instructions. In your opinion, I have a Dell Inspiron Laptop. The customer works fine, I’m not getting any error messages when using it. About two weeks my daughter knocked it off the computer table on to the back edge (where the power cord plugs in). The next day I was using it and realize that my screen had dimmed and that the power cord wasn’t being used only my battery. I continued to use the laptop for an hour or so, so I could finish up my project. Again absolutely no problems at all, internet was fast, programs loaded, etc.
In your opinion do you think this process you have provided will correct the problem?
January 26th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Meg,
I don’t like how the power connector on this model is designed either, it’s very easy to break.
In a Toshiba Satellite L355D the power jack is NOT soldered to the motherboard, it’s attached to a power harness.
In your case you either broke the DC-IN jack or the mounting bracket on the base assembly where the DC-IN jack is mounted.
If it’s just the jack, it’s necessary to replace the DC-IN harness.
If it’s the mounting bracket on the base assembly, it’s necessary to replace the base assembly.
By the way, it’s likely that you broke both.
Here’s how I take this laptop apart. You can see where the DC-IN power harness mounted to the base assembly on the picture in the step 14.
Toshiba Satellite L355D is a new model but I’ve seen MANY broken jacks already.
January 26th, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Amy,
January 27th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
GHETTO WAY THAT WORKS!!!!
The peg inside my computer broke, and I was about to try to replace it, but if you like do things kind of ghetto like me, I discovered an option. First take out the broken peg if it is still in the end of the power adapter, and in is place, fit in 4 pieces of 2 inch long copper wireing. Then cut them all at once, just so the copper is only slightly coming out of the end of the power adapter. Does not work perfect, and you need to wiggle sometimes, but better than getting rid of the computer, or trying to fix when you have no experience.
January 28th, 2009 at 1:37 am
I have my Dell Inspiron disassembled but there is no physical evidence that the power jack is bad, Can I plug the ac adapter into the motherboard and test voltage and continuity with the motherboard removed from the laptop without causing any damage to the motherhboard circuitry?
Thanks.
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:14 am
So I’ve disassembled my inspiron 600m and soldered on a new power jack. Unfortunately the service manual did not go far enough as far as getting access to the motherboard, so I improvised, but in the process of moving parts (off my bed, ok so I thought it might not take as long as it did) I don’t think I _quite_ know which screws go where in the parts that I did after I finished following the service manual. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you
Misha
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:07 pm
Dennis,
Yes you can. You will not damage the motherboard if you know what you are doing. Sometimes, when I’m not sure if the jack is bad or not, I test motherboards like that. I plug the AC adapter, connect my multimeter to the solder joints on the jack and start moving the plug inside the jack at the same time looking at the voltmeter. If power cuts off when I move the plug, apparently it’s either bad connection between the jack and motherboard, or the jack is bad (I assume the adapter is working properly).
February 2nd, 2009 at 9:09 pm
Misha Koshelev,
Are you looking at the right manual? The Service Manual for Inspiron 600m explains how to access and remove the motherboard.
February 8th, 2009 at 6:55 am
I never thought I could pull something like this off, but it worked!!! Thanks so much for the step-by-step!!
February 10th, 2009 at 10:23 am
hi i have a compaq laptop . few days back due to some power fluctuation i laptop stopped charging . when plug in to the power i am getting the burning smell. so when i have read u r post i opened the laptop to check the dc power jack . my dcpower jack is covered with some plastic sheet . sheet under the dc power jack is fine . but adjacent to it has got burnt(just near one of the pin of the jack ) . now i am unable to figure out if there is any part that has got burnt out or is this due to dc power jack problem .
cna you please help me to figure this one out
February 11th, 2009 at 7:30 pm
Hi, i have a tx1000 hp pavilion that got the lcd speaker connector is broken. that connector is the one in the motherboard. where can i get that connector? I know how to replaced it. please let me know the company where i can get that connector. i don’t know the part number to do the search.
please
February 14th, 2009 at 5:18 pm
Amazing tutorial!! I’m in the process of replacing power jack on HP zv5000. Do these jacks have any copper connector on the jack? De-soldering was a bit messy and I have a piece of copper left over from something ( maybe a different project). It doesn’t look like a the plug shown in the pic. Thanks.
February 14th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
I have a Toshiba A75. I took out the mother board and am looking at the power jack. My question is, are the 3 solder points in the middle of the jack all negative and is it ok to have one pool of solder to flow over all three? I saw a photo were the power jack was left on the outside of the laptop and just the wires were run into it and soldered to the mother board. The negative wire was soldered across all 3 of the contact points in the middle of the jack. Is that OK?
February 17th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Hi, I’ve run into a Dell laptop that seems to use different solder to connect the jack’s external case to the motherboard. It is a nine pin jack (3 rear, 2 center underneath, 4 casing pins).
All but the 4 casing pins desoldered nice and easy. The 4 casing pins (which, btw, are soldered on top and bottom) have solder that would not even melt using the standard guns (35W and 45W) we use for most repair jobs. Fun job. The “big” gun managed to melt it.
Wish I remembered which model (sorry, work on many of them a month).
Anyway… very secure jack in that model – sadly the customer dropped it while the DC adapter was plugged in, which shattered the inside of the jack.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:55 am
Hi,
I had the same problem on my toshiba,
I did exactly as you show above, excep that I also removed the LF12A next to power jack and by mistake soldered it back in in the opposite direction,
A. what is this unit at all?
B. Can you please send me a photo simliar to the 2nd photo you posted from top. under the LF12A theres a PC1 typed on the motherboard, should there be any thing it seems missing on my laptop.
Thanks.
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Hi, I have a Toshiba Satellite A75-S209. I have tried to replace the DC jack, and it was successful for about 5 minutes. I attempted to boot up my computer and the repair turned out to be no good.
So the laptop was taken apart again. We have placed a meter on the DC jack and there is power getting through.
But we have placed the same meter on the small white rectangle with the funny L1 with a F in the middle and a 2A after (pictured in the second picture) does not have an amperage on the end towards the center.
I believe that is the part that needs replacing, but I don’t know what that is. Can someone please help me by identifying that part?
Thanks so much
Maria
February 25th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Hi all.. hey I have been working on this compaq m2000 for about 2 weeks now. I ordered a new adapter. I would like to know if anyone knows where I can just buy the whole dang peice. On this serie’s its on a separate power board from the mother board. I found 1 on ebay.. just one. I have searched all over for this thing. Its all attached and ready to place no sodering or anything. I have tryed to sodering and that didnt work, now I have the new peice and cannot get the one I sodered off lol.. ooooh my. The laptop was working just fine and this is the only prob… does anyone know where I can buy the jack board with the jack or without it I guess.
Thanks
February 26th, 2009 at 8:30 am
I have a sony vgn-690, the dc adapter was broken I replaced the part, it had no soldering involved. It worked great for two weeks know the computer will not start once again. Is there anything I can do to chek the mother board. I just don’t understand why it would work great then stop working .
February 26th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I have a Dell Latitude D600. It can run on a 65W PA-12 (model HP-OQ065B83) or PA-10 (model PA-1900-02D, don’t know wattage) family of Dell adapters. Both models have input of 100-240v 50-60hz, output of 19.5v. PA-12 outputs 3.34A. PA-10 outputs 4.62A.
I normally hook the laptop to the PA-12 adapter. About 2-3 weeks ago, I noticed that the icon which shows if I am on battery, AC, or AC and charging, kept flickering between AC and battery power. Finally, it stopped charging the battery in addition to not powering the laptop. I figured it was a problem with the AC adapter. Luckily, I have another PA-12 at home. So, I started using it. Everything worked for a while. Then, the 2nd PA-12 adapter started to act the same way as the first one. I have a docking station which is hooked up to a PA-10 adapter. So, I took the PA-10 and used that to run my laptop. Again this worked for a while and then the same problem. So far, 2 PA-12s and 1 PA-10 had stopped working. Then, I took the docking station (luckily it is small), connected the PA-10 to it, and docked the laptop. Everything worked. But soon after, I started getting a message that the laptop is docked, but the AC Adapter type is not recognized, and to undock the laptop or use another adapter for the docking station. I took the PA-10 and hooked it back to the laptop and removed the battery. If I play/move the adapter’s plug on the laptop, sometimes the PA-10 will work. However, I get the message that the AC Adapter type is not recognized and the laptop will not run optimally. I have a choice to press F1 to continue or F2 to setup, etc. I press F1 and the laptop will boot. (This only works on the PA-10. It does not work on the 2 PA-12.) Unfortunately, the laptop will be working and suddenly decides it does not have power and turns off. All along, I thought I have a defective jack (since moving the adapter wire sometimes works). However, I have another PA-12 at work. So, I plugged my laptop to that adapter (my 3rd PA-12), and everything works. It charges the battery and runs the laptop without the battery.
My question, is something on the laptop causing the AC adapters to fail? So far, I have 3 adapters that are not working. I fear my 4th adapter will go the same way. Is this a bad jack issue (I bought replacements jacks just in case). Also, why did the laptop suddenly stop recognizing the adapters? Is there anyway I can fix the 3 adapters? (I’ve checked all 3 adapters with a voltmeter, they all put out the correct near 19.5 v). I’ve also gotten to the point where I have the motherboard out of the laptop, but, there is a steel casing around the jack and motherboard. How do I remove it?
February 26th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
cody,
Yes, you can do that.
It’s a different laptop but the same type of the jack. Yes, you can do that.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
RobertM,
I agree. It takes more time to remove the nine pin power jack from a Dell laptop, it’s very solid.
I can remove most power jacks from Toshiba motherboards in 2-3 minutes, but when I work with Dells it takes some time and effort.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Rami,
It’s a power fuse. I believe it doesn’t matter how you solder the fuse, it could be solder both directions.
February 26th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Lisa,
I think you are talking about the power connector board. The HP part number for this board is: 382414-001
Google the part number and you’ll find it.
If you look at Google images, you’ll see the board. Is it the right one?
February 26th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Cathy,
Do you have another Dell laptop at work? Can you test that laptop with your adapters?
I think there could be a problem with your motherboard but I’m not sure what’s going on. I guess you’ll have to take a closer look at the power jack and see if it makes bad connection with the motherboard.
In order to remove the motherboard you can follow these instructions.
February 27th, 2009 at 6:03 am
cj2600:
Unfortunately, I am the only one with a Dell (I work in a 3 people office where I use my personal laptop for work stuff), so, no one can help me test the adapters.
I have followed the instructions to remove the motherboard. But, the motherboard still have a steel casing on top even when I pull it out of the laptop shell.
March 1st, 2009 at 2:10 pm
I found someone with the same laptop and tried all 3 adapters. They worked. I guess it is my jack or motherboard. But, of my 4 adapters, why did 3 fail and 1 work (and is still working)?
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:23 am
Cathy,
So, your laptop fails with these 3 adapters but another laptop works just fine with same adapters. Apparently, there is nothing wrong with the adapter but there is a problem with the motherboard in your laptop.
To be honest, I don’t know.
I don’t remember this laptop off the top of my head. If the motherboard comes out with a metal frame, in order to access the power jack you’ll have to separate the motherboard from the frame.
March 5th, 2009 at 8:25 am
GREAT INSTRUCTIONS! Just replaced my Gateway 3545gz’s jack last night. Didnt even have to take out the motherboard. 2hrs and an extra $150 in my pocket.
March 6th, 2009 at 4:29 am
wow,, i been wondering how to do it ,, this is really helping everyone including me. thank.. i wish you have the instruction in video .. if you u do please pose all your knowledge is would help more people. thank you.. nice work.
March 6th, 2009 at 7:05 am
I’m in a bit of a pickle. I have an Aspire 1640Z and I tried to remove the jack, but it was glued on and not much solder would come off, but I kept wiggling it while heating and since it was already broken, it came apart into pieces, but I got most of them out, but there are a couple of very thin connectors that broke and are still in the slot that I can’t seem to get out. I’m using a 35W soldering tip and it does get very hot and the area around it gets hot and I’m afraid I’m going to ruin something. Two of the original connectors had a split down the middle and little hooks on the end which probably made them harder to take out. Also, the replacement jack I ordered on ebay for this model does not have that split in the two back connectors so I don’t think I can use it and all the ones I see on ebay are like that. I don’t know what to do and any help or suggestions would be great. I could send a picture if someone would help me. Thank you!!!
March 7th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
I saw that earlier Brian (pg. 9) said that he was having trouble removing the four pegs on the sides of a d600, now Im having the same trouble and he didn’t say how he accomplished this seemingly impossible feat, does any one know how to remove these four pegs. If any one could help I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Aaron
March 8th, 2009 at 10:48 am
Hi, I am back. I am still trying to replace my Dell Latitude D600 jack. This is the 2nd time I have taken the laptop down to the motherboard (had to reassemble everything because I realized my husband’s soldering gun is too big for the job). I have everything now, new soldering iron and new jacks. However, I am stuck! I can’t get the metal casing off the motherboard. The casing is preventing me from getting to the jack. I had followed the instruction on the Dell site but there is nothing on getting the metal casing off. Please help. Thanks.
Pictures of laptop with metal casing: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3.
March 8th, 2009 at 1:33 pm
Well, I got the metal casing off. But, I can’t get the jack off. I can see the sunken in, but, can’t get the iron close enough to melt it. there wasn’t enough solder in the connections to effectively desolder. the jack is still on there good. Any suggestions?
would it make sense to break apart the old jack to get at the individual pieces?
March 9th, 2009 at 5:46 am
Cathy, how did you remove the metal casing, I can tell you how to remove the jack if you can tell me how to remove the casing. I would really appreciate it.
Thanks,
Aaron
P.S. Are you having trouble with all of the pegs, or just the power peg in the very back?
March 9th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
Aaron, it turns out you can’t take any shortcuts. You have to remove the DVD/CD casing, the wireless adapter casing, and the harddrive casing. I believe the screws used to hook the casings go all the way down to the metal bracket. You have to slide out the ethernet jack (look carefully and you can see that it slides). The USB ports and keyboard port are on a separte circuit board which plugs into the main board on the underside. You don’t really need unhook from the main board, but, definitely remove the screw. After that, you should be able to take the motherboard out.
My problem with the jack is that the solder is embedded into the motherboard slot and I can’t get my soldering iron close enough to melt the solder. I am to the point where I want to crack open the jack and unsolder from that end. If you have a better idea, please let me know. Thanks.
March 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Ah, i see then that we’ve misunderstood one another. I was talking about the metal housing on the jack itself. Thats the real pain. Ive done considerable research and it seems that everyone has issues with the tiny metal housing pegs that surround the jack. The middle 5 pegs are easy to remove, I use a weller 40 watt soldering station at 500-900 degrees depending on the solder, just make sure to get yourself a Soldering Pencil tip, its a very fine tip, then all you have to do is push the tip into the premade grooves of the pegs and use your solder sucker to pull it off, it should only take you 10 minutes to do this or so. The 4 metal housing pegs are the real problem. I havent had a chance to really play with these and I dont want to damage the circuits. Ive actually dremmeled the housing off of a DC power jack before and then resoldered the new jack. It worked. But there has to be an easier way. I dont know whether its the heat of the iron or what. But, Ive heard that they may actually glue these into place so that people are more inclined to buy laptops than attempt a board repair. From what Ive read people that get these pegs off use a really, really hot device, such a a soldering gun (Ive seen made mention) to melt whatever it is holding these pegs in place. Finally, when you do get those pegs unsoldered, apply heat to the bottom and pull from the top to get the DC jack off.
March 9th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
Is the metal casing around the jack needed? I am to the point where I want to just break the jack and casing and just put in a new jack without the casing.
March 9th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
BTW, I am using a Weller SP23L 25W which can get up to 750. The tip that came with it is not sharp enough so I guess I have to buy a pencil tip for it.
Seems like you have gotten the system to work without the metal casing on the jack. So, I think I might go with brute force and use clippers or something to get the old jack off and just install the new jack without the casing.
March 9th, 2009 at 7:33 pm
Cathy, even though the dell service manual doesnt mention it, you have to remove every single item from the motherboard before removing it. This includes the tele-modem which says Do Not Remove and the various silver metal housings I see in your photos. Then you gently lift the board from front to back while pulling prying swearing at the housing being careful not to break it.
March 10th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Leo, thanks for the info. I actually figured out that I couldn’t take short cuts and removed everything that could be removed. Unfortunately, I can’t get the jack loose. Maybe my soldering iron is not hot enough, I don’t know. I am going to look for some soldering wick and try one more time. I am to the point where I might be hitting Ebay for a motherboard.
March 10th, 2009 at 9:47 am
I have a Advent notepad 1315Nordic that does not want to switch on at all at first I thought it was the battery but not then i tried removing the RAM, Hard drive and putting them back but nothing its still not switching on. The other thing is that when I press the the power button the power light goes on, plus the Hard drive light goes on as well.
Please anyone with an Idea of troubleshooting it please help me.
Thx MIKE (NAMIBIA WINDHOEK)
March 11th, 2009 at 6:58 am
Like I said, I used a dremmel and then some fine point clippers to get the Jack off of one board. It still works after the replacement. So, you can do that, Cathy. Good Luck
March 14th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Well, I had my husband dremmelled the jack apart so that only the soldered pieces were left. We tried (even with a soldering gun) but, can’t get the pieces off. I am sure it is the soldering iron. From the various sites I’ve looked at, 60 – 100 watt irons (100w preferred) will make an easy job of getting the jack off. The trick is hot and quick (to avoid damaging the motherboard). I didn’t want to spend $50+ for an iron and can’t be sure I haven’t damaged the board already. So, don’t throw tomatoes now, I went on Ebay and got myself an used motherboard. Now, I am up and running.
March 15th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
have my A-75 completely dissassembled, but the dc power jack seems to be also epoxied to the motherboard and doesn’t feel loose. I’m having all of the same symptoms mentioned here and the motherboard was replaced a couple of years ago under warranty due to the overheating problem.
How do I remove this jack – some of the glue even seems to be partially covering a resistor or two. Can I leave it in place and install the radio shack workaround plug next to it and just run wires to the + & – ??
Thanks for the great site!
March 16th, 2009 at 8:53 am
You could try (I wouldnt recommend it) but first you should see if you have the spare room in your lap top for an additional AC jack next to the original one. And unless youre planning on doing modifications to your housing how are you going to plug the power cord in? Maybe Im misunderstanding something.
March 16th, 2009 at 10:40 am
George: I am responding to your question about removing the plug. I had the same issue. My work-around probably is not recommended, but is working. I removed the power jack with a hacksaw. Yea…you read that right. Mine too was epoxied on. I think that was Toshibas way to fix things! I tried to unsolder the plug for 2-3 nights after work with no luck. I did damage the board a bit as I got too deep with the saw, but it did come off. I was able to then solder on an external dc jack as a work-around after the plug was removed and all is well!
March 16th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Thanks for the feeback and good news. Answering this question.
Can I leave it in place and install the radio shack workaround plug next to it and just run wires to the + & – ??
My question is, does the OEM power jack have to be removed? I have other places I can locate the RadioShack plug but is it OK to run the + & – wires to the motherboard with the jack still in place? Will it cause any problems?
I’d rather not remove it and risk damaging the motherboard. As a note, I’m thinking about removing the S-Video jack that is close to the power jack. I never use it and the hole is the perfect size.
Thoughts specifically anyone on the logic on not removing the OEM jack and just soldering the +&- wires to the motherboard on the opposite side as shown in the workaround?
Thanks for everyone’s help – I’ll let you know how it turns out – just want to be sure that not removing the OEM jack won’t fry something
March 18th, 2009 at 8:35 am
will a solvent that can remove epoxy, damage the motherboard?
March 18th, 2009 at 8:42 am
Aaron,
I think so. I wouldn’t use a solvent.
Is it black epoxy? It’s not very sticky. You can carefully remove that epoxy with a knife or another sharp object. I’ve seen a few motherboards with failed power jack glued to the motherboard with black epoxy.
Remove as much epoxy as you can. After that unsolder the jack. Finally, remove the rest of epoxy and solder a new jack.
George (comment 235),
I think you can do that. There shouldn’t be a problem if you solder it correctly. Make sure the polarity is right.
March 18th, 2009 at 2:18 pm
I replaced the power jack on my dell inspiron 9300. Since then the laptop will run off of the power when plugged up but it will not charge the battery. Any idea what went wrong? Thanks
March 19th, 2009 at 6:13 am
I have a question for anyone. I need to repair my DC jack on my HP ZE2000 laptop. I was able to remove the old one and when I looked at the terminals that are soldered to the of board one of them has a little black around it. Almost like it short circuited or something. Just wondering if I would still be able to replace and solder on a new DC jack, or is the PC board, circuit board, not useable and I should just spend the extra 100 bucks to get the whole new circut board that just plugs into the main pc board. I would appreciate any help that anyone can offer me. Thanks
March 23rd, 2009 at 5:42 am
Question:
Do you recall whether the circuit board was black before you unsoldered the jack, or after? If it was black before, it was probably a short, but if it was black after you most likely have a little gunk on the chip that can be taken off with a tough tooth brush and some rubbing alcohol. I mention this because my first few jack repairs looked quite dirty after I was done. I dont know how your jack is set up but the few that Ive worked on all have a singular power pin in the very rear of the jack that provides power to the main board the rest are there to act as a casing.
March 25th, 2009 at 7:54 am
Hi, I think i know the answer but it is worth a try. I have/had an HP 6120 laptop with a broken power jack (ie the pin inside had come away). I ordered a new power jack online when i strip the laptop down the actual motherboard had broken round the power jack solder point but the point at the back was ok. So if i was to try and solder the new power jack and only have the back one is soldered. Would it possible work?
or should i buy a docking station and just get a new power port just way
March 27th, 2009 at 7:13 am
Well, youve already ordered the jack and have your lap to stripped down. Why not give it a try? Further more, for extra support you could try and epoxy the jack onto the board before you solder the power peg.
April 3rd, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Just thought to share that I was somewhat able to replace the DC jack on a Dell B130 (using a 40 watt Weller).
It was really hard to remove the old jacket (perhaps I should’ve used one of the thicker tip for desoldering?) I finally got really impatient and broke off the old DC jack from the motherboard, but was not able to remove 2 of the pins. Luckily, the 2 pins are actually a bridged pair of either positive or negative. I bent the connector on the new jack and soldered on top of the 2 broken pins. Was pretty surprised that everything worked when I put the laptop back together.
April 6th, 2009 at 5:52 am
That sounds like a rough job. For future knowledge, instead of breaking off, pull from the top and heat from the bottom to pull the jack pegs free. I’ve had great success from applying that move. You can try the old jiggle when you’re doing that as well. It may help. But, from experience I can tell you that Dell’s are a pain to unsolder.
April 9th, 2009 at 8:18 am
Aaron,
Yep, that’s how I do that. Just make sure not to overheat the trace. Do not apply heat for more than 1-2 seconds at a time or you can damage the trace.
Agree 100%.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
Just changed the jack on a Dell D610 (lot of pins very close together). Now the AC adapter light is flashing. The service manual says this means there is a short on the motherboard. I wonder if it is my soldering?
BTW….I bought this little ditty and it worked great. Also bought a replacement tip for a regular solder iron for another couple of bucks and used it with this.
http://www.radioshack.com/prod.....Id=2062731
April 11th, 2009 at 4:39 pm
Well, I just removed a bunch of the solder with the removal tool. Light works properly on the AC Adapter but the laptop lights come on only for about 10 seconds and then it all shuts down.
Fried Motherboard?
April 12th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
David Sl,
It’s likely but I cannot tell you what is wrong without testing the laptop.
Does it start with video? If it does, maybe you forgot to connect the cooling fan and the laptop shuts down because of that? Just a guess.
April 13th, 2009 at 5:17 am
I’ve seen this occur when memory sticks aren’t properly seated. Double check that they are, its an easy thing you can check off your trouble shooting list. Its also possible that one of your memory sticks is dead due to ESS or that while unsoldering the jack you somehow damaged the memory sockets.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Agree with that 100%.
If you suspect that your problem is memory or socket related, here’s what you can try to troubleshoot the problem. I assume you have two modules installed and both modules are removable.
Remove memory modules one by one. Test the laptop with each module installed into each slot. Find the right combination when it works.
If the laptop works fine with both modules installed into Slot1 but fails when both modules installed into Slot2, apparently the Slot2 is damaged.
If the laptop works fine with one module in both slots, but fails with the second module in both slots, apparently the second memory module is bad.
April 16th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Very helpful post. Thanks to all who made it possible. I have never disasembled a notebook and was pleasantly supprised that my notebook started write up after having it in so many pieces. This and other posts gave me the confidence to attempt repair. It took approximately 4 hrs total. Not bad for a newby. Thanks again. Thomas Tucker, Saratoga Springs NY.
April 19th, 2009 at 9:15 am
JUST CHANGED THE JACK ON A HP ZV5000 USING YOUR INFO. THIS WAS VERY HELPFUL.GETTING DOWN TO THE MOTHERBOARD WAS HARDER THAN THE JACK REPLACEMENT. NOW MY LAPTOP WORKS GREAT. ONLY TOOK ME ABOUT 2 HRS. THANKS FOR THE INFO.
April 20th, 2009 at 11:47 am
I have a laptop that wiggling the plug on the back will allow it to charge, but the plug gets extremely hot. Probably too hot to hold your fingers on. I only charge it in very short increments. It’s my understanding that the incontinuity in the jack is likely causing the heat. Is this a correct assumption?
April 21st, 2009 at 7:56 am
This is a really good write-up. It’s good that you put that disclaimer in there about the DIYers having soldering experience. I’ve seen plenty of broken jacks where the owner or another ‘tech’ tried to fix it only to make an ugly mess of things.
April 21st, 2009 at 10:23 pm
[...] are instructions for removing and replacing laptop power jack. [...]
April 30th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
Using this guide I replaced the jack on my grandson’s HP/Compaq nx 9020. Thanks. It starts up fine, but the battery is not charging, the charge light is still blinking after 24 hours. Any ideas if I did something wrong?. Also the fan never seems to run, should I be concerned about that? It does not seem overly hot, however. Many thanks again. You helped me save his computer.
May 2nd, 2009 at 7:29 am
Hello
OH GOD NOT THE SCREWS!!
Yes I am in over my head and I do admit it but I have been trying to get my computer fixed for nearly a year now and it is upsetting. Went to best buy they sent me to a “small shop around the corner” charged me $170.00 to “fix” the problem. all they did was charge my battery the jack was still loose! took it back and they said no refunds and no warrenty after 24 hours; recommended by best buy, what a joke. I sent it into toshiba after warrenty and $380.00 later it was sent back with a new battery and plug but still a broken jack and does not work and said “could not fix problem” please try these…they charged me for them and won’t take them back…I was in the hospital when it came home and by the time I got around to even looking at it I was over the 15 DAYS SORRY return policy. no new warrenty and no repair there this is a never ending joke. my charge card is maxed and my computer is still broken.
I am on my own
however so far everything is going well except my dog…yeah I know the dog ate it…..sat on it.
I took out all my screws and the manuel was awesome to take apart my laptop. I received my weller in the mail and all the other parts I have never seen or used before and began to sit down to practice…..my papillion sat down too. ON THE SCREWS. After chasing him for nearly 1/4 hour I pulled the screws out from his tail and went around the house on my hands and knees looking for all the rest.
I read about 60 of the notes before I gave up and decided to admit my mistakes. The obvious question I have is; does anyone have a guide as to what screws go where. I have a bit of time as I am now juust going to practice on the weller today and attack the DC jack tomorrow. then come monday I will have to try and put the screws back. I can follow direction, a good schmatic will do just fine.
If anyone can help I appreciate it.
May 2nd, 2009 at 7:54 am
Miss Marie,
Unfortunately, all laptops are different and they all use different screws. If you fixing a Toshiba laptop, sometimes you can find the screw size stamped on the bottom close to the whole.
For example, B6 is a 6 millimeter screws with a button (dome) head. F8 is a 8 millimeter screw with a flat head. Something like that.
May 2nd, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Hi,
Thanks so much for the info. Did everything by the book, before that i got nothing from the laptop.now i get the power lights for a second or two, then it shuts off. i guess I’ve got a short somewhere. can you suggest the most common places to look first?
Thanks Again
Bill
PS
It’s A Toshiba Satellite
A75 S206
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 am
Of course I didn’t put in the most important information. I am working on Toshiba Satillite A75-S112; some of the holes are marked and some are not. The take apart went extremely well and I managed to clean all the solder off the dc jack and put in a new sturdy one quite securly. Of course I am anxious to see if I did it to the point of all is working well but I don’t know where the screws go….
If anyone can help thanks so much.
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 am
Of course I didn’t put in the most important information. I am working on Toshiba Satillite A75-S112; some of the holes are marked and some are not. The take apart went extremely well and I managed to clean all the solder off the dc jack and put in a new sturdy one quite securly. Of course I am anxious to see if I did it to the point of all is working well but I don’t know where the screws go….
If anyone can help thanks so much.
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:02 am
to correct my last posting; that is a toshiba A75-S2112 I am working on and need a schematic for the screws
May 6th, 2009 at 5:19 am
Miss Marie,
The best I can do is suggest a site that gives you a breakdown of how to dismantle your computer, from there you have to work backwards.
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
find your computer on their for a guide.
May 6th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Go to toshibas website and pull up the service manual. Remember its not the users manual. You are looking for the service manual. It will give you detailed instructions on how to take apart and rebuild your laptop along with the locations of the screws and their sizes.
May 18th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I just replaced the DC power jack on my A65 s126, Every thing seemed to go well. I turned on the computer and the blue light comes on the fan powered up the keyboard lights light then it shuts down. I have checked the RAM and it is not that. Do you have any ideas on what this could be? I really need to get information off the hard drive, any ideas on how to do that with a dead computer.
Brad
May 20th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Turn it into an external HDD, you can buy cheap kits to do so that will run with any USB port. Thats an easy way to get your data back. As for your laptop, it’s possible that you shocked it while working on it. Usually after that nothing will ever run right again assuming that it will run at all. Make sure that HDD is installed correctly in your laptop. Another possibility is that you cold soldered the DC back onto your Mobo. Meaning that the connection is poor and your laptop isn’t going to turn on. Try resoldering it if any thing else.
May 23rd, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Hi,
Nice tutorial. Thank you for this.
My problem is that I cannot melt the existing solder.
I have 1 pin completely clean – you can see through the board. The other 4 pins are solid and will not melt.
I started with a cheap soldering iron, then went and bought a Weller iron which claims to be 950 degrees and it doesn’t touch the stuff.
I put some new solder on top of the existing but all that came off was the new when desoldering.
I am about ready to get the blow torch out so can anybody suggest a less drastic approach?
BTW the board is from a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo M 1405 laptop.
Intermitent power-on and random shut downs is what got me started.
Maybe the clean pin was causing the problem as it did not seem to have that same untouchable solder.
May 25th, 2009 at 1:41 am
If the pin was cleared before you took apart your laptop then simply resolder that singular pin and you should be good to go. The solder is there to connect the pin to the conductive runs in the motherboard which feeds power to everything else, basically. So, by adding solder to that one pin you reconnect it to the power grid, so to speak. At least, assuming that you haven’t burned the runs off the board. If you’ve burned the runs off of the board, it will never work again, unless of course you have some way to follow the runs and solder wiring from the pin to whatever that pin needed to power. . .good luck
Otherwise, its technique that you need help with. Make sure that your soldering irons tip is very clean. Otherwise the solder will run away, or worse, run up the tip. Make sure your motherboard is clean. Add solder to the top of the existing pins, place the solder sucker adjacent to the pin with the soldering iron touching the top of the new solder. Give it a moment to melt the solder and then click the sucker. Try moving the pin around when the solder is melted, for example moving it to one side might help. That way you only have to suck solder from one side so that when you move it back there will be nothing on one side holding it in and very little on the other side. It sounds archaic but wiggle it. Sometimes it helps.
I hope this helps, im very tired so my writing sucks right now. . .Have a good night, and good luck
May 27th, 2009 at 2:19 am
Thanks for the reply, Aaron.
The clean pin was not clean to begin with. It was the only one I successfully opened.
After failing to completely clean the others, I added solder to all pins and put everything back together.
Nothing!!
No power, no fan, no lights, no change.
I have the laptop apart again and am going to try and find something HOT to get this DC jack released from the pcb.
I figure since it isn’t working now, what have I got to lose?
I tested the jack for continuity and it seems to be okay because I got the long beep on my meter. I checked the voltage on the adapter and it showed 19.3 volts. Then when I plug into the jack, and test the jack, it also shows 19.3 volts.
Am I right in assuming that the adapter and the jack are both okay?
If so, the problem is most probably the jack’s connection to the pcb.
Since I used to have intermittent starts and shutdowns, I am guessing the first order is work on the joints of the jack/pcb.
May 27th, 2009 at 8:57 am
PLs help
my dell latitude d600 power connector button broke from the motherboard. It can’t powerup again. please help. how can i get and alternative way to power up my pc? or can i trace two wires on the board that can be joined to power the pc.
thanks
pls reply
May 27th, 2009 at 10:50 am
I’m very familiar with the Dell Latitude D600. I’ll make it easy for you. Go to Google and type “DAOJM1YB6E6″ in the search box. Hit the enter key. Wallah! There’s the part you need to fix it without hassles. It’s like $23.00. It’s a riser board attached to the motherboard by a ribbon cable or a socket. It will take you 10 minutes to fix with any luck. Just make sure to go to Dell’s website and download the service manual so you don’t break anything on accident. Such as the key board cover, for example. You’ll have to take the key board cover off, the keyboard. . .scratch that, I just checked, you’ll have to take the entire top half of the laptop off, including LCD, keyboard, keyboard cover, top bezel, you’ll have to unhook the wireless(it’s easy to hook back up, so don’t worry), and I think that’s it. It shouldn’t take you any longer than an hour each way. As long as you don’t take it apart with a hatchet, I think you should be okay. Just make sure to unplug it, take the battery out, and pull your HDD and put it somewhere safe until you’re done. I hope this helps
Frank, I suggest this with great caution. I’ve heard of some techs using Flux to get rid of tough solder. Use it sparingly, and with great care because I think it can actually melt your PCB if you use to much. Before trying this try looking at other jack repair websites for info on using it. I personally have never tried it so I cant attest to its effectiveness. If you do consider this method BE VERY CAREFUL! ! ! Good luck though, if you do try it let me know how it turns out!
May 28th, 2009 at 11:32 am
thanks for the info on website i got dc jack problem no power on pc,i didn`t repair it then i buy a new pc toshiba 17 in will let you know later about other pc.
May 28th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
GREAT ADVICE!! My Toshiba is up and running just like the old days, what a great computer to resurrect. THANKS!!!!!
May 30th, 2009 at 11:35 am
[...] Now you can access and repair the power jack. You can use these power jack replacement instructions. [...]
May 30th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
Hi Aaron,
Just an update on my trials and tribulations.
Could not get my dc jack removed from the board so I brought it to a tech and he was able to do it. Right tools and know-how I guess.
Anyway, he re-soldered the jack to the board and I put it all back together again.
NOTHING!!
No lights, no fan, no start.
Still have power in the adapter. Power through the jack when plugged in. Just not booting. Even when I plug in the battery, which is old and dead, the charging light does not come on.
Any suggestions??
Other than the obvious “Buy a new one”, I mean.
Frank
May 30th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
It’s possible that you fried the Mobo during your interactions with it. There are so many different things that can go wrong with a pc it’s simply amazing. Off hand, I can give you some simple things to try. Reseat your RAM. If its not properly seated it wont boot. But it sounds like the board is shot though. If nothing kicks it’s usually no good. You could try resoldering it again. But, most likely, it’s a waste of time.
May 31st, 2009 at 9:34 am
My laptop works when the charger/120 v adapter is hooked up, but it will not charge. I did buy a new battery. Is like jack issue a possible cause?
May 31st, 2009 at 9:36 am
Well I have a little progress. I took out the cmos battery for about 10 minutes and then re-installed it. When I hit the start button 3 lights numlock, capslock, and one other came on but only for about 5 seconds, then went out.
Nothing else happened. No fan, hdd, or POST.
I have tried booting with bare bones but no joy, yet.
Still hoping it is not the mobo.
I am sure I’ll be back.
Frank
June 1st, 2009 at 11:02 am
Thank you for posting this guide! I have a Toshiba M30X laptop that had the common problem of a loose power jack that takes a couple minutes of cord-wiggling to re-establish a connection if it is unplugged, so it had been acting more like a desktop. I wanted to extend its usefulness/mobility, so I took the computer to a computer repair store to see if they could re-solder the jack to get a better connection. When I picked it up, they said that not only was soldering not successful, but they said the computer was now dead. (It turned out to be “dead” only b/c the battery needed charged and the power plug would no longer even fit in the jack b/c they sprayed some kind of foam over the power jack on the inside of the computer and it had gotten into the external opening of the jack and was clogging the area where the plug connects). I figured I didn’t have much to lose at this point, so I ordered a new power jack online for under $10 and following your guide, I took off the old jack and soldered the new one and the computer works fine now. This not only saved me from having to buy another laptop at the moment, but I was able to retrieve a few documents (that I hadn’t backed up yet) without having to buy transfer equipment for my hard drive.
June 1st, 2009 at 10:23 pm
chad,
It’s hard to tell without looking at the laptop.
Remove the battery and turn the laptop from the AC power (charger). Now wiggle the power plug inside the jack. Will it shut down when you move the plug?
If the laptop works fine (with battery removed) even when you move the adapter tip inside the jack, most likely the jack is ok and your problem is related to the motherboard.
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:24 pm
regarding tosh a60 i have a problem it seems i have to insert the power ac supply in and out until i get the caps lock etc to light bright green before the laptop runs if not they light dim and it wont boot maybe the fan kicks in aswel pulling it in and out until theres a solid gren light and holding power button down until blue light goes off then i press it it boots up im confused it does charge battery but batterys not a good one
June 2nd, 2009 at 5:18 pm
WOW! Thank you sooooo much, we are soldering right now – will post success I HOPE!
June 4th, 2009 at 2:58 am
hi ive replaced jack on dell inspiron 1300 but no life, any ideas please
June 4th, 2009 at 1:41 pm
I recently unsolder a power jack from a gateway mobo. In one of the holes i cannot apply a fresh coat of solder. The hole is black and the flux just won.t stay on the hole. Any sugestions? Thanks a lot
June 6th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Hi Chad,
Very good tutorial.
I’m trying to fix a Gateway MT6840 that has a power issue and will likely need to follow this procedure. Do you have a manual on the MT6840? Thanks!
June 6th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
One of the major problems are the return of the charging sensor network comes from battery circuit (around the battery connector) and the DC jack input network, sometimes the small transistor need to be re soldered or replaced due the center pin of the jack is a reference volt goes a one led of a small transistor that open ground to the on /off switch. ,if switch the operation regulator with a oscillator turn off the power supply automatic ,other is the ground in the middle of the motherboard layer is a ground mass and if you re solder the connector you can make a short to one lead of the 19 vols or 3 volts ref and you will damage the pc board forever.attention is a double layer motherboard you need a air gun or copper (solderwick)(high temperature to replace the connector or you will damage the pc board with normal iron,please use a aluminium foil to protect components around the dc jack or you can dropped .
You can emailme for more information to mchavira3005@yahoo.com
June 7th, 2009 at 9:11 am
OneMixDJ,
Here are instructions for partial disassembly of a Gateway MT6740. Could be similar to MT6840.
After the keyboard is removed, simply remove all screws under the keyboard and disconnect all cables under the keyboard. Remove the display panel. Remove all screws from the bottom of the laptop. Finally, separate the top cover from the base assembly and you’ll access the motherboard.
June 7th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
nydatapc,
Apparently, you accidentally pulled the “internal sleeve” from the hole. Take a look at this post: How to fortify damaged power jack connection in a laptop. It explains how you can fix the problem.
June 9th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Is there a way to test a good install like getting proper volts from battery lead outs on board.
DC power jack install.
June 11th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Hey,
Great site, I’m going to give this a shot to hopefully fix my Dell Inspiron 9300 with power problems. Just want to maybe mention about using an anti-static braclet etc, didn’t see it mentioned here, was there reason for that? Do you think it’s not neccessary?
Thanks,
Mark.
June 15th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Hi Guys,
First off, I am indebted to to this site and the contributors that I finally got my Dell XPS Gen2 repaired. I want to pay forward and share my experience.
Yes, desoldering a Dell is HELL. I disassembled my laptop twice trying to desolder it. Finally, I went rambo on it by using a wire cutter, cutting across the jack and carefully tearing it piece by piece until I can see the holes. Do it at your own risk though, but I recommend it because I had no other way. Then, I use the solder iron to pierce the hole and removing the solder and cleaning it. The rest I follwed the well-written instruction here.
After reassembling it, the laptop would power on, but no screen, and then the laptop would power off in like 10 seconds. I also notice many of the people here are experiencing the same thing. Relax guys, all you need to do is to check and switch your RAM.
Hope that helps.
Thanks again to Laptoprepair101.
June 15th, 2009 at 5:25 am
I have a HP Pavilion ze2000 I replaced the power board and still I can’t get power to my system. Any suggestions? What is my problem?
June 17th, 2009 at 3:51 am
[...] Thanks to Ken, who provided us a link to the problem which is located here. [...]
June 22nd, 2009 at 12:39 am
This is just AWESOME!!! I’m a professional that’s done tons of break/fix work but with the economy people are shopping for the cheaper solution to not only fix their hardware but keep them going. I’m tearing into a Toshiba for the first time and I am so glad I found this site. Clear, concise, no BS! Excellent job, thank you so much, you made my job 100% easier.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:53 pm
I find tons of info about the jacks, however I’m looking for the plug! The one on the AC power adaptor. I need one for an HP 8710. It’s a huge plug (7mm outside diameter, 5mm inside and a very tiny needle in the centre).
Any ideas where to get it in CA?
June 23rd, 2009 at 8:56 pm
This is very clear,but should be noted that both main leads +/- must make good solder joint on both sides of motherboard.after working on 6 toshibas I believe one side of motherboard is charging circuit,the other powers system.this is a week point for some model toshibas,so I replaced My jack with an N size panel mount jack thru original hole for jack and wired to motherboard using flexible solid copper wire and heat shrink to avoid risk of shorts.
June 26th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I was storing a Compaq Presario 2800 (pre-HP). Great machine. After dropping it several times, after several years of service, (fell asleep with laptop near and Boom!, to the floor it goes)it kept working as if nothing had happened. But eventually the power jack gave in (Wuss!)and I couldn’t wiggle the AC Adapter anymore to keep it working.
So after several years without using it, I decided that with the power of the internet I could fix it myself. Plus my wife won’t let me buy a nice little netbook, and almost never shares her iMac 24″ because “I break everything”. Of course, how else am I going to have the opportunity to fix things if I don’t break them first.
After finding and reading this article I figured I have nothing to lose. I bought the recommended instruments, grabbed a beer and am about to power the soldering station. I’m worried since the soldered parts of the dc jack are near other circuits, unlike the pictures here. But, still, here I go. I’ll let you know if I had to call the Fire Department. Wish me luck!
June 26th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
The dc jack is out! Damage to the motherboard: unknown. I will proceed to order a new compatible dc jack. Get back to you in a week.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
TechAm,
Good luck!
June 27th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
Matthew,
I really doubt that you can buy this plug separately, but you can buy the whole new AC adapter here for less than $20.
June 28th, 2009 at 8:18 pm
check ebay they have it
June 29th, 2009 at 4:59 am
Just finished soldering the power jack back on the motherboard, based on this and a few other online articles — Cleaned up the existing solder joints, which were simply loose, with a tiny scraper blade (fine stone carving tool I bought in China years ago actually). That roughed them up a bit as well and allowed me to clean up the edges of the solder joint.
Didn’t bother to desolder the joint — didn’t have the tools — but it’s working like a charm now and I’m so proud to have been able to make that fix! It would’ve been a $240 experiment otherwise. Steady hands with the soldering iron and patience can make this an easy operation. Thanks interweb & whoever wrote and published this article!
June 30th, 2009 at 12:44 am
Hi,
I am not sure how the power works, so forgive me for this question- Is there a reason that you cannot simply add solder to the terminal that doesn’t have sufficient contact without taking the whole thing apart?
Thanks! I may get brave enough to try this…
June 30th, 2009 at 2:43 pm
Just received the DC Jack. That was fast. I’m preparing to solder but I cannot get a handle of the process. The melted solder sticks to the soldering iron plus the drop seems to large for the space and terminals. This makes it difficult to get a nice coating (like in the picture), and will probably cover more area than needed.
What to do?
June 30th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
It is soldered to the mobo. The soldering in the negatives look better than in the positive. Apparently, I was more careful where I had less space and a little bit sloppy where I had more space to work.
Now, to get everything back together.
June 30th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
It’s all back together. The AC adapter is at home. Let’s see how it turns out.
July 1st, 2009 at 2:43 am
DC jack gone on friends Toshiba Equium
Have you any info on this model.
Can I get at the jack by just removing the back cover ?
Thanks for your time
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:31 am
I was hoping to write this post from my old notebook. Everything started fine, I got power which gave me incredible satisfaction and sense of achievement. The fix actually worked. But I couldn’t boot Windows XP. After several tries to reinstall the OS, the DC jack came loose. Apparently my soldering was not up to par.
To summarize, the fix did work and I got to see the screen of my laptop for the first time in 2 years. The bad news is that I couldn’t boot the OS. Close but no ticket.
I am not ready to give up. I came too close to give up now. I will start over.
July 3rd, 2009 at 1:52 pm
I resoldered the dc jack, but now I can’t even boot. The processor starts and immediately stops. If I had to guess, I probably fried or short circuit the board. Unless anyone believes I still have a chance, I’m done. It was good while it lasted. I had fun.
It’s Friday afternoon, time for an ice cold beer. Thank you laptoprepair101.com. Great site!
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
This site has been so helpful, as I solder and re-solder my Toshiba A60/65. Long story short, the copper “plug” had a crack, so I used the guide to “fortifying” the damaged jack, and now I have a new issue:
When I plug in the power supply to test, it (the power supply, not the laptop) beeps repeatedly (short-circuit, most likely). I’ve checked the board for stray solder, and find nothing, so, here’s my favor:
Can someone with a similar lappy test continuity between the different parts of the DC jack? Even without disassembly, take the battery out, and let me know if you get continuity between the main pin and the pins that connect to the exterior of the plug.
When testing the jack itself, off the machine, I get no continuity between any of the pins (except the 4 that hold it to the board, which is the same piece of metal). When it’s on the board, or when testing the board itself, I get continuity between ALL the points (main pin, middle pin, and 4 outer pins). I can’t imagine that is correct — any suggestions/feedback? TIA!
July 7th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Brian, sounds like the same problem I had. The copper sleeve at one of the contacts came loose and I couldn’t replace it. I continued soldering anyway. The solder dripped to the other side of the board covering part of it. I think this is causing a short circuit, but I’m not sure. I’m don’t have the knowledge to make a diagnosis.
July 13th, 2009 at 6:32 pm
Water spilled on my laptop and i found out after three days i tried to turn it upside down and warm it abit but the keyboard keys still does not work, what can I do
July 19th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I’ve added a post to your companion instructions that guide the reader on how to completely remove the motherboard, and this comment is pertinent.
While complete removal of the motherboard is no doubt the “professional” way to make this DC connector repair, it is much more complicated than necessary and can introduce the kinds of collateral damage to other components because of the fragile wires and connectors that must be removed.
My solution (described in the associated post) is to use a Dremel tool to carefully cut away a small part of the bottom of the plastic case that conceals the DC connector. (The portion of the case that is removed is replaced after the repair.) The metal shielding that then conceals the connector’s solder joints can be carefully bent away temporarily to allow easy access for solder. I placed a small section of electrical tape between the underside of the circuit board and the metal shielding to ensure that when it was bent back into place there is no risk of a short circuit.
This “orthoscopic surgical” approach to the DC connector repair is much simpler to accomplish than a complete removal of the circuit board. The complete repair took me about 30 minutes. The small cuts made by the Dremel tool can be sealed with black silicon for cosmetic reasons, though that is not necessary. Just be sure that when the Dremel rotary cutter is used, one does not cut into the metal shielding. Make the cuts slowly and stop as soon as metal becomes visible through the plastic groove of the cut. Then the section of case can be very easily lifted away.
July 21st, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I liked Gene Goldstein post 316 on cutting away a small part of the case instead of removing everything. Do you have pictures or drawings to help me if I go the easy route?
Thank You!
July 22nd, 2009 at 4:24 pm
just completed changing the jacks the guide was very helpful in getting it out, especially adding more solder before using the desoldering pump
Thank you!!
July 28th, 2009 at 12:22 pm
My sister’s laptop finally gave out on her and it seems as if the issue is with the power jack. So, (takes deep breath) I will be attempting this repair myself. I’ve called several authorized Toshiba repair shops and they’ve all given me the same crappy price to repair it.
I’ll let you guys know how this turns out since I’ve never even opened a laptop before. =[
July 29th, 2009 at 8:49 am
Hi! I have a problem with the PowerJack on an LG LW75 Express, would the Jack you offer on eBay fit onto the board? Thanks in advance!
Kind Regards
Viktor
August 6th, 2009 at 4:50 am
hi…. i have a problem with my toshiba a85-s1072. i already replaced the power jack but still the same problem.. it on for a seconds then shut off automatically. connection from dc adapter to power jack was secure… what else could be the problem. can anyone help me with these…. thanks in advance….
August 7th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
I’m sure the manufacturers will never make more secure power jacks. It will destroy their business.
August 7th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
TechAm,
I don’t know why they are keep making crappy jacks. It’s so easy to design a good solid jack. Here’s an example.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
wally,
Test the AC power adapter, make sure the adapter outputs correct voltage. It’s possible that your adapter is dead and the battery is discharged.
If the AC power adapter works properly but the laptop still turns on for a second and then goes off, there could be a problem with the motherboard.
Have you tried turning it on with the battery removed?
August 9th, 2009 at 3:02 am
Hi there. I have a vaio vgn-cr490. battery gone dead while working. when switched back on no power just one flash at the led front. switched with the power supply still no power and just a flash. no other leds working. checked the ps still measuring around 20v.
This is out of warranty now… please help…
Thanks…
August 9th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
promdi,
Sounds like a problem with the motherboard.
August 12th, 2009 at 1:30 am
Thank you for taking the time to describe with photo’s of this power jack replacement, I will try and replace mine now.
August 15th, 2009 at 7:29 am
THOSE WHOSE LAPTOP KEEP SHUTTING OFF AFTER A FEW SECONDS
cj2600 is on the right track try removing the battery and check the power supply
also before chalking it up as the motherboard i would check the ram and the processor also. (I have seen this happen in a desktop). a computer is a computer. you hook a laptop up to the monitor and keyboard hide it and plug a desktop on next to it positioned right the average person would think its a desktop (unless they know how to snoop around in the OS)
August 17th, 2009 at 9:53 am
I feel confident that I can repair this port on my laptop, however, I haven’t been able to take apart my laptop successfully to get down to the motherboard. I have a Gateway MX6455. Do you know (or have instructions as to) how to get the motherboard (with power port) out of this unit?
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:41 pm
thanks for the pic tutorial
August 22nd, 2009 at 1:40 pm
Hi. Thanks for your detailed explanation. I have problem with my old Fujitsu Siemens Amilo d6820 model. May I ask you where can i buy a new jack? thanks in advance..
August 24th, 2009 at 11:47 am
If you need apply constant ’side’ pressure to maintain a good connection, you can try using a rubber band and an ‘S’ hook. This worked for me on my Dell Inspiron 9300.
Basically, I tied the rubber band to the end of the cord and tied the other end to the S hook. Then I hooked it into the back vent. This put enough pressure on the cord to establish a constant conection.
It may look ghetto, but I didnt have to soulder … yet.
August 31st, 2009 at 8:04 pm
The information is invaluable, detailed, and well just right on.
Thanks
September 6th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
My Dell showed the same problem, i.e. power plug making intermittent connection with the socket, but I found that it was because the pins (there are three) in the socket were not making contact with the connectors in the plug. I bent the pins a bit and it worked — for a few hours. Then failed again. I wish I could think of a fix short of replacing the power socket and/or the plug.
September 7th, 2009 at 1:00 am
Well done job. keep it up.
September 13th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
I followed your instructions and resoldered the DC jack. A friends who is experienced in electronics tested the motherboard and said it’s all good. After I reassembled the laptop and turned it on for the first time, the picture didn’t come up on the screen. I seem to have fixed the charging problem, but there is nothing on the screen. An external monitor shows nothing as well. What did I do wrong (assuming I didn’t damage the motherboard) and how can I find out? Thanks for any advice.
September 13th, 2009 at 10:52 pm
pcmemoirs,
Check memory modules. Make sure memory is properly connected to the motherboard.
September 15th, 2009 at 3:39 am
I checked the memory and it’s definitely not the cause (tested other slots and other mem. modules in both slots). When there is no picture on screen or external monitor, what could be the cause? Could I have damaged the motherboard or the video chip? I took it apart again and saw nothing wrong with it. Is there anything else I can try/test? What would you do? Thanks
September 16th, 2009 at 10:34 pm
[...] You’ll find more detailed instructing in this guide for fixing failed DC power jack in a laptop. [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
[...] The DC power jack and power switch are located on the power board. If the DC power jack is broken, you can repair it using this technique. [...]
September 20th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
pcmemoirs,
In order to get video on the external monitor you need three main components: mainboard, CPU and memory. I assume the video card is integrated into the motherboard.
If you get no video on the external monitor, it’s either bad connection between these three components OR one of them is bad.
You said the memory is OK, so it’s either bad CPU or motherboard. From my experience CPU failures are very rare and if you didn’t remove it while fixing the jack, most likely the CPU is OK.
I guess there could be a problem with the motherboard.
It’s possible.
September 28th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Due to this problem I haven’t even looked at my laptop in over 2 years. I thought I must have banged the cord and broke it myself… guess I was wrong. can’t wait to try this fix.
September 29th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
so, i don’t want to try this myself. if anyone lives in/around the denver metro area and can recommend a good place to get this done at a reasonable price, let me know!!! please!!!
October 11th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Help! Before replacing the power jack I need to make sure the motherboard is ok.(/bought off ebay and less than great “professional” installed the new one. Still have same problem as before replacement only now there is NO power up. Before there was a very brief fan noise and then shut off. Refuse to believe that it can not be fixed somehow!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated
October 11th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Previous post #344. When power button pushed the 3 led lights come on for approx.4 seconds then go off. If hold the power button the lights blink off every 4 seconds.
October 11th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
SORRY!! Can’t seem to edit previous post. Question in post 344 and 345 is regarding my Dell Latitude D600. The keyboard and base has also been replaced. (cracked corner on base and melted key/2keys? on keyboard. “professional” immediately tried to sell me a different used laptop after telling me that it “couldn’t be fixed” and that “it has had a hard life”
October 13th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Missy,
You can test the motherboard by minimizing the system. Remove everything from the laptop and leave only main components: motherboard, CPU and memory. Plug in the power adapter and turn the laptop on. Will it power up? If not, one of the main components is bad. Try replacing memory and test again. If still nothing, probably it’s bad motherboard.
October 15th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I followed these instuctions step by step and have managed to get my PC working again, saving me hundreds of pounds in repair costs or a replacement laptop.
I in fact went one step further and soldered the back of the power jack pin to the tiny casing ring, and this stoped it from moving back and forth on the circuit board. Doing this saved me having to purchase a replacement power jack. OK yes indeed to purchase a replacement jack is only a small cost, they have to be ordered online and sent through the post which of course takes days to arrive….. So the repair cost me nothing….
October 26th, 2009 at 8:04 am
My Acer Travelmate 3270 has been having power issues. When plugged in, it blinks back and forth between getting power and not getting any. It seems affected by moving the laptop or cord. I have replaced the cord and the powerjack, but this hasn’t solved the problem. What else could it be?
Peter
October 29th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Peter,
To be honest, I don’t know. If you replaced the power jack and AC adapter, but still experiencing the same problem it’s either your soldering is not good enough or there is a problem with the motherboard.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:04 pm
Beautiful post! Thank you very much!
October 31st, 2009 at 8:54 am
Thanks for this post. I have a laptop that has exactly this problem, Im gathering the materials needed to fix it tomorrow.
November 1st, 2009 at 4:15 pm
i have a satellite p35 series and it not the power jack i;ve had heat problems in the past with it over heating the it was service and the fans were replaced, the power is on but the light and the screen do not work.my husdand thinks something is clog preventing the computor from turning on.
can anyone tell me what could be happening with my laptop
Karen
November 3rd, 2009 at 7:29 am
Thanks for the post… even tho i dont feel comfortable doing the job myself. Any idea how much it would cost to get it fixed(estimate) at a third party repair shop.
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:10 pm
karen,
If I understand correctly, you can turn it on but there is no light on the screen at all?
The first thing to check would be the laptop memory.
1. Try reconnecting the memory module, maybe it’s not making good contact with the slot.
2. Try moving the memory module from one slot to another, maybe the slot itself is faulty.
3. Try replacing the memory module with a good one. Maybe the memory module is bad.
4. If you have two memory modules in your laptop, try removing them one by one. Test the laptop with each module separately.
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:21 pm
Awesome guide! i’m trying to remove the dc jack from my laptop mobo. its a gateway MA3.
a common model with d/c problems, I’m stuck at the removal stage. Ive tried everything, but the jack just won’t budge. I don’t have a solder removing pump so i use a copper wire to remove exess solder. The tiny bit of solder left does not look like it wants to melt.
Any advise for me?
November 4th, 2009 at 8:36 pm
Manny,
It’s hard to remove solder without a pump.
You can add some solder to all pins and then try removing the jack while heating pins one by one.
November 5th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Awesome Job! Very clean and professional.Best Ive seen.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:27 pm
Thank you for this excellent guide.
Better be careful when separating out the power jack – it can be very hot from the soldering iron.. I usually use thin pliers to take it off, so I don’t burn my fingers.
November 7th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
thanks for the guide but i have another problem. i cant open actual laptop any advise would be appreciated.