DC power jack repair guide. Do-it-yourself instructions.
This guide will explain how to repair a failed or loose DC power jack on a laptop computer yourself. Here’s my previous post related to DC power jack related issues.
Disclaimer: I’ve made these instructions only for people experienced with soldering and repairing computers. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this job, please do not open the laptop or you can permanently damage your computer. Take your laptop to a professional repair shop instead.
Use this repair guide at your own risk. 
First of all, you’ll have to disassemble your laptop and remove the motherboard. Here you’ll find disassembly instructions for some major laptop brands such as IBM, Dell, HP, Compaq, Toshiba. If your laptop is not on the list, you’ll have to figure out yourself how to take it apart.
For this repair you’ll need the following tools.
1. Soldering iron or soldering station. I use Weller WES51 soldering station and for this job I set temperature to about 800-850°F.
2. I use high-tech rosin core silver-bearing solder from Radioshack with diameter 0.022″ ( Catalog #: 64-013 ). I think standard rosin core solder will work just fine.
3. Desoldering pump for removing solder around component leads. I use Edsyn Soldapullt pump, model DS 017.
4. 99% isopropyl alcohol and tooth brash for cleaning the motherboard from flux.
5. A new DC power jack, you can find a cheap one here.
Laptop DC power jack repair guide.
As you see on the following picture, the solder drop on the positive terminal looks different than on other three contacts. That’s where the problem is. The positive pin is not making a good contact with the motherboard and because of that power to the laptop cuts off when I move the power plug inside the power jack.
I’m going to desolder the power jack from the motherboard, clean contacts on both power jack and motherboard and then solder it back in place - this is the proper way fixing the power problem.
Start desoldering process with adding some new fresh solder to all three contacts. This will make old solder more flowable, easier to remove.
While heating one of the contacts, remove the solder from this contact using the desoldering pump. Repeat the same steps with all power jack contacts until you remove as much solder as possible.
Grab the power jack and carefully try removing it from the motherboard. Most likely you will not be able to remove the power jack the first time because there will be some solder bridges left between the contacts and traces on the motherboard. Carefully wiggle the power jack without applying any significant force and at the same time heat up all contacts one by one. This will help you to remove the power jack.
The DC power jack is almost removed from the motherboard.
Be careful. Inside the positive hole there is a sleeve witch connects the terminal on one side of the motherboard with the traces on the other side. If you are removing the power jack with force, you can pull the sleeve from the hole. You don’t want to do that. So, do not apply any force and make sure the solder is melted when you are removing the power jack. I hope you understand what I’m talking about.
After the power jack is removed, clean all oxidized contacts with a knife.
Apply a fresh coat of solder to all contacts on the power jack.
The power jack terminals will look dirty because of melted flux.
You can remove the flux using the tooth brash and alcohol. It’s not necessary but it will make your job looking clean.
Apply a fresh coat of solder to all power jack terminals on both sides of the motherboard.
This side has been coated.
And this side has been coated too.
Now you can install the power jack back on the motherboard. Put something under power jack so there is no gap between the jack and the motherboard. Now you are ready to solder the jack back in place.
Solder all power jack pins.
The job is done and the laptop DC power jack is fixed. B-E-A-utiful!
Now just install the motherboard back into the laptop and you are done.
Entry Filed under: Laptop Tips and Tricks
125 Responses to “DC power jack repair guide. Do-it-yourself instructions.”
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Pages: « 13 12 11 [10] 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 … 1 » Show All
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 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 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 23rd, 2008 at 11:31 pm
how do i check if the mother board is fried or if the jack is fried???
June 21st, 2008 at 9:46 am
Bruce,
Not all HP manuals have laptop disassembly instructions, I believe only newer models have it.
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 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 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 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 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?