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.
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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 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 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 16th, 2008 at 6:52 am
have same problem , but dont have power jack on motherboard
pls email me and send you pics
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 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 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 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 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 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.