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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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 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
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.
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 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 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 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)
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.
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 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.