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!
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 4th, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Will any alcohol work or do I need 99% isopropyl alcohol?
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.
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