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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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 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 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 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 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.
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.
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 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 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 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