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 brush 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 which 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 brush 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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May 23rd, 2009 at 1:34 pm
Hi,
Nice tutorial. Thank you for this.
My problem is that I cannot melt the existing solder.
I have 1 pin completely clean – you can see through the board. The other 4 pins are solid and will not melt.
I started with a cheap soldering iron, then went and bought a Weller iron which claims to be 950 degrees and it doesn’t touch the stuff.
I put some new solder on top of the existing but all that came off was the new when desoldering.
I am about ready to get the blow torch out so can anybody suggest a less drastic approach?
BTW the board is from a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo M 1405 laptop.
Intermitent power-on and random shut downs is what got me started.
Maybe the clean pin was causing the problem as it did not seem to have that same untouchable solder.
May 20th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Turn it into an external HDD, you can buy cheap kits to do so that will run with any USB port. Thats an easy way to get your data back. As for your laptop, it’s possible that you shocked it while working on it. Usually after that nothing will ever run right again assuming that it will run at all. Make sure that HDD is installed correctly in your laptop. Another possibility is that you cold soldered the DC back onto your Mobo. Meaning that the connection is poor and your laptop isn’t going to turn on. Try resoldering it if any thing else.
May 18th, 2009 at 7:00 pm
I just replaced the DC power jack on my A65 s126, Every thing seemed to go well. I turned on the computer and the blue light comes on the fan powered up the keyboard lights light then it shuts down. I have checked the RAM and it is not that. Do you have any ideas on what this could be? I really need to get information off the hard drive, any ideas on how to do that with a dead computer.
Brad
May 6th, 2009 at 5:53 am
Go to toshibas website and pull up the service manual. Remember its not the users manual. You are looking for the service manual. It will give you detailed instructions on how to take apart and rebuild your laptop along with the locations of the screws and their sizes.
May 6th, 2009 at 5:19 am
Miss Marie,
The best I can do is suggest a site that gives you a breakdown of how to dismantle your computer, from there you have to work backwards.
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/
find your computer on their for a guide.
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:02 am
to correct my last posting; that is a toshiba A75-S2112 I am working on and need a schematic for the screws
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 am
Of course I didn’t put in the most important information. I am working on Toshiba Satillite A75-S112; some of the holes are marked and some are not. The take apart went extremely well and I managed to clean all the solder off the dc jack and put in a new sturdy one quite securly. Of course I am anxious to see if I did it to the point of all is working well but I don’t know where the screws go….
If anyone can help thanks so much.
May 3rd, 2009 at 8:00 am
Of course I didn’t put in the most important information. I am working on Toshiba Satillite A75-S112; some of the holes are marked and some are not. The take apart went extremely well and I managed to clean all the solder off the dc jack and put in a new sturdy one quite securly. Of course I am anxious to see if I did it to the point of all is working well but I don’t know where the screws go….
If anyone can help thanks so much.
May 2nd, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Hi,
Thanks so much for the info. Did everything by the book, before that i got nothing from the laptop.now i get the power lights for a second or two, then it shuts off. i guess I’ve got a short somewhere. can you suggest the most common places to look first?
Thanks Again
Bill
PS
It’s A Toshiba Satellite
A75 S206
May 2nd, 2009 at 7:54 am
Miss Marie,
Unfortunately, all laptops are different and they all use different screws. If you fixing a Toshiba laptop, sometimes you can find the screw size stamped on the bottom close to the whole.
For example, B6 is a 6 millimeter screws with a button (dome) head. F8 is a 8 millimeter screw with a flat head. Something like that.