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 29th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Peter,
To be honest, I don’t know. If you replaced the power jack and AC adapter, but still experiencing the same problem it’s either your soldering is not good enough or there is a problem with the motherboard.
October 26th, 2009 at 8:04 am
My Acer Travelmate 3270 has been having power issues. When plugged in, it blinks back and forth between getting power and not getting any. It seems affected by moving the laptop or cord. I have replaced the cord and the powerjack, but this hasn’t solved the problem. What else could it be?
Peter
October 15th, 2009 at 10:57 am
I followed these instuctions step by step and have managed to get my PC working again, saving me hundreds of pounds in repair costs or a replacement laptop.
I in fact went one step further and soldered the back of the power jack pin to the tiny casing ring, and this stoped it from moving back and forth on the circuit board. Doing this saved me having to purchase a replacement power jack. OK yes indeed to purchase a replacement jack is only a small cost, they have to be ordered online and sent through the post which of course takes days to arrive….. So the repair cost me nothing….
October 13th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Missy,
You can test the motherboard by minimizing the system. Remove everything from the laptop and leave only main components: motherboard, CPU and memory. Plug in the power adapter and turn the laptop on. Will it power up? If not, one of the main components is bad. Try replacing memory and test again. If still nothing, probably it’s bad motherboard.
October 11th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
SORRY!! Can’t seem to edit previous post. Question in post 344 and 345 is regarding my Dell Latitude D600. The keyboard and base has also been replaced. (cracked corner on base and melted key/2keys? on keyboard. “professional” immediately tried to sell me a different used laptop after telling me that it “couldn’t be fixed” and that “it has had a hard life”
October 11th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Previous post #344. When power button pushed the 3 led lights come on for approx.4 seconds then go off. If hold the power button the lights blink off every 4 seconds.
October 11th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Help! Before replacing the power jack I need to make sure the motherboard is ok.(/bought off ebay and less than great “professional” installed the new one. Still have same problem as before replacement only now there is NO power up. Before there was a very brief fan noise and then shut off. Refuse to believe that it can not be fixed somehow!! Any advice would be greatly appreciated
September 29th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
so, i don’t want to try this myself. if anyone lives in/around the denver metro area and can recommend a good place to get this done at a reasonable price, let me know!!! please!!!
September 28th, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Due to this problem I haven’t even looked at my laptop in over 2 years. I thought I must have banged the cord and broke it myself… guess I was wrong. can’t wait to try this fix.
September 20th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
pcmemoirs,
In order to get video on the external monitor you need three main components: mainboard, CPU and memory. I assume the video card is integrated into the motherboard.
If you get no video on the external monitor, it’s either bad connection between these three components OR one of them is bad.
You said the memory is OK, so it’s either bad CPU or motherboard. From my experience CPU failures are very rare and if you didn’t remove it while fixing the jack, most likely the CPU is OK.
I guess there could be a problem with the motherboard.
It’s possible.