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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February 2nd, 2010 at 4:57 am
If you accidently pull out the thru hole pad (sleeve) on the positive terminal you must reconnect both sides of the connection. Do this by finding a small piece of copper wire the biggest that will fit thru the hole along with the positive terminal. If the piece of wire won’t fit along with the terminal inside the hole you will need to enlarge it with a pawl. Carefully solder the small piece of (5 mill)wire along with the positive terminal on both sides of the board. I like to land the wire on a same polarity circuit sharing component for assurance. Test for continuity and for shorts before you apply power.
January 31st, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Thanks for the detailed posting. I have a question. I removed my mother board from my laptop (Dell Inspiron 6000).I can feel the DC Jack to be a little shaky. Before I proceed further, is it safe to test the connection by plugging in the power cord directly in mother board? I am worried with components like heat sink , cooling assembly removed if it will cause any damage to the mother board.
January 20th, 2010 at 11:22 am
My recommendation if you’re going to go through the trouble of doing this, is:
First. Get a new DC plug for the laptop. Even if it isn’t damaged yet, this is one the quickest components to fail, both from heat and from frequent unplugging of your power cord. If you’re going through the trouble to take apart a laptop, save yourself from having to do it again, and buy a new plug. They cost about $5.
Second. Learn how to solder. A motherboard is not the place to solder for the first time. Take apart a broken computer or other electronic device, and practice removing and re-soldering capacitors or resistors. If you can’t desolder and solder a capacitor, you have no business trying it on something you want to use again.
Third. Taking apart and putting back together a laptop can be significantly more difficult than repairing it. Most manufacturers don’t publish guides on how to do this. There can be multiple sized screws, ribbon cables, wires to remove, and all of them are very small. Some have to be removed in a specific order. Some entire pieces have to be removed to access additional screws. There are almost always screws on the bottom and under the keyboard. Keep good track of everything you remove, where it came from, and the order you removed it. Don’t force anything apart. If it doesn’t move, there’s probably a screw holding it somewhere. If you end up with 19 extra screws at the end, you’ve done something wrong
Anyway, great guide, easy to follow, great closeup pictures.
January 20th, 2010 at 7:59 am
which is the function of the point close to the positive hole?
January 19th, 2010 at 5:39 am
I have followed all the instructions to replace the power supply. However when I removed it I did remove the copper sleeve and I have prepared the board for the “fix”. My question is how do you get the solder to adhere to the motherboard? For the life of me I cannot get the solder to coat the area I have prepared.
January 18th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
hi, today I soldered a power jack for my asus A3F but it doesn’t power up. My question is does it make any difference if i put a little solder on the sides from where the jack is inserted into mobo. Tons of thanks in advance.
January 17th, 2010 at 5:11 pm
Thank You! Well written & concise – with good a good explanation of basic technique.
January 14th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
[...] the power connector fails, you can desolder it from the board and replace with a new one or replace the entire power connector [...]
January 10th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
I’m looking at an ebay photo of a power jack for an Inspiron 9100.
There are three pins in the rear and two in the center.
1) where do i place my multimeter leads to check for continuity?
2) where do I place the leads to check for power, since I don’t want the motherboard fried?
January 5th, 2010 at 2:01 pm
Alyssa,
Sounds like the power jack is broken and has to be replaced.
It’s necessary to disassemble the laptop, remove the motherboard and replace the power jack.