DC power jack repair guide. Do-it-yourself instructions.
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 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. 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.
Entry Filed under: Laptop Tips and Tricks
125 Responses to “DC power jack repair guide. Do-it-yourself instructions.”
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Pages: « 13 12 11 10 [9] 8 7 6 5 4 3 … 1 » Show All
June 2nd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
worked perfectly, thank you so much.
i originally thought this wouldnt fix the problem i had (having to hold the power cord in to charge the laptop) because on the outside the jack didnt seem to have any damage. im pretty used to soldering componants, usually much smaller than this, even though ive never worked on laptops before, so i figured the worst that could happen is i unnesessarily clean up a connection, so i went ahead and did it.
well it ended up being the problem, and this fixed it. once i opened up the laptop i found the jack itself had melted all over the place, and onto the contacts, so it was def in need of changing. the 4 prongs seemed to be making contact, but i guess the oxidation and melted crap was deterring them from being very good conductors.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:56 pm
John Richard,
Did you test the laptop with an external monitor? If you have no video on both internal and external screens, make sure the memory module is seated correctly.
If external monitor works fine but you have no video on the internal LCD, check the video cable connection on the motherboard, make sure the cable is properly connected to the motherboard.
May 30th, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Fantastic walk through! I used this for my HP ZD7000. Ordered a 10$ DC plug from a guy on e-bay. Don’t get ripped off by going after the 25-30$ parts. Took my time working my way around the connectors desoldered the old one. Drank a beer to calm my nerves and continued on. Cleaned it up and put the new one on. Good as new. Only thing… I have about 50 screws left over. You think they really need this many fasteners to hold together a 8lb piece of plastic ;-)? Many thanks and again great walkthrough!
May 30th, 2008 at 10:03 am
Hi, I have Toshiba Satellite M35X laptop. I replaced the dc power jack as described in your instructions. Everything worked fine. The power works now. The problem is I see nothing on the screen. It’s black. I put everything back the way I took it apart. Can you tell me what I did wrong and why I can not longer view anything on the screen. Thank you for this site and your help.
Warmest regards, John Richard
May 28th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
George,
Apply some fresh solder on the hole, heat it up with the soldering gun and suck out the solder with the sucker.
May 28th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
Thanks for your steps. But I ran into a problem trying to coat the holes for the jack on both sides of the board. One of the holes got blocked with solder. How can I recover the hole? One of the pins of the jack need to go in there. Thanks
May 27th, 2008 at 5:04 am
hi, ref. DC Power jack.
when you move power cable, the power cuts out,
should the battery not kep pc running?
my laptop dont power up at all, but the blue power light on the front flahes 2 times,
so i am not sure if this is my problem
( HP Pavillion ze4800)
any other ideas?
May 21st, 2008 at 6:02 pm
Nevermind i got it
May 21st, 2008 at 5:46 am
Hey guys, I too am having difficulties removing the DC jack from my Dell D600. The jack itself looks like ti has 4 prongs that are affixed to the motherboard via glue and 5 points that are soldered in.
Picture - http://images.marketworks.com/hi/72/72457/dellside2.jpg
My question is what is the best way to remove a jack that is glued and soldered in? I don’t want to apply too much pressure to damage the motherboard.
May 19th, 2008 at 1:08 pm
Josh,
That could be your problem.
In order to fix the power jack correctly, you’ll have to:
1. Remove the power jack and clean contacts on the jack. Apply some fresh solder on contacts.
2. Clean up contacts on the motherboard and apply some fresh solder on them too.
3. Solder the power jack back on the motherboard.