In order to replace the power jack in your laptop you’ll have to remove the jack from the motherboard as I explained in the previous post: Replacing DC power jack.
While removing the jack you can accidentally pull out the internal copper coating (I’ll call it a sleeve) from the inside of the “+” terminal as it shown on the picture below.
The internal copper sleeve has been removed and cannot be installed back. If you solder the power jack back on the motherboard without this sleeve it might work but the connection between the “+” lead and motherboard will not be reliable.
In the following guide I explain how to fortify a damaged power jack connection. You can use this repair technique in some laptops with similar power jacks.
You can remove the copper sleeve from the power jack with a soldering guy and through it away. You cannot install this sleeve back into the terminal on the motherboard.
Find a small resistor or capacitor with thin leads. Cut off one of the leads. I’m going to use it to fortify the connection between the power jack and motherboard.
Shape the lead as it shown on the picture below.
Put the lead on the “+” connector on the power jack.
Solder the lead to the power jack.
Now I’m going to modify the “+” terminal on the PCB. Even though on the picture below it looks normal, it’s damaged inside (the internal coating has been removed).
Carefully scrape off green varnish around the whole on the “+” terminal on the PCB. You can use a small flathead screwdriver.
If the whole is not big enough for your modified power jack, you can widen it with an awl.
As you see on the picture below the whole on the terminal has been widened. Apply a fresh coat of solder on the clear area of the trace.
Install the power jack assembly on the motherboard. Make sure there is no gap between the jack and motherboard.
Here’s a view from the top side of the PCB.
Solder all pins except the modified “+” pin.
Now, when the power jack is secured, you can shape the lead as it shown on the picture below.
Solder the lead to the terminal. Remove excessive flux with an old tooth brash soaked in 99% alcohol.
Here’s a view from the bottom side of the motherboard.
Be very careful. Doing this modification you can damage the motherboard and make it unusable. Proceed on your own risk.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
October 28th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
[...] UPDATE: If you accidentally removed the internal sleeve, check out this post: How to fortify damaged power jack connection. [...]
October 30th, 2008 at 1:13 am
I have a toshiba Satellite A100 Model No PSAA9A-10U038
can anyone please tell me the part number for the motherboard ?
Or where i codl get a used mobo ? as the current one had a glas of wine spilt on it and its days are numbered
many thanks
Donald
November 2nd, 2008 at 11:47 pm
I must say this is a fabulous idea, i (PC tech ) actually tried the same method as you did here with a external lead to re-enforce the DC jack to the mobo but it only lasts a few days, even with my 2nd attempt
Because i think i missed the scrapping part from you lol, now i know the laptop i’m going to repair will last longer
Thanks so much
November 4th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
I’ve had this problem and read this repair tip and was wondering if you have tried it with a Dell. The center pin on the motherboard is the adapter sensor. I think the contact is between layers. I sure it will work with threw the hole.
November 5th, 2008 at 5:14 am
I bought my laptop a month back, and no it is not new, i bought it used so there is no warranty.
The problem is that it does not charge the battery. When I insert a fully charged battery it works fine, but when i insert the ac adapter it does not charge.
The local repair shops cant find the fault and they have returned it to me.
please suggest something……
November 5th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
Faraz, If this is a Dell, You may have a problem I’ve dealt with before. The center pin of the adapter is to tell the computer what adapter is being used. If it is the wrong adapter, the battery will not charge and/or not power the computer. Look on the bottom label plate. It will tell you the proper adapter to use.
November 10th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
I have searched the Internet over for a low cost way to reduce the possibility of overheating of a laptop from heat exchanger dust-bunny clog. I have found nothing. One morning it was my turn to make the coffee. There in my hand through half opened eyes I found the answer. The coffee filter. I held the filter to my mouth and breathed. Good air flow. I cut a square and typed it over the underside of my laptop where the CPU fan sucks up the dust off the desk. Works like a champ. There are thousands of laptop filters in the coffee filter bundle and masking tape is low cost also. I can see when the filter needs changing. Problem solved!
Didn’t know where else to post this.
Laptop Willie
check out laptopwillie.com
November 10th, 2008 at 2:09 pm
I have an Advent 8111 and the power socket is faulty, I have tried my good power supply from my other Advent laptop and have the same problem, so I know it is with the socket within the laptop and not the power lead.
My question is this, how do I get to the power socket, I have taken the small cover off the bottom of the laptop and can see where the socket is but I need to remove the top of the laptop to get to the socket and I am not sure how to go about it. Can someone instruct me on how to do it.
Regards
Stephen
November 10th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
TO Stephen Weeks,
If you can get the manual service for your laptop off the Mfrg. site,that’s big help.But if there’s nothing,then i’m afraid you need to tear you laptop down one piece by one till you reach the bottom of the motherboard alone.And i’m giving you a tip here: try to organize the parts you take out as much as you can ie: put it in the first place for the first piece\cover and correspond ing screws you have remove,the move on the second item+screws….and so on
November 11th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I recently tried to replace my DC power jack for my Gateway MX6446 laptop (about 2+ years old). After nearly a week of tinkering I found that I was unable to desolder the jack, even with a desoldering braid and vacuum pump, because it had solder on both sides. I physically dismantled the jack, leaving only the pins left on the board. In the process, however, I accidentally removed the entire positive pin including the sleeve. I was able to completely remove the other pins, clean the area, and solder together the solution explained in this article for a new jack. I removed the coating of the board to expose the metal and added fresh solder. I was then able to solder all of the connections on the board.
My problem occurred after reassembling the laptop. When attempting to connect the AC adapter to the jack (simply bringing it close to the jack) there was a quick spark and a visible arc of electricity after which I quickly remove the AC adapter. Is this an indication of a specific problem with my installation? I have included some items below which might be problematic.
-When removing the board coating, the metal and solder was very close (if the solder did not run over and connect with) to a random pre-soldered bead of solder on the board close to the positive pin.
-The positive pin solution protruded a significant distance beyond the original positive pin; could the power jump to other metallic components of the case?
-The power jack, similar to the one in this help page, had numbers on top. I ordered the jack based on its feet configuration, but the numbers did not match my original. Is this a serial number or a product number?
Thanks in advance. I can pass along a photo if necessary, but I am hoping that the arc is something distinctive.
December 2nd, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Unfortunatly… You could have destroy you’re computer…
The Problem with these jacks is that sometimes they come in special configurations, so even if the are the same saze, and the terminals are in the same place, the Polarity may be inverse.
so you should have made sure the polarity match before putting the new Jack in place,
The fact that you had an electric arc means something shorted.
Also you should take care of not soldering oter componets or phats to ne part that you just scraped….
December 9th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Hi.
first off all many compliments for the site.
I’ve found it ’cause I have a serius problem with an Aspire 9100.
I hope you will be so gentle to try to help me.
So …. My friends had a Power Jack problem, the electricity didn’t work
even if the “pin jack” of the DC adapter was inserted in the motherboard.
To bypass this problem she started to press the top of the “pin jack” in a really strong way. She was used to left three big and heavy books over the “pin jack” and in this way the battery started charging and the laptos worked also without battery.
But after some time she had to press more, so I decided to try to repair it.
I’ve opened the laptop and decided to take off the powerjack (it was broken the copper sleeve).
Then I scraped off a little quantity of the green varnish around the “+”,
and I solded a cable, bringing this out from the laptop.
Finally I solded two new jack, one to the DC Adapter and one to the cable solded to the motherboard. (I controlled the polarity with a Tester)
But I have a strange problem now!!!!
Even if the electricity passes to the motherboard (I have tested with an “Electricity Tester”) the laptop doesn’t start if the battery is not inserted.
If the battery is inserted, the laptop starts, but the battery doesn’t start charging.
It seems like if the electricity is not working, but as I said I tested it
I have uploaded some photos where you can see the electricity test results.
www flickr com/photos/33223425@N06/
I’m in your hands….
Please, help me or I will be killed by my friend !!!!!
PS:
sorry for my english!!
December 28th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Hi, love your tutorial and i resoldered the power jack and it works. I did a real hack job tho. I couldnt get nice clean holes so i would heat one side and push an exacto knife blade thru and wiggle the best holes that i could. Even still I had to really heat and push the jack back into the holes and I dont think I got it as close to the MB as I would of liked. But it’s working god now, but I’m wondering if I’m on borrowed time.
January 13th, 2009 at 11:35 am
This is a great tutorial. I’ve always told the customer the unit is dead when that copper sleeve comes out. Now I have a way to fix that for them. Thanks!
January 16th, 2009 at 11:15 am
i have a problam about compaq i connected tha ac pin my laptop light s r blinging what is is the falt
January 23rd, 2009 at 8:41 am
Can a laptop battery be charged any other way besides through the motherboard? Is there a way to charge the battery from a power source directly to the pins on the battery? (like a charger to car battery) If i could do this I could start my dead compaq R3000 and retrieve info to external hard drive. most likely solution to this could help many users. Thank you Sherman
January 26th, 2009 at 7:20 am
well im 15 from germany and i must thank you for this information….
NICE PAGE….
January 27th, 2009 at 11:48 am
Thank you very much to this information. I just replaced the DC power jack on my Gateway MX6960. The jack and the board are a little different that what you show, but, most importantly, I did pull the cooper sleeve out with the bad jack. I would have never know about it. And, because I am not an electrician and have very, very basic soldering skills, I would still be trying to figure out how to fill the hole in the board.
Since I do not have resisters and such laying around, I used several strands of my cooper desoldering braid. I wrapped it around the positive post and soldered it in place prior to installing the jack on the board. Because of the solder, I did have to open up the hole a little. Though it took some time, and great patience, I was able to solder the cooper to the board in a similar fashion to the method you show.
Thanks again. The info was much appreciated!
January 27th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
I think the suggested jack socket repair/ reinforcement is well executed. Before I disassemble my Toshiba SP6100 to see if my power supply interuption problem can be solved with this repair solution I would ask please — if there is presently nothing wrong with any of the laptops components before I disassemble and hopefully effect a supply fault repair after I reassemble the laptop can I assume that I will not have lossed its memory. ie will the windows xp still be there and all files etc? I am not sure if the athor of this site would answer please or any one else who would have a reply for me.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
Colin,
No, will not loose anything. All files are stored on the hard dive and if this repair is done correctly, the laptop will boot as before.
Here’s some help for taking apart a Toshiba Satellite Pro 6100 laptop. That’s an old one.
By the way, are you sure that there is a problem with the power jack?
If your Satellite Pro 6100 will not start at all and the power LED flashes orange light, resoldereing or replacing the power jack will not fix it. Most likely it’s poor connection between motherboard/video card/power board. It’s very similar to known problems with Tecra TE2100.
January 27th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Thank you very much indeed for your fast ,welcome and reassuring response c/2600. I will heed the extra tip aswell.
Old! you should see my Desktop PC !.
January 30th, 2009 at 5:40 am
EASIER WAY — PLEASE READ
There is a much easier way to repair the dc socket if the copper sleeve has come off –
All you need to do is order a small sheet of copper from ebay for a few pound.
then with the copper sheet cut a small piece 8mm / 4mm
then use you finger and thumb to roll it into a small tube that will fit on the dc pin where the copper sleeve came of
once on solder the copper tude to the dc socket at the end nearest to the plastic part of the dc plug so the copper tube does not slide on the pin
once secured use some pliers and gently press the copper sleeve around the dc pin.
once happy solder the dc power jack back on to the mother board.
Hope you understand the instructions as it got me out of a pickle.
Any comments or advice email me at pcaines_AT_yahoo.com
January 30th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Peter Caines,
Thank you for the instructions. Really good advice.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Could you do a quick post about what you’ve got in your soldering kit? Like just a picture of the stuff on a towel and a description of what each item is? I’m looking to get one and I can’t find any guide’s around about what to get/what to look for, etc.
I’m a laptop tech, most of this stuff I know but the soldering I never quite got the hang of.
February 24th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Bodinator,
I’ve done it already in this post: DC power jack repair guide. Do-it-yourself instructions.
March 9th, 2009 at 7:43 pm
First let me say this site has been wonderful. This is the 2nd DC Jack I have replaced. The first went perfect but this one did not. I followed the instructions on how to fortify damaged power jack connection in a laptop but ran into 1 issue that I think is causing my overall problem now.
After scraping the board, I tried and tried but could not get a fresh coat of solder on the board. How do you get solder to stick to the motherboard? It just wouldn’t adhere to the board.
So I thought if I put enough solder on “+” terminal extension it would seal properly. I finished and put the laptop back together. Now when I plug the power up to it, the adapter’s green light goes off and it beeps. Unplug from the computer and the adapter stops beeping and the light turns back green.
I’m assuming this Is a grounding issue.
So, my 2 questions are:
1 – How to you get solder to adhere to the motherboard?
2 – What is causing the adapter to act like this?
Again thank you
March 11th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
I hate to ask such a simple question, but what’s the reasoning behind scraping off the green varnishing and applying a coat of solder in it’s place?
March 11th, 2009 at 9:21 pm
Dustin,
To make a better contact between the power jack and motherboard. To make the connection stronger.
March 13th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
This repair worked great, I did how ever pull out the sleeve and did not want to attempt the fortification so instead I scaped off a lttle bit of the board on both sides and cleaned the area up. Then after I soldered the other pins on, I kind of pushed the positive pin as close to the edge as possible and used a nice amount of solder. Has been working good so far. Also, Radioshack sells a nice de-soldering tool, it’s a combination soldering iron with a bulb type suction tool built in on top. This really saved me some time compared to the traditional type
March 16th, 2009 at 9:36 am
This is probably the best tip on this site. I keep seeing mostly Gateways that have this problem, but I’ve also seen Toshiba’s with a ripped out connection.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
This may be an out of left field question, but I have a new MB but windows is not working on it due to validation problems. So until I get it resolved I was wondering if I could use the board without any components on it to charge the battery. I mean can I plug in the ac adapter and then hook in the battery will it charge. I know this is a wierd question, but there is a lot of history behind this. Thank you for any help you can give.
March 30th, 2009 at 12:04 pm
David,
You can do that. All you need is the motherboard, good working battery and good working AC adapter.
April 15th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I do not know how to post separatley. Mine is Dell Inspiro 6400.
If the AC power is cut, the laptop runs in the battery mode for
few seconds, the red LED blinks and it turns off instantly. By reading various forums I was under the impression that BIOS update might correct the problem and I update the BIOS version to A017. Now the BIOS has not detected the Battery. I cheked the battery several time and the all the LEDs in the battery are green. I do not know what the problem is. Now I cannot update or change the BIOS. And I am not sure that whether I have to go for new battery. Finally I found this excellent site, I’ll be thankful and welcome for all the advices.
Ka.Ramesh
April 17th, 2009 at 3:20 pm
karamesh,
Could be just a bad battery. Do you know about Dell battery recall program? Check it out here. Dell Inspiron 6400 is mentioned in the list of affected models. Check the battery and maybe you can get a new one at now charge.
May 11th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
I tried un-soldering the jack but I have no luck.. the solder is not comeing off, i dont care about the jack so i would cut it off if i could, any suggestions?
May 23rd, 2009 at 11:05 am
@junk-signup / cj2600:
I have attempted to repair a gateway MX6453 laptop where the sleeve came out, but when I scraped off the green coating as described on this site, I too ended up with no copper to solder to… I think this is just a difference in the various motherboards? Checking the other side of the board (directly ‘under’ the body of the jack/positive pin) I did find metal…
May 27th, 2009 at 9:50 pm
I replaced the power jack on a gateway ml6232 and now after booting on a few seconds the fan stops goes through gatway screen then starts beeping telling me its overheating but why does the fan stop?
Great article loved it i did pull out the copper sleeve
May 29th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
I have a question, my original power jack has 4 pins or say connector, while the new one I brought has only 3, I was wondering is it OK if I connect wires from only 2 (+ and -) from old power jack to new power jack outside the laptop? I will not remove the Old jack, but making the Bridge to new one and I have to plug the power cord to new jack which will be outside?
June 12th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
any words of advice ,i have a compaq v5000 the power connector is not soldered to the mb but instead on a separate piece of wiring
looks like this.
this part has snapped away from the wire
i have been trying to clean it all off i know it works as if i do a bad job i get the same move the wire abit to get it working again ,so i think my soldering is not good enough as the solder keeps snapping on me any advice guys ?
June 15th, 2009 at 12:01 am
Hi Guys,
First off, I am indebted to to this site and the contributors that I finally got my Dell XPS Gen2 repaired. I want to pay forward and share my experience.
Yes, desoldering a Dell is HELL. I disassembled my laptop twice trying to desolder it. Finally, I went rambo on it by using a wire cutter, cutting across the jack and carefully tearing it piece by piece until I can see the holes. Do it at your own risk though, but I recommend it because I had no other way. Then, I use the solder iron to pierce the hole and removing the solder and cleaning it. The rest I follwed the well-written instruction here.
After reassembling it, the laptop would power on, but no screen, and then the laptop would power off in like 10 seconds. I also notice many of the people here are experiencing the same thing. Relax guys, all you need to do is to check and switch your RAM.
Hope that helps.
Thanks again to Laptoprepair101.
June 24th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Thanks for the great tutorials on DC Jack repairs! I have an HP NX7300 and managed to pull off the tiny copper plate from the sensor pin’s through hole. So it’s not a sleeve, just one of those plates that surround all through holes. Any tips on fixing this or atleast what the technical term is for those plates? It must have happened to loads of people on all kinds of PCB’s.
June 27th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
David,
I don’t know the right technical term for those plates.
Do you still have the copper plate on the other side of the motherboard? Maybe you can solder the jack to the remaining plate and then connect both sides with a short wire (jumper) if needed? I don’t know the layout of traces on your motherboard and cannot give you a better advice.
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:51 pm
(Sorry for the cross-post, mods, but I’m hoping for fast feedback!)
This site has been so helpful, as I solder and re-solder my Toshiba A60/65. Long story short, the copper “plug” had a crack, so I used the guide to “fortifying” the damaged jack, and now I have a new issue:
When I plug in the power supply to test, it (the power supply, not the laptop) beeps repeatedly (short-circuit, most likely). I’ve checked the board for stray solder, and find nothing, so, here’s my favor:
Can someone with a similar lappy test continuity between the different parts of the DC jack? Even without disassembly, take the battery out, and let me know if you get continuity between the main pin and the pins that connect to the exterior of the plug.
When testing the jack itself, off the machine, I get no continuity between any of the pins (except the 4 that hold it to the board, which is the same piece of metal). When it’s on the board, or when testing the board itself, I get continuity between ALL the points (main pin, middle pin, and 4 outer pins). I can’t imagine that is correct — any suggestions/feedback? TIA!
July 4th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
I recently bought a Dell Inspiron 5150 whose dc jack was completely ripped from the motherboard, I mean completely desoldered. Unfortunately, he copper sleeve which surrounds the adapter sensor pin, not the positive pin in this case, came off as well. I bought a new jack through eBay and resoldered it in place. Some trace metal surrounding the sensor hole remained on the top of the motherboard, but on the bottom there is no metal to solder the sensor pin to. Are you aware of any other location on the motherboard where I can solder a wire to complete the circuitry for the the sensor pin? Thanks for your help.
July 21st, 2009 at 10:51 pm
How much do laptop repair stores usually charge to resolder or replace the DC power jack? I’ve never disassembled a laptop before so I plan on taking my laptop to a computer/laptop repair store.
July 25th, 2009 at 10:58 am
hi
my nx 7300 has a problem …
everythings perfect in baterry mode
BUT
when i plug the power jack, it runs slower BUT A LOT !!
has anyone had this problem before ?
i took a look at the power jack and it seems to be ok …
cheers
M@T
August 20th, 2009 at 12:10 am
Hi
My husband just had to repair my Dc jack on my acer 8930G the soldering was terrible, however we did not have any shrink wrap to put back on will this matter, the other problem is the length of cable they have left is so very very small it only just makes it to the connection, it was the black cable which had come adrift.
All seems to be working ok.
Thanks A Mil
September 1st, 2009 at 2:50 am
can you use drill bit to remove old jack
September 1st, 2009 at 7:35 am
paul wilmarth,
I wouldn’t do that. You can damage the motherboard. Use soldering gun instead.
October 9th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
good morning sir
my probloms ihave a lap hp compaq nx 7300
formatt systome all install drivers last i nstall wrong bios
restart sysatom now dosnt working screen?
blank screen
plz
hlp me