Toshiba A105 DC Jack Repair

The Toshiba A105 series laptops use a cable style dc jack unlike the traditional dc jacks that have pins soldered onto the motherboard. Nine times out of ten when someone thinks they have a dc jack problem on a model like this it's a bad ac adapter.
The ac adapter checked out but I wasn't able to get the laptop to power on. I tried to wiggle and position it in every way with no luck.
With the A105 you can remove the memory cover and see where the dc jack cable plugs in. I simply unplugged the old one and plugged in a new dc jack and the laptop powered on. I tore down the laptop and installed the new dc jack. The laptop now powers on and charges the battery.

Gateway 400VTX DC Jack Repair

The Gateway 400 VTX is very similar to the problematic 400SD4, 450ROG, and other 400 series laptops. They use a rare 2mm style center pin in the dc jack.
This 400VTX came in with the wiggling of the ac adapter plug to get the laptop to power on.
When it was torn down to the dc jack area I could see the voltage pin was slightly burnt and off the motherboard.
Replacing the dc jack gave new life to the laptop and could power on and charge the battery again.

Gateway M325X / M622-UCX DC Jack Repair

I have never seen one these laptops before but it was very similar to the common MX3000 series gateway laptops that I fix on a regular basis.
This M325X was no different and had the "wiggle the ac adapter plug" symptom to get the laptop to charge the battery.
When the M325X was all torn down the dc jack had no signs of failure. I see this on the MX3000 and MX6000 gateway laptops and something internal is bad in the dc jack rather than the burnt voltage pin problem.
Replacing the dc jack did the trick and the laptop powered on and charged the battery after the dc jack repair was complete.

Dell Latitude D600 DC Jack Repair

I've already done a few of these this month and that's a regular thing. This series of latitudes (D500, D505, D510, D600, D610) all have the same dc jack problem. The most common problem is the dc jack voltage pins breaking up the solder causing the ac adapter plug to positioned in just the right way to get the laptop to charge.
This D600 came in all taken apart. Thankfully I'm so familiar with this model that I can put it back together properly.
A new dc jack was soldered on and the laptop powers on and charges after the dc jack repair.

Dell Inspiron 5160 DC Jack Repair

I haven't seen a 5160 in a while but they are the exact same laptop as the 5150 and 1150 Dell Inspiron's that I frequently fix.
This 5160 came in with the dc jack completely broken off of the motherboard. When the laptop was all torn down the motherboard had no signs of damage to the dc jack area.
I de-soldered the old solder from the jack area and installed a brand new dc jack. When the 5160 was all put back together it fired up without a hitch.

Averatec 7100 DC Power Jack Repair

I don't see a lot of these laptops but they use the same problematic jack (five pin, 2.5mm) as the common 2200, 3200, 3250, 3260, and more Averatec laptops.
This 7100 came in with the whole dc jack area torn apart. It looked like the customer used some type of cutting tool to tear up the area.
I was able to replace the dc jack successfully but this laptop uses a small circuit board that's off the mainboard and the cable that connects that circuit board to the mainboard was cut. Now no power can get to the motherboard.
That's why if you don't know exactly what you're doing please don't try to do this yourself.

HP DV8000 DC Jack Repair

This hp dv8000 came in with the symptom of not being able to charge the battery. I pulled the battery and the laptop could power up. After letting it idle in Windows for a while the laptop would randomly shutoff. My first thought was a bad motherboard. After letting it sit for even longer I would attempt to power it up and the dv8000 would power up for about five seconds and shut off again.
These laptops have 17" screens and they come with a 65 watt ac adapter so I used a 90 watt adapter and the laptop would function like a normal laptop again. I was able to do a full battery charge and the laptop stayed powered on for days.
It seems it was simply a bad or failing ac adapter.

Toshiba A75 Overheating Problem

The Toshiba A75 uses a Pentium 4 cpu which is very hot and power hungry. Thankfully this line of cpu's is discontinued and the lower power consumption processor's (Centrino Duo/Core 2 Duo) are here to stay.
I ran the diagnostics on the laptop and started with the hard drive test. Ten minutes into the diagnostic the laptop shut off by itself with the fan going on high.
I tore down the laptop and removed a wall of dust caked on the heatsink and use Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste to lower the temps.
After it was cleaned and repasted the laptop was able to pass a full diagnostic which lasted hours and the A75 never shutdown.

HP DV4000 DC Jack Repair

The DV4000 isn't a common laptop I see but they come in maybe once a month for dc jack repair.
This DV4000 had no battery life and the dc jack seemed pretty solid so I was a little uneasy about the repair. When the laptop was all torn down the dc jack looked fine. The voltage pin and all solder looked good on the dc jack.
The DV4000 uses a strange jack that requires a long soldering tip to get the dc jack de-soldered properly.
I replaced the jack and was pleasantly surprised when the laptop fired up.

Acer Aspire 3000 / 3004LCi DC Jack Repair

These Acer 3000 series laptops use the same dc jacks as the hp zt3000 / Compaq X1000 and many others. The dc jack is a six pin, 1.65mm center pin style.
This Acer 3000 came in with the symptom if being able to wiggle the ac adapter plug to get the laptop to charge and power on.
When the laptop was all torn down the voltage pin looked pretty good but after de-soldering the dc jack I could tell it had an internal break which is very common for these Acer laptops.
After the new dc jack was installed the laptop powered on without any problems.

HP ZE4560us / ZE4500 DC Jack Repair

The ZE 4500 /ZE4000 series are a very popular laptop I've seen consistently over the last few years. The three pin design give little support and without having any front support puts a lot of pressure on the back pins, causing it to come loose and break.
This ZE4500 supposedly had to have the ac adapter plug positioned correctly to get the laptop to charge and power on. I wasn't able to get the laptop to power on but when it was torn down I could see the classic burnt voltage pin giving it the wiggle effect to get it to power on.
When I resolder these jack I always use plenty of solder to try to make up for poor design. After the jack was replaced the laptop powered on fine again.

Toshiba A75 DC Jack Repair

I keep seeing more and more of these laptops. They us the same problematic dc jack as the hp zv5000, Toshiba M35x, and many other common dc jack repair laptops.
You could position the ac adapter plug in just the right way to get the laptop to charge and power on.
When I got it all torn down I saw a burnt area on the motherboard near the dc jack voltage pin that wiped off with some contact cleaner.
Replacing the dc jack gave lots of new life to this A75 and will last for years to come under normal use.

Compaq X1300 / X1000 Series DC Jack Repair

I haven't seen a X1000 in a while but it's the Compaq equivalent to a HP Zt3000 which I see very often.
These laptops use a six pin, 1.65mm dc jack that a lot of Acers also use. They fall victim to the burnt voltage pin problem giving it the "wiggle" effect to make the laptop charge and power on.
When the X1000 was torn down to the motherboard the voltage pin was in fact slightly burnt causing the ac adapter plug to be wiggled in just the right way to charge and power on.
I replaced the dc jack and the laptop now charges and powers on fine again.

Alienware 7700M/ Clevo D900T DC Jack Repair

These are massive 17" laptops that I rarely see. That's probably because there aren't a whole lot out there but nonetheless this had the classic loose dc jack problem.
The 7700M uses a large, nine pin, untraditional dc jack. A dc jack of this rarity doesn't fall under the $65 repair because of its scarce supply. The reason I'm able to charge $65 is buying the very commonly used dc jacks in bulk.
When the 7770M was torn down to the jack area solder had already been added in an attempt to fix the problem. Replacing the dc jack did the trick and the laptop powered on and charged fine after the repair.

HP DV1000 DC Jack Repair

The DV 1000 series laptops are a little less common than lets say a ZV5000 but I do see a few every month.
The laptop wouldn't power on on battery and wouldn't power up with a wiggle of the ac adapter plug either. When the laptop was all torn down to the motherboard I could see the dc jack had a burnt voltage pin and needed the dc jack repair.
The DV1000 uses a unique looking seven pin dc jack. I replaced the jack and the laptop passed a 24 hour burn in.

Gateway CX2620 Tablet DC Jack Repair

The CX2620 style laptops are very similar to the 6000 and 3000 series. It's basically a cross between those two models with a tablet function. They use the same four pin, 2.5mm dc jack.
When this CX2620 came in I was a little skeptical of a dc jack problem. It worked on battery but I wasn't able to wiggle the jack area to make it charge. Sometimes the customer has already wiggled it so much that it can't make contact anymore.
When the laptop was all torn down the back voltage pin was slightly burnt which is a big symptom I see in a power jack problem.
The jack was replaced with a brand new one and the laptop powered on and charged the battery fine again.

Dell Inspiron B120 Power Jack Repair

The B120 is very similar to the B130, 1000, 1200, 2000, 2200, and 110L series of dell laptops that are common laptops I see with the dc jack problem.
This B120 was no different. I plugged in the adapter and the Inspiron B120 powered in with no problems but any slight positioning of the adapter plug left or right and it would power off instantly. The B120 and B130 are a little easier to work on than the 1000 and 2000 series.
When the laptop was all the way torn down to the motherboard it had the classic burnt voltage pin that puts the jack slightly out of contact with the motherboard.
Soldering on a new dc jack fixed the problem and the laptop powers on fine.

Gateway MX3238/W323-UI1 DC Jack Repair

These 3000 series gateways seem to have a lot of internal dc jack problems. Almost every one I've done has had a solder job that's held up fine but the center pin on the dc jack breaks internally. I was able to get the laptop to turn on briefly using the wiggle technique on the adapter plug.
Once the laptop was all torn down the dc jack looked fine but was replaced as always. When I got the laptop all put back together it would power on/charge fine again.

HP ZD7000 DC Power Jack Repair

This laptop came in with a broken center pin that was still stuck inside the adapter. Sometimes the pin can be pushed down and the adapter will function properly again. I wasn't able to get this one to budge.
The laptop wouldn't power on but some front lights flashed when I hit the power button.
Once the laptop was torn down the dc jack and motherboard area looked like it had no signs of damage. I de-soldered the old dc jack and replaced it with a new one. After it was all put back together it powered on with no problems.
To test the laptops that come with the hard drives removed I use a linux bootable cd. This lets me test sound, network, and other parts of the laptop.

Gateway 7324/7000 Series DC Jack Repair

I've been seeing a lot of these lately and I don't know if it's the marketing or this model and series is just really problematic to dc jack repair.
It came in with the classic symptom of being able to wiggle the adapter to get the laptop to power on/charge.
The 7000 series use a six pin, 2.5mm style dc jack.
Once I got it all torn down the volatge pin was slightly burnt which explains the wiggle effect. When I got a new dc jack soldered on the laptop is now powering on and charging the battery again.

Dell Latitude D600

When this laptop came in it had no symptoms of a dc jack except the fact the supposedly it worked on battery but stopped charging. When I got the laptop opened up the dc jack had no signs of failure. I always replace the jack regardless of what the jack area looks like in case it has some type of internal failure. On this series of laptops (600m, 500m, D500, D505, D510, D600, D610) I see this same symptom. I replace the jack and it still doesn't charge. It has come circuitry problem on the motherboard but it gives the symptom of a dc jack. I was never able to do the wiggle trick to get the laptop to power on.
The motherboards for a D600/600m run about $120+ shipping on ebay so I was able to obtain a replacement and that fixed the problem. Now the laptop powers on and everything is working fine.

Panasonic Toughbook CF-72

This laptop came in with a physically broken dc jack. It uses the same dc jack as some Sony laptops that suffer from this same problem.
I was very surprised at how easy it was to get this laptop torn down. All you need to do is remove all the screws from the bottom and remove the screws under the battery and the whole motherboard comes out. Now just take out the two screws holding in the motherboard and you're ready to de-solder!
Replacing the jack did the trick and the laptop works fine again.

Testing/Diagnosing your AC Adapter

Every once in a while a laptop comes in for a dc jack repair and it's simply a bad Ac Adapter. If the wire breaks internally it can give you the symptoms of a dc jack problem.
All you need for this is a simple mulitmeter. You can purchase these from somewhere like Sears or RadioShack.
Every AC Adapter has a voltage that it delivers power at. Today I'll be testing a hp adapter that runs at 18.5V. As shown in the picture you want to put the red part of the multimeter directly inside the adapter plug. On this hp adapter the plug size is 1.65mm and will need something like a small screwdriver or paper clip to get inside. Plugs that use 2mm, 2.5mm, and 3mm won't need a paper clip for this to work.
Make sure to set the multimeter to V DC (DC Voltage). Once inserted the multimeter should read close to whatever voltage you AC Adapter is. If it comes up as zero you obviously have a bad ac adapter. In this case the adapter test good at 18.89 volts.

Dell Inspiron B130

The B130 is very similar to and uses the same jack as the inspiron 1000, 1200, 2000, 2200, 110L, 120L, and B120 dell laptops. These jacks are also used in some Acer and Toshiba models as well.
This B130 came in with the symptom of positioning the ac adapter in the right spot to make it charge. Using a small flathead screwdriver I could see the center pin on the jack was very loose.
When the laptop was all torn down the pins on the jack were intact so it was an internal problem with the center pin.
The dc jack was replaced and the laptop now powers on and charges the battery.

Dell Inspiron 9300 DC Jack Repair

The Inspiron 9300 is very similar to the 6000, 6400, E1505, and E1705 laptops among others. They all fall victim to the dc jack problem and are very common for this repair.
This laptop came in with the symptom of being able to wiggle the jack or position it the right way to make it charge. Dell had already replaced the ac adapter and system board once under warranty. Of course now that the laptop is out of warranty a new system board is pricey and unnecessary.
The laptop was torn down and you could see the two voltage pins had cracked where the solder meets. This gives the laptop the wiggle effect to make it charge.
As always the jack was replaced (could have been re-soldered) and the jack now feels very solid when plugged in. Make sure you add enough solder to the data pin so the motherboard can know what type of adapter is plugged in.