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.