I have a Toshiba Satellite M45-S169 laptop less than 3 years old. My issue is the on-off switch in the upper left hand corner will not turn on without some effort to push the switch sideways, up or anything but the normal procedure to turn it on. Once on, the computer has no issues, so I feel the switch has issues. I have been told that maybe that switch is a unit with the 6 buttons below and is a plug-in. This is all located above the HeatPad. I don’t know how this unit is removed and if it is a plug-in or if the switch can be replaced independently? Maybe you could give me this information before I open the computer and any suggestions where to get the part the cheapest. Also what is that unit called?
The on-off switch (power button) is located on a 6-button switch board. If there is a problem with the on-off button, you’ll have to replace the whole switch board. Here’s the part number for the switch board: V000051150
The switch board could be found underneath the top cover assembly and it’s connected to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable.
In order to access and replace the switch board, you’ll have to remove the top cover as it shown on the step 21 in this disassembly guide for Satellite M45 laptops.
Be careful. Taking apart laptops is not for beginners. Proceed on your own risk. 
While showing a presentation a few days ago my laptop went into hibernating and shut down. AC plugged in. When attempted to power back on nothing happened. LED lights on front panel blink but power LED does not. My laptop is HP Pavillion dv5000.
Probably the power (AC) adapter is dead. I think your power adapter died while the laptop was showing a presentation. Without AC power the laptop was working until the battery charge went down to zero and then it hibernated. Now, the front LED flashes but the laptop will not start because the battery is discharged. The power LED will not light up because the power adapter is dead. That’s my guess.
I have a Toshiba Satellite A105-S4284 laptop. It is not showing that it is connected to the power cord. When I jiggle the port it registers. It seems loose. It doesn’t have warranty. I took it in to best buy and they think my motherboard needs replaced. Please help if possible…
First of all, this problem could be related to the power adapter. It’s possible that one of the wires inside the power cord is damaged and they make contact only when you jiggle the power plug. You can test the power adapter with a voltmeter. If the power cuts off when you jiggle the cable, most likely the power adapter is bad and has to be replaced. Also, you can test the laptop with another working power adapter. If you still experience the same problem even with another known good power adapter, most likely the problem is related to the power jack.
Once battery in my laptop is partially discharged and connected to the AC Power, it starts charging and then somewhere down the line, the laptop suspends with the ‘battery low’ pop up. When I bring it out of suspension, it shows the battery completely depleted, for whatever reason. Then, the second I power down, the battery starts charging. This isn’t normal behavior. If anyone can shower some light on this, I’d be really really grateful.
I think your laptop may have a problem with the DC power connector (AKA power jack). Even though the AC adapter is plugged, the laptop runs on the battery power. It happens because the power jack is not making good connection with the motherboard. As a result, the motherboard is not getting power from the adapter and runs on the battery power instead. Read the rest of this entry »
I viewed your photos on disassembling a Toshiba Satellite M65 series laptop and found a problem that I have not been able to get the Toshiba techs to assist me in regarding the DC jack. My jack is exactly as appears in your photos. The problem is the white connector on the board containing the four wires that attach to the DC power jack has separated from the board. I cannot find a replacement part and cannot get a number from Toshiba as they want a serial number, but it is unreadable on the label and unavailable since the computer will not start due to no power from the battery or the DC jack port. Toshiba said to take it to one of their repair centers. Unfortunately, the closest one is 200 miles away.
I have taken it to four different computer repair shops and they have not been able to find a part that is like mine. The closest they have come is a jack that has four wires with no connector. Their solution is to hard wire (solder) the wires to the short small stubs on the mother board that are located under where the old connector was attached. Their thought is the connector is part of the motherboard assembly and comes attached from the factory with no way to repair short of replacing the entire board.
Do you know anything about this DC jack and the white connector? Do you know of a source and/or part number? How does the connector attach to the motherboard? What is the best way to repair this port? Is there a way to reattach the existing connector? The wires are held in the connector by spring clips that can be removed by inserting a narrow blade under the retaining piece. But, nobody seems to know how the connector is attached to the motherboard.
I apologize for this email inquiry, but am very frustrated about not being able to get any answers from Toshiba and other sources. I have spent 5 days trying to get it fixed and am very close to just eliminating the connector all together and soldering directly to the board as I am not going to expense of replacing the motherboard in order to fix the DC jack.
Thanks for reading this inquiry and I appreciate any assistance or contacts you can offer.
Unfortunately, the DC power jack in a Toshiba Satellite M65 laptop is a part of the motherboard. It comes with the motherboard and you cannot order the jack separately. Even if you take your laptop to the authorized repair center they will not be able to find the jack part number and will offer to replace the whole motherboard, that’s for sure.
Read the rest of this entry »
I had a power problem with my Acer Aspire 5102 laptop.
The power plug would need to be fiddled with in order to work, once you found the right spot it would work great.
For about a week that worked, then it got harder. It’d take twice as long to find the sweet spot, then it would last 5 minutes to 12 hours and suddenly it was no longer charging.
I looked around online, and was told by a repair shop that it is definitely the power plug, Acers & Toshibas seem to have a problem with the power plug being crappy, he said to send it in & for $100+shipping he’d have it taken care of.
Well, for $400 I can buy a better laptop than what I currently have, so why would I spend 1/4 as much on a jack repair when I could just invest in a new laptop for that much?
I just kept putzing with the cord, (for about 3 weeks), while it kept getting worse, the cord needed to be putzed with at least once an hour to keep working, until today when it finally decided it would have no more & no amount of fiddling would work.
I have repaired XBOX & Wii boards for friends who were dumb enough to overheat them. This involves re-running a trace that been lifted, not nearly the same, but I’ve also helped them with their installations as well as repairing XBOX power supplies that had the built in fuse blow, so I figured what the heck, since I’m practically planning on throwing the machine away (not worth the repair & it won’t even function as a desktop), so I’ll fix it myself.
It was a massive pain to take apart. I’ve worked on Dells (upgrading CPU, general cleaning every 6 months or so), and while the equipment is junk (slow FSB, slow RAM, etc…) [at least the ones I’ve had to fix], the things are damn reliable & Dell is kind enough to provide a full break down set of instructions that show you every step of the way how to repair or replace anything.
NOT LIKE THIS ON THE ACER, I couldn’t find a manual, so I winged it.
When I get down to the motherboard, I notice solder splotches just about everywhere, the only reason for this is carelessness at the Acer factory, plain and simple.
Once I finally get to the power jack, I notice that 1 pin that’s connecting to the mobo is COMPLETELY BLACK, the only time I’ve ever seen solder like this is when you do a really really bad job soldering that results in a cold joint. So, I used some de-soldering braid & got all of the solder off (first you apply a new layer of solder, then you remove it all with the braid, don’t ask me why, but it works wonders), 2 of the other pins looked like the solder job wasn’t done very well either, so I de-soldered them as well.
I went ahead & re-soldered the pins back to the mobo, threw the battery in & low and behold! The problem is gone. I clean up the board using alcohol on swabs & more importantly removed the solder splotches that were all over the board. I finished putting it back together about an hour and a half ago, and its been running like new (while you’re in there, make sure you blow the cob webs out of the fans & heatsinks, you won’t regret it)!
Moral of the story, its not hard to fix, if your computer isn’t under warranty, consider fixing it yourself or having a competent friend who can solder take care of it for you.
I bought Acer Aspire 9110 laptop just over a year ago and cost enough! I’m experiencing a power problem - constantly having wriggle the cable in the socket to get mains power. Tried another tested (and working) adapter with same issue.
It seems nobody has found a solution so does it look like a sending off to be fixed sort of problem?
If you have to wiggle the power cable in the socket in order to get power to the laptop and new adapter didn’t fix the problem, then there is something wrong with the DC power jack. The jack either loose or broken. I’m not familiar with your model and not sure if the jack is permanently attached to the motherboard or the jack is located on a separate harness, but in any case it’s necessary to open up the laptop and take a look at the jack.
If the jack is soldered on the motherboard you’ll have to either resolder the existing jack or replace it with a new one.
If the jack is located on a separate harness, you’ll have to replace the harness.
I have a HP Pavilion ze4325 notebook that will not turn on. The AC adapter has been checked out as good and the AC power light comes on but the notebook will not turn on with AC or battery. No sound, no power on light, nothing. Any ideas as to what might be wrong?
I believe the power button is located on the switchboard. It’s possible you have a bad switchboard or it might be a problem with the motherboard. I would try replacing the switchboard first. It’s pictured on the page 48 in the maintenance and service guide for HP Pavilion ze4325US notebook PC.
My Toshiba laptop shut down by itself while working. All light indicators were out. clicking the power button did not help. After few minutes, I pressed the power button, the laptop came on but shut down again after few moment. Since then it is dead and does not power up. Any idea what could be the problem?
Test the power adapter first. Plug the adapter into the laptop and check if the power LED lights up. If the LED is still off, most likely the adapter is bad. Here’s my guess. The power adapter died while you were working on the laptop. After that the laptop worked for a while until the battery got discharged and finally shut down. The laptop will not power up anymore because you have a dead adapter and empty battery. Find a voltmeter and test if the adapter puts out any power at all.
Without warning my Toshiba EA60-199 laptop has gone dead. Basically it will not power up, with power supply plugged in there is no power light up, and the power supply gives out a very faint whistling noise?? I have tried a new power supply and that too whistles. A local PC shop suspects the mother board. Is there an art to opening these laptops up so I can get to the power jack etc on the mother board? I have undone all the screws but it still won’t split as there is a screw hidden behind DVD drive, but I can’t get the DVD drive out without removing that screw. It’s like the chicken or the egg.
I think that you are on the right track. I would open it up and check if the power jack is properly connected to the motherboard. It’s not enough just remove all screws on the bottom of the laptop, if you want to split the case. Most likely, the DVD drive is also secured by a screw located under the keyboard. I have created a disassembly guide for Toshiba Satellite A60 and I think it could be very close to EA60. Check it out.
Also, I would find somebody who can test the fuse on the motherboard. It also could be your problem. Just recently one tech helped me to fix a “dead” motherboard simply by replacing the fuse.
BTW, I think that a faint whistling noise might be normal and doesn’t mean that the adapter is bad.