I have a Dell Inspiron 9100. Mine kept on shutting down randomly and eventually got worse. I got a laptop technician out and at first he thought it was overheating but it turned out to be the AC plug going into the back. Every time it moved around the laptop turns off. This implied that it was something to do with the motherboard. I only use this as a spare laptop now, but want to have a hand at fixing it myself. What would you suggest? Is there any kind of botch job I could try before buying a whole new motherboard?
It’s possible that the power jack (the socket where you plug the adapter) is loose or damaged. When you move the AC plug inside the power jack it shorts the motherboard and because of that the laptop shuts down.
It’s necessary to disassemble the laptop, remove the motherboard and take a closer look at the power jack. If it’s broken or loose you may fix the problem without replacing the whole motherboard.
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 Sony Vaio PCG-FRV37. I bought it used and it works fine as long as I have the battery inserted while using AC power. The battery is a few years old and could stand to be replaced, however, I don’t want to get a new one until I correct the AC problems I’m having. If I try to start up the unit with AC power alone, it starts to boot up and the monitor comes on. But then it immediately shuts off. From there I can’t even perform this “false start” sequence unless I unplug the AC adapter from the unit and plug it in again. Press power and then…same thing. Sometimes it will stay on long enough to give me the “Windows Safe Mode” screen, but before you’ve had enough time to read it, it shuts off. If I leave the battery in the unit, I can start it up. When I get through the user log in and actually get to my desktop page, I notice a lot of activity from the “Power Meter” power monitoring icon. When you bring the power meter page up, you will see the power status keeps jumping back and forth randomly between modes of charging. Current Power Source AC power, then Batteries, then AC , then Batteries again. Sometimes it’s slow between changes and sometimes it changes a couple of times a second. If you pull the battery out of the unit, it of course shuts off because for that instant it jumps from AC power to Battery power, it sees no battery and out it goes. I’ve checked the voltage on the AC adapter and it reads 19.5V as it should. I’ve also tried removing various items from the computer in systematic fashion (keyboard, static guard? various screws to see if continuity was an issue, etc.) but to no avail. It’s a nice computer and I got it real cheap so I’d like to fix it as long as it doesn’t past that point to where it makes more sense to buy a new one. I’d appreciate any help anyone could give me.Thanks.
I think you might have a problem with the power jack. It’s either a broken power jack or a loose connection between the power jack and the motherboard. If you want to fix the laptop, you’ll have to take it apart and take a closer look at the power jack. Replace the power jack if it’s broken or resolder the jack.
I have a Dell Latitude D600 notebook with either a bad power jack or a damaged connection between the power jack and the system board. The power converter will connect and run the machine, and the battery will charge, but the connection is flaky–it will go out and the battery will run down without me noticing until it’s dry, and if I move it and plug it in again, it takes a lot of jiggling to get a connection. I’ve tried it with a known good converter–same problem.
I would like to do as much of the legwork as possible–preferably everything short of the actual resoldering or replacement–to cut down on how much I impose on my friend who can do that.
It’s been ages since I used a multimeter, but I can look it up and refresh my memory. I can get the system board out safely, etc.
How do I visually inspect or otherwise test the system to determine if the connection from the jack to the board is bad or not?
I found a source to order the jack if I need one.
What do I need to know about the model-specific pin setup (if you can tell me) to either fix the connections or install the new jack?
Again, I can do everything but the actual soldering, since I’m not experienced with that and I’m all thumbs.
I *don’t* remember much of my basic electronics, but if you tell me in tech-ese I can either figure it out or get somebody to translate it.
Thanks in advance for taking time reading this, and a thousand thanks if you can help me.
First, you’ll have to remove the system board from the notebook and take a closer look at the power jack, use a magnifying glass if needed. Examine the jack pins. If the power jack pins are broken (very unlikely), you’ll see that, you will not need a multimeter. In this case you’ll have to purchase a new power jack and replace the broken one.
In most cases the power jack isn’t broken, it just doesn’t make a good contact with the system board. Examine the place where the pins connect to the system board. Most likely you’ll see a crack in the solder that holds the positive pin in place and the pin itself will be black because of oxidation. In this case you’ll have to resolder the jack. When I repair a problem like that, I usually complete the following steps:
- unsolder the power jack from the system board. Use a solder sucker to remove the solder. This step requires some soldering experience. If you are not careful enough, you can damage soldering pads on the motherboard.
- clean up the power jack pins and apply a coat of fresh solder on all pins
- clean up the soldering pads on the system board and coat them too
- install the power jack back on the system board and solder it
You don’t need knowledge of electronics to replace the power jack, but you’ll need some soldering skills. If you’ve never soldered before, find someone who can help you. Don’t do it yourself or you can damage the system board.
Laptop switching to battery power while turned on with AC adaptor
Model: Toshiba Satellite A70-TS100E
I was wondering if you could help me in identifying the cause of this problem.
While turned on, the laptop will switch to battery power even if connected with the AC adaptor (sometimes during boot-up, or after a while) until the battery drains out, he then goes to hibernation (the battery light is off). If no battery in the laptop, it will shut down, and the AC light will blink very fast. The battery (li-ion) will only charge up to 10%, where it then jumps right up to 100%, and will discharge from 100% to 90% then jump to 0%, go to hibernation, and fails to complete the process, shutting down. The adaptor makes a small “camera flash charging” sound, stabilizing at 19v. When charging, it repeatedly makes the “charging sound” Faulty AC adaptor? Or Faulty battery? Or Both?
I think you might have a few different problems at the same time.
First problem: the laptop switches to battery power even with connected AC adapter. Most likely you have a faulty power jack. It’s either broken or loose. It’s a known issue with Satellite A70/A75 laptops and you can fix it by replacing/resoldering the power jack or relocating it outside laptop case.
It also could be a problem with the power cord. Find a multimeter and check the AC adapter. See if the power cuts off when you jiggle the power cord. If it does, replace the adapter.
Second problem: the battery will discharge from 100% to 90% and then jump to 0%. It sounds like a bad battery.
I have a Sony Vaio power jack replacement I am doing and have run into trouble. According to your information posted on Laptop Repair Guy site, I may have the problem you described there, specifically under the UPDATE.
My problem is that the foil pads have lifted during de-soldering on two jack pin holes in the motherboard, and I am wondering if the board is ruined because these pads are trace pads. The foil “ring” encompasses the diameter of the oval pin hole, on top and bottom, which leads me to believe they are essential and if unrepairable, then the board can’t be salvaged.
One person has suggested using thin foil to coat the holes, you suggested a wire?
Top arrow foil pad intact, bottom arrow lifted. Any help appreciated!
I think that the motherboard you have is repairable. It’s hard to say from you photo, if there are any traces that contact power jack pads on the pictured side. It looks like all traces are located on the opposite side. It doesn’t really matter what you use (a thin foil coat or a wire) to contact the pads from one side of the system board to the pads on the other side. The main idea is to get a good solid connection between the POWER JACK PINS and the TRACES on the motherboard. On the Laptop Repair Guy site I have suggested a wire because power jack holes on Toshiba system boards are much smaller then on your system board and it’s almost impossible to coat the hole with a thin foil. If you can use a foil, I guess it would be even better.
So, you can try next. Clean up the pads on both motherboard sides and apply new fresh solder on it. Insert the power jack back into the system board and solder it to the remaining pads. Now find a thin coated wire, clean up one end and solder it to a power jack pin (the pin that wasn’t soldered to the pad). Run the wire over the motherboard side and solder it on the opposite side to the same pin, OR to the trace that connects with the pin.
Another option would be to take the system board to a local electronic repair shop. A professional tech can solder the jack for 10-15 minutes. You already removed the system board from the laptop, so it will not cost much to solder the power jack. Keep the system board in ESD bag because it’s sensitive to static electricity and can be easily damaged.
As a last resort, you can relocate the power jack outside the laptop case. Most likely Sony power jack has a different pin layout then Toshiba power jack, so make sure not to mix up wires if you decide to go this route.