Power Connector
A common weak spot on most laptops is the DC power jack. If someone trips on the wire while you have the power adaptor plugged into your laptop, chances are that the power jack will get damaged.
On most laptops the DC power jack is soldered directly to the motherboard and there are only three or four small pins holding it in place. Unfortunately that makes the power jack quite weak. Any sideways pulling of the DC power cord while attached to the laptop will usually dislodge at least one of these pins, breaking the solder around it. Modern laptops use quite a lot of power, from about 70W to 120W or even more. The bad electrical connection from the dislodged pin will cause sparks and heating that will eventually burn a hole through the motherboard and can even be a fire hazard. The usual signs of that are:
- The battery is not charging properly or stays at half charge despite that you have been using the power adaptor.
- The screen flickers (the brightness is changing) while the power cord is plugged in. This is caused by the laptop switching between DC power (screen is brighter) and battery power (screen is dimmer).
- The DC plug gets hot after a few minutes of use and may even smell of burning.
- There are “scratching” sounds coming from the DC jack.
All of these symptoms are caused by poor contact between the DC power jack and the motherboard.
There are several models of laptops that are resistant to this problem. All older Dell laptops that use the three pin DC power jack are usually not affected, probably because the power cord pops out easier. Also some older Sony Vaio models, and 1-2 Toshiba models where the DC jack is attached to the case away from the motherboard and all new Apple laptops, where the DC power cord is magnetically attached to prevent any damage to the laptop if someone trips on it.
To test for broken power jack:
- Remove the battery
- Plug in the power cord
- Start the laptop
- Gently wiggle the DC power plug on the back of the laptop
If your laptop shuts down abruptly (looses power), find a repair shop that can resolder or change the DC power jack as soon as possible, as the motherboard has already started to burn around the dislodged pins. Some repair shops will offer to replace the whole motherboard, however the price of a new motherboard together with the labour charge for installing it will usually be greater than the current value of your laptop and can go well over a thousand dollars.
Replacing or re-soldering the DC power jack is not an easy job too. It usually takes two to three hours depending on the damage and the model of the laptop. To reach the power jack, the laptop has to be completely disassembled and the motherboard taken out. Then if the board around the dislodged pin is badly burned, the power jack has to be un-soldered and the board has to be patched. After that a different power jack has to be installed, attached to the case of the laptop and connected with wires to the motherboard, as the patched board wouldn’t be strong enough to support the original type of power jack that was soldered directly to the board.
to keep your laptop in use , why not use a external battery charger, this will at least keep your computer working between charges
I spilt a glass of wine over my 1 year old laptop and now it will not boot up.
I have been told the mother board is stuffed and will need to be replaced. This is not cost effective considering the cost of a new mother board and the labour costs to install it.
I would like to know if the mother board can be repaired
MAC’s just dont seem to have the same dramas. My PC (home made server) powerpack blew when there was some building happening nearby. I assumed a rush of power when it was turned off and then back on again. Could be?
Hello,
My Adapter isn’t working. Ive gone through alot of links tried all of these types of ways to fix it but it’s not working at all, none of them that i tried worked. Right now my battery percentage is at 0. Its only alive because its plugged in. I have not contact the service or anything. I’m using a Dell computer, i would tell you what kind is it but i dont know what it is. I don’t know all that type of stuff. Anyways i dont know what it deals with i was about to buy another adapter but after looking at the links i saw that you dont have to buy another or it is a bad idea to do that. I dont know what it deals with or what i need to do to fix it (thats why im asking you guys). Also, this computer isn’t old its actually kinda new its about 3 or 2 months old and my battery has stop charging. I have been using the same battery sense i got it. Please help me with this.
Thanks
My husband dropped my Hp G60 Notebook. I was told that the power jack broke off from the motherboard but we can still “tweak” it to charge the computer is it worth the cost to have this repaired or to just invest in a new laptop?
WERE DO I GET THE POWER CONNECTOR FO MY HP PRAVILIAN 5100 FROM , AT A LOCAL OR WHAT?
Hi people..
I got a laptop HP dv6500. now the proplem is black scree from over heating these models are known for this issue is a design. i pulled it apart to cleaned the heat sink when i put it all together i had this issue.
once i put on the battery or even the power cord the laptop turns on the fan runs for 2sec and it stops, i have power running to the HDD and front display is on, when i press the on button nothing happens. all led to HDD and few other LEDs are on just that there is power running through. I know i put all cables and every thing back to where it is
any ideas how to slove this please help.
Thanking you kindly..
My laptop shuts down abruptly and after reading your post I got the power jack repaired.
Thanks for the article.
i have a dell latitude c510/c610 and the jack broke off of the motherboard with a part of the motherboard. is there a way i can fix that or find another way to get power to it ?
my power adaptor blew and caused the pc to go off. after trying to switch it on, it won’t come on. but after consulting some IT personnels, they said it was the power connector and a component on the motherboard that was fried…. i need your advice on this issue