# Power Plug In on Laptop



## brokenknee (Dec 13, 2008)

Has anyone repaired or tried to repair the jack were the power cord plugs into your laptop? My daughters' Toshiba satellite M55 (I think) will no longer charge. Someone tripped over the power cord and broke something loose inside. 

Are these jacks soldered to the mother board or something else? Is it a matter of just opening the thing up and re soldering it or do parts need to be replaced?

Any and all advice is appreciated. Thanks


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

It depends upon what broke
They are usually soldered to the MB, sometimes to a daughter board
I've opened up laptops to upgrade/fix things
I haven't had to fix a power connector


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

I've had one setting around for a year or so I started. Didn't take the first time for some reason and haven't been in the mood to get back into it to figure out what went wrong.

If you can get a MB at a good price, from all the reading I have done, that is what I would suggest rather than trying to repair.


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## brokenknee (Dec 13, 2008)

Thanks, I will have to talk to her to see what she wants to do. If it were mine I think I would open her up and give it a shot. I am not sure what she has on it or if she has backed it up recently (I am figuring she hasn't backed it up). I know she also has a desktop, so I think she keeps most of her important stuff on there.


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## DangerMouse (Jul 17, 2008)

It cost me $80 to have mine re-soldered by a 'repair shop' but it's loose again....
I now have a weight pushing against the cord to maintain a connection. It'll do until I can afford a new machine.
The jacks are cheaply soldered to the boards, and it doesn't take much to break them.

DM


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## brokenknee (Dec 13, 2008)

She said she was going to check with a local repair shop tomorrow. I will let you know what she found out once she tells me.


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

Resoldering is an option. However, there is also the possibility that the connector in the plug itself is bad. Sounds unlikely, but that's what happened to my laptop. If I didn't push the cord 'down' when plugged in it wouldn't charge. The port didn't look loose, so got a new power plug and voila - fixed. That was an HP laptop.


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## brokenknee (Dec 13, 2008)

Heard back from my daughter, Small repair shop said $300 for the repair. They recommended just buying a new laptop, take out the hard drive and put in an external drive that can be accessed to pull the info off it. When I talked to Best Buy they said it would be $400. 

Now my question would be, if I try to solder it, could I do damage to the hard drive? I know there is a possibility that I could fry the mother board, but at this stage of the game it really as much as a concern.


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## brokenknee (Dec 13, 2008)

hyunelan2 said:


> Resoldering is an option. However, there is also the possibility that the connector in the plug itself is bad. Sounds unlikely, but that's what happened to my laptop. If I didn't push the cord 'down' when plugged in it wouldn't charge. The port didn't look loose, so got a new power plug and voila - fixed. That was an HP laptop.


Pretty sure it broke something loose inside. She did try to push and move the connection around to get it to charge. She could get the charge light indicator to light up briefly but could not get it to stay on.


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## nap (Dec 4, 2007)

you would be hard pressed to do any damage to the components. On every one I have seen, there are no electronic components close enough to be of concern and if you ever saw how these things are soldered, you would realize they can withstand quite a bit of heat without damage.


I know when I was doing mine, I found a very good tutorial online that described where all the screws were and little hidden latches and the sort. Lots of pics.

If you can find one for your computer, I am sure it would be helpful in finding that one little screw that you missed so the thing will not come apart.


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## brokenknee (Dec 13, 2008)

Thanks, I will get it from her when I go to the cities on Monday, she told me today she purchased a new laptop last night, so I will have some time to try to figure it out.


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## brokenknee (Dec 13, 2008)

nap said:


> you would be hard pressed to do any damage to the components. On every one I have seen, there are no electronic components close enough to be of concern and if you ever saw how these things are soldered, you would realize they can withstand quite a bit of heat without damage.
> 
> 
> I know when I was doing mine, I found a very good tutorial online that described where all the screws were and little hidden latches and the sort. Lots of pics.
> ...


Thanks, I found one right away that is pretty detailed. I will give it a shot, nothing to lose.


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## Thurman (Feb 9, 2009)

Actually I, a computer repair novice at that, have successfully repaired two (2) of these "power input jacks" now. One on my own Toshiba M35X and one on my grandson's Dell. Strangely enough, both input jacks were identical. I found them on evil bay. Yes, each were soldered to the Mother Boards but were not that hard to remove and replace. Actually the Dell was a broken solder point but being as I had gone into it that far, I replaced it. I found really good tutorials on YouTube as to how to take each unit apart and how to replace the power jacks. I do have some experience with working with electronics so that was a help. I believe it is a DIY project for someone who wants to get into the computer to do this. David


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## brokenknee (Dec 13, 2008)

I do plan on trying it. I forgot to bring the computer with me the last time I was at my daughters house. I will not get to the cities again until the end of next month. I hope I remember to grab it then.


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