Toshiba Satellite A75 failed power jack workaround
Today I received an email from Tony Sakariya (tsakariyaATyahooDOTcom) who was experiencing a problem with the power jack on his Toshiba Satellite A75 laptop. He’s been able to fix the problem by relocating the power jack outside the laptop case away from the system board.
I would like to share with others a tip for repairing their Toshiba A75 laptop for the DC Jack and battery charge problem.
I have a Toshiba A75-S209 for a year now. After the first 3 months it developed the exact same problem. Battery would not charge and I had to twist and turn the power jack to make the connection. Since it was in warranty, I returned it and they repaired and sent it back to me. The problem recurred again after about 4 months and I sent it again and they repaired it and worked fine for 5 more months and it failed. This is a design flaw with Toshiba. Now that I am out of warranty, I decided to repair it myself. Your guide for dismantling A75 was awesome. Thanks for the info. Now here is what I want to share with others. Resoldering the power jack with a new one does solve the problem for a while but it will reoccur. Hence I decided to bring out a wire with the Jack outside. Of course it looks dirty but it is a permanent solution. I am attaching the photo of the repair I did. I got the DC jack from ebay and insulated it with a electrical insulation tape. Now it is working fine, I do the connection and disconnection on the dangling power jack outside the laptop and hence no chance of breaking the soldering outside.
• Coil the pair of wire one round through the ventilation grill before taking it out as shown in the picture above. This is to prevent any external shock or force being directly transmitted to the soldering joints.
• Now we need to connect a new DC Jack to other end of the wire. I purchased the new DC jack from here for a price of $6. Shown in the picture above the white wire is the positive terminal (+) and hence must connect to the inner ring of the DC Jack. Similarly the blue wire being the negative terminal (-) should connect to the outer ring of the DC jack. Refer the picture below on how the wires are soldered to the DC Jack. Be careful not to short the leads as they are very close.
• Now neatly wind a round of insulation tape over the wire and especially on the exposed DC Jack exterior. This will prevent any short-circuit and also give a better appearance.
Toshiba Satellite A70/A75. Disassembly guide with pictures.
Valued Comments.
Submitted by Binney:
The workaround relocates the jack externally. When I did this, a short occurred between the metal casing on the top cover (the one removed with the guitar pick). This happens if the solder repair is too tall. I covered my repair with electrical insulation tape and that fixed the problem. It took me quite some time to figure out where the short was and would like to save others the headache.
Comments #282, 286 submitted by Jake and John:
Size N: DC Power Jack #274-1576 from radioshack works perfect and looks great. Costs $2.99, easier to solder, snugger fit, 5.5mm O.D. x 2.5mm I.D.
Here are some pictures of the end result of the repair with
the Radio Shack type jack. I added one of those quick release
key holder that I had lying around as a retention holder.Here is what it looks like unplugged: Power tip unplugged.
Here is what it looks like with the adapter plugged in and
the key holder reattached: Power tip plugged.
Entry Filed under: Laptop Tips and Tricks
May 29th, 2006 at 8:52 am
Thanks. I wish this was a permanent feature on laptops..i.e. all mechanically weak spots should be placed outside.
June 3rd, 2006 at 4:22 pm
What sort of a cord did u buy specifically? Did u use the current cord and just cut it out? Please explain step by step of what you got and how did u go ahead and installed it?
Thanks.
Adil.
June 3rd, 2006 at 9:57 pm
Have you ever worked on a Dell Latitude CSx H500GT? If so, how do you remove the keyboard and/or get inside to replace the fan, etc? Thanks in advance!
June 5th, 2006 at 3:10 pm
I tried something similar to what you did on your Toshiba, but I put in a new DC Power Jack from Radio Shack (Part # 274-1563). I had to enlarge the hole in the case a little bit, but now it works fine and looks like it belongs there.
June 6th, 2006 at 7:40 am
Hello Adil, I used standard 22 SWG multicore wire. Two of them, about 12″ each. On the main board you will see that there are four soldering points connecting the powerjack. Actually you will require only two points (one for the +ve terminal and one for -ve terminal). If you look closely you will 3 points in a row and testing it using a multimeter reveals that they are electically connected. so when soldering a wire over that you may solder all the three points together. I left the damaged DC jack intact and soldered the wire on the connection point on the reverse side. Then I took the wire out of the casing after coiling it one round on the case as shown in the picture so that any movement is not tranfered to the soldering points. After that on the other end I soldered the new DC jack. Be very careful with the terminals (+ve and -ve, the inside portion of the DC jack is +ve and outside is -ve). I used insulation tape to cover the open DC jack. If you would like, I can send you a document with pictures and explanation as I am aware how to post the images on this site. Please let me know if any clarification is required.
June 6th, 2006 at 8:15 am
Hello highspeeddirt, I haven’t worked on Dell Latitude CSx H500GT. Hence I am sorry, I am unable to provide any information on that. The service manual is not available even on Dell site.
June 6th, 2006 at 8:21 am
Hello Jim, Well, the basic idea of taking the connection out of the box was to avoid any shock to the soldering points when we insert and remove the power plug. As I mentioned in the post, replacing the jack on the main board did work for some time but the problem reoccured owing to the fact tha there is nothing to take the force/shock. If there was a clamp on the DC jack or a holding to the case this problem would not have occured. Now I am confendely using the repaired laptop without any fear of breaking the soldering once again!
June 9th, 2006 at 10:27 am
Hey, im attempting to do the same thing, and I just have one question, you made it clear that the inside piece of the jack is positive and the outside negative, but, on the laptop itself, are the three soldered dots in a row positive? or is the single one behind it? thankyou
June 9th, 2006 at 11:07 pm
On the picture above, the positive cable is white and the negative is blue.
June 10th, 2006 at 8:43 pm
Hi Andy,cj is correct. The white cable is positive and blue one is negative. The three points in a row are negative and electrically short, hence there is no harm in soldering the three points together as I did.
June 19th, 2006 at 8:40 am
Where did you get the new DC Jack that is connected to the other end of the wire? Can you send a picture? I got Radio Shack 273-1563..is that okay? Thanks.
June 19th, 2006 at 12:09 pm
i’m having this problem with my toshiba A75-S226 and was quoted approx $300 to replace the motherboard. i’d rather find an inexpensive, permanent alternative, and this may be it. one problem is i’m completely naive to DC Jacks and electrical repair and the such. i need this explained to me very explicitly.
i think i understand the concept of soldering the wires to the reverse points of the bad dc jack, as long as it is the same in my A75-S226 (it shouldn’t be any different in my model, right?). the thing that i foresee posing a problem is the alternate dc jack.
1) can i use one of the Radio Shack ones mentioned above (part # 273-1563 or part # 274-1563)? would these work for my specific model laptop?
2) once i have either the Radio Shack dc jack or the one off ebay, how exactly do i connect it to the wires out of the laptop? do i solder them? could anyone provide picture of this?
thank you all in advance for your help!
June 19th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
Nick, humanspider,
Recently I received an email from one of the readers. It has more detailed explanations for relocating the power jack. I’ll post it soon, when I have some free time.
June 21st, 2006 at 9:08 am
Tony,
Thanks for the detailed explaination, but I dont quite understand how to deal with the DC Jack.Dont I need the adapter in the middle to convert the power? Do I just put the dc jack on the wire and directly connect it on the wall?
Please advise, and if you can provide additional pics, that would be wonderful. I dont want to burn off the motherboard, if u know what i mean ;). Hope to get a quick response.
Adil.
June 21st, 2006 at 1:38 pm
Adil,
You still need the AC adapter. You just relocate the power jack from the system board. You solder wires to the system board and solder the power jack to the other end.
June 25th, 2006 at 10:39 pm
[…] I had to wiggle the AC adapter plug in the laptop jack to make it charge the battery Toshiba Satellite A75 has power problem. Hi, my laptop began having issues with the power jack about 1 week ago. We had to wiggle the plug in the jack to make it charge the battery. Yesterday I could not get the battery to charge at all with the adapter… none of the lights showing ac power or battery charge light up. […]
June 30th, 2006 at 5:49 am
Hello Everybody, I have compiled a detailed document that explains the complete repair process with pictures. If you would like to get a copy of it just send me an email mentioned above (tsakariya AT Yahoo dot COM) or let me see if I can post it here on the forum.
I purchased the DC via ebay for $6.
Regards,
Tony Sakariya
July 5th, 2006 at 10:23 pm
Back in February, I used advice on this website, bought an iron, followed the very well explained disassembly instructions, and re-soldered the DC jack to the board. 3 months later, in May, problem shows up again. My guess is that the recent hot temperatures (I live in Montreal Canada) were a factor.
I was then fed up with this and was even online shopping for a new laptop. But after realizing I had no money for that, I came across this post suggesting taking out the DC jack.
I figured out, hey, nothing to loose, tried it, and it works great now! I just want to give a more detailed explanation for anyone who has the will to do it but doesn’t know too much about how to do it. Think about the 2-3 weeks you’ll have to spend without your laptop if you take it to service, plus the 300$ to replace your motherboard if your warranty’s dead…I know I couldn’t afford both.
What you’ll need:
- Electronics tool kit…to remove the zillion screws holding the laptop together (5-10 bucks)
- A 25W iron for electronics that you can buy in any hardware shop. Cost: about 10-15 bucks.
- Solder: It generally comes with the iron but can be bought separately for 2$
- Connection wires: I used 18G connection wires at 8.99$ for a pack of 3 at radio shack
First, take the notebook apart. Check out and print out the a70/75 disassembly instructions. When you follow them step by step and work carefully, taking this notebook apart is a piece of cake.
Second, you remove the DC jack from the board. To do this, once you do have your motherboard in your hands, you need to use the soldering iron to remove the solder points. It takes a little bit of time as you gotta be quick in removing the solder while it’s hot. I used the tip of a flat screwdriver to do this while heating the solder. (CJ2600: I would recommend using a solder sucker tool because if you use a screwdriver, you can damage the traces on the system board). You need to remove each one on the top of the board, and also the two underneath holding the jack to the board. This is the hardest part of it all really…
Third, you connect the wires. I used the standard red and black so as to avoid confusion. Then you solder the red one to the board, in the whole where the DC jack pin use to connect. That means the red = positive. You connect the other end to the now loose jack. You do the same thing for the black (negative), which you will connect to the flat pin on the top of the DC jack (e.g. on the side where the cord connects). Then I insulated the DC jack using electrical tape. Please make sure that the connections don’t touch each other before reassembling your laptop!
And this is it, as simple as 1, 2, and 3!! The pigtail option is certainly not the most sexy looking solution but effective and cheap! By working properly you’ll have your laptop up and running AND charging in less than an hour. To me that’s much better than 2-3 weeks! Thanks to the person that came up with this idea, I just wanted to add some detail so that anyone understands how to do it.
Hope this can help others with this stupid problem!
Jim
July 6th, 2006 at 6:48 pm
You can use any jack that will fit the plug. It is very low voltage, can’t hurt you. Take the new jack from Radio Shack, leave about a 12″ tail and cut and strip the wires. Using a meter, if you don’t have one, Harbor Frieght Tools has them for $3.99. Plug in the adaptor and measure the voltage on the striped ends. Pay close attenion to if it says negitive before the voltage. This will tell you if you have a good connection between the to connectors. It will also tell you which one is postive and which is negitive. If the wires are not clearly marked, I recommend putting a small piece of red shrink wrap around the positive wire.
July 23rd, 2006 at 12:34 pm
Your instructin are simple ,But i had a small problem.
I done every thing you said to do When i plug everything in theirs no power. All i hear is a beeping sound from my AC adapter box . When i usa my old connection it powers up ,but Now my monitor is not working . don,t worry about it my computer is out of warranty.
HOw can i fix this problem? Thank you
July 25th, 2006 at 10:56 am
Marcus, I doubt if you got the terminals interchaged. Make sure that the +ve terminal is indeed connecting the the +ve terminal of the AC adaptor plug (inner ring) and the -ve terminal is connecting to the -ve terminal of the AC adaptor plug. Also make sure that there are no short circuit, it may have happened while the solder was applied. Use a multimeter to ensure the above mentioned points. Since your laptop works fine with the old connection, it is most probably due to terminal interchange (most likely) or short circuit in the new connection.
August 1st, 2006 at 5:30 am
i have the toshiba satellite A75-S231 model
i am facing the same problem what others facing
how to remove the dc jack frm the board and how to replace the with new one
where i have to buy that
and how to remove frm the board
can u explain in detail so that i can fix the problem of mine
i am new to this type of issue and i managed to remove the complete laptop assumble but i am not able to remove the dc jack
i am waiting for ur reply
b’cos my laptop kept one
with regards,
sathya
August 1st, 2006 at 5:12 pm
Well, I purchased a new power plug from ebay, desoldered the old one from the laptop and soldered the new on onto the laptop mobo.
Note: You need a 40watt iron to remove the factory solder and desoldering braid.
The system gets powers and turns on; however, when it attempts to boot from a device (hdd, cdrom) it immediately powers down.
i can access the BIOS settings, and it will stay on
I can also remove all bootable devices, other thank the LAN, and it will continuously attempt to boot from LAN and not power down.
I am seriously confused… I had a similar problem with a new build on a desktop machine, but I just cleared the CMOS. Unfortunatly there is no jumper to clear the CMOS and the CMOS battery is very finely soldered to the board. I don’t want to detatch it.
Any ideas??
Thanks,
Jon
August 1st, 2006 at 6:18 pm
UPDATE
————————
For some stupid reason, you have to have the battery in the laptop.. I don’t understand..
So far everything is working…
I recommened soldering on the a new DC power plug, i’ll check this post later if anyone is interested in my experience.
It reassmbled clean and i don’t have a crazy cable out the back of my laptop..
August 2nd, 2006 at 5:42 am
Update
———————————————————————
The laptop will not run from DC power after it POSTS. It will drop the DC power and pull from the battery; however, it will charge the battery while the laptop is turned off.
The front panel LEDs inidcate that the DC power cable is plugged in, but the BIOS seems to choose NOT to use the DC power.
I will continue to troubleshoot the issue. I plan on flashing the BIOS. I need to fool the hardware into pulling juice from the DC plug. More updates to come.
Kindest Regards,
Jon
August 3rd, 2006 at 11:17 pm
[…] If you have never soldered before, then it’s not a good idea to get your first experience on a still working system board. I would recommend finding a repair shop or a local computer geek who can help you replace the jack. It’s shouldn’t be very expensive because you’ve already removed the system board. […]
August 6th, 2006 at 12:16 pm
I have a Pavilion zt1135, my power jack was broke pretty much in two and I bought another one. I’m a confused to which points are positive and negative on the motherboard and the same on the dc jack. I dont think mine is like the one in the pic above. Can someone please help me?? Thanks is advance!
August 7th, 2006 at 9:19 am
Paige,You will need a multimeter/voltmeter to dtermine the polarity of the terminals. When connected to power measure the DC voltage at the points using the multimeter probe. If the reading shows a positve value then the point under the red probe is +ve and point under the black probe is the -ve terminal. If the reading in the multimeter shows a negative value the polarity is reverse, that is point under red probe is -ve and that of black is +ve. In many cases it can be generalized that the inner portion or ring of the DC plug from the AC adaptor is +ve and outer is -ve, similarly with the DC socket, the inner point is +ve and outer is -ve. This does not hold true for all the systems hence you will need to confirm the same with a multimeter. Also you will find a small diagram on the AC adaptor indicating which side is +ve and which one is -ve. Once that is determined you may then determine the polarity of the DCd socket it connects to. This information would further help in determining the polarity of the soldering points on the mother board. Good Luck !
August 8th, 2006 at 6:17 pm
Today I fixed my Toshiba laptop’s power jack problem by following the discussions in this thread. I am happy that the computer is working again and want to say thanks to the site for the information and to Tony for his good idea.
When I took apart the laptop I found the jack’s pin was already broken and the jack fell off the board when the board was lifted. I went to Radio Shack and bought a 40w iron, solder, 18G wires, a multimeter, a # 274-1563 jack, and electric tape. The rest just went as what the instruction showed.
I ended up not using the Radio Shack jack. I soldered the wires to the broken jack and it worked fine. The Radio Shack jack does work for the plug, but the old jack is better suited for the pigtail.
The multimeter proved to be useful as I used it to test the jacks and the soldered connections.
BTW, I also cleaned the heatsink after dismantling the laptop. I was amazed how much dust it got there. If you visit the other thread on this site about the overheating problem, it is just like what the picture there shows!
August 17th, 2006 at 9:02 pm
Hey I just want to say, I’m having the same problem and the Fujitsu guy said i’d need to pay AU$500-2000 on top of a AU$100 labour fee!!! Gonna try and do this myself now. tho it’s a little different for me, coz i can already see that the male black plastic thing has snapped and come off the power jack!!! might have to buy a new one!!!
August 21st, 2006 at 5:38 pm
You ‘da man!! You saved me about $500. The repair shop wanted me to buy a completely new system board and pay for labor. I went for the internal fix, but it worked fine. Thank you so much!
August 22nd, 2006 at 11:19 pm
I have had the power problem for about a year on my A75and have been going through all kinds of wiggling and ducttaping in certain positions to get it to work (and trying not to bump it). It finally quit all together the other day and i found this fix. i went through the whole process and put everything back together and turned it on and it still does nothing. monumentally frustrating! i had my buddy do the soldering and it all appears to be good. i put a meter on it and there is no short between the wires and everything still works with the battery but not even a flicker of light on the power when i hook it up to AC. i even skipped the dc connector and hooked it up directly to the wire harness but nothing. not sure where to go from here… my battery is down to 10% and i cant even charge it. any tips or ideas? TIA
August 22nd, 2006 at 11:29 pm
Mike,
Have you tested the AC adapter itself? May be the power plug on the adapter is bad?
August 23rd, 2006 at 7:32 am
im not that adept at reading the meter but we did hook it up to the meter and it looked like it was working (it was giving similar readings as the AC adapter on my work laptop). i guess thats the only other thing it could be though unless something went out on the system board (does that sound likely if everything works fine with battery power?) how would i check to make sure the AC adapter is really working? is there a certain reading it should be giving? thanks
August 23rd, 2006 at 6:23 pm
Mike, The AC adptor for Toshiba A75 has an output voltage of 19V DC. Make sure you get that reading. The most common mistake people make is interchange of terminals. Please make sure that the +ve terminal of yout DC jack is really connecting to the +ve terminal on the board. Please see the picture to identifying the terminal. On the factory Toshiba AC adaptor the +ve terminal is the inner ring of the DC plug. You may use your multimter in DC Volt meter mode and measure the voltage and its should read as 19V and not -19V when the multimeter probes are touched to the correct soldered points. Red probe should be +ve and balck prove -ve.
August 23rd, 2006 at 8:06 pm
Thanks Tony, I figured out the multimeter and was able to check my AC adapter. it read 19.28 or something so I’m sure it is ok. I also picked up a universal one at Best Buy and it read the same. I stuck the + wire in the adapter hole (of the new universal adapter) and held the ground to the outside of the plug and was able to measure 19.28 at the place where i soldered the wire to the board so power is getting there. I can turn the power on with the battery in (the orange charge light glows intermittently just with the battery running things) and when I hook up the AC it seems to have no effect whatsoever. I don’t get what could be wrong since my original symptoms were textbook powerjack. is it possible that its not grounding correctly or something? my only clue to anything unusual is that the orange light flashes on every few seconds with that battery in but that may be because the battery is down to 7% charge. Can it be anything other than the system board? Like I say, it works fine with the battery but now im almost outta juice and no way to charge back up. I have a spare battery as well and it does the same thing so I know its not the battery. Just my luck, im in the 2% chance of it being the most expensive thing to fix. *sigh*
August 23rd, 2006 at 9:09 pm
Hey Mike,
Did you remove the power jack during the repair or you just re-soldered the pins? Did you replace the power jack itself? If you didn’t may be there is something wrong inside the jack?
Here’s another thought. Take a look at the first picture in the post. Do you see that the positive terminal actually doesn’t connect to anything on the top side of the board? That’s because all traces and connections are on the other side.
Here’s my piece of art.
As you see, the positive pin goes through the hole in the system board and you solder it on the top side. Right? What if the trace between the top side and the bottom side is broken somewhere inside the hole? I’ve seen it before a few times. In this case everything looks nice and clean on the top side. When you plug in the AC adapter, you get normal voltage readings between “+” and “-“ terminals, but the power DOESN’T go to the motherboard at all, because there is no connection between the top and bottom sides. Test with the multimeter if there is a connection between the top and the bottom.
If the trace inside the hole is broken you still can fix it. You can run a wire to connect the top and the bottom sides. Be careful not to short something on the board.
August 24th, 2006 at 8:31 am
Thanks for the reply c/2600.
My solder job looks just like yours in the top picture of the main post. i got a new jack and hooked it up per your instructions. I am confident that everything is correct on the top side of the board. I will check to make sure that there is continuity going to the back side of the board tonight.
In your drawing, you show a power jack on the bottom side of the board. sorry, im not up on electronics lingo but does that just mean the leads that are embedded in the plastic on the bottom side or is there a physical little box there? because there is nothing on the bottom side of my board except the little trails of embedded wire or whatever you call it. I didnt find any other pieces when i took everything apart so i think the only piece i removed from the board is the power jack on the top side of the board where i then soldered wires in accordance to your photo.
i will check to make sure there is continuity between my top soldered wire and the bottom side “+ trail”. does this sound like we are on the same page? thanks again very much for your assistance!
August 24th, 2006 at 8:55 am
First of all I would like to give a credit to Tony. All pictures and all instructions for relocating the power jack outside the laptop case have been created by him.
The main idea of the picture is to show that the top solder point and the bottom “+” trace in this model are connected.
I’m not an artist, so my drawing looks much different then a real jack and real motherboard.
Yep, we are on the same page.
Unfortunately, my limited English doesn’t always allow me to put in writing everything in my head.
August 24th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Thank you so much for this wonderful site! I have an A75 with a broken connection on the DC jack and resoldered it with no problem. When I put the laptop back together I got the dreaded blue power light with no HDD / DVD activity. Fans spin for a few seconds then stop. I stripped the board down to the bare minimum and still no luck. I have tried reseating the CPU, using an external monitor, using extra memory chips, all to no avail. I think that the system board is still good and that there is something else I am overlooking. Do you have any ideas? Thanks in advance!
August 24th, 2006 at 7:05 pm
Ok, I checked the solder passing through the board and it does have good continuity going from the topside where I soldered the wire on to the bottom side + hole where the jack used to be. Is there another place i can check to see if juice is getting to the motherboard? or narrow down where the problem is? i dont see where the juice goes from that hole as there are no leads or tracks coming off if that I can see. thanks again for all your help!
August 24th, 2006 at 7:32 pm
Kevin,
I would try to minimize the system completely and even remove the system board from the laptop base. I usually assemble it on my bench with ESD mat. With Satellite A75 you need only the motherboard, the CPU with cooling module and an external monitor. The memory is already imbedded into the system board and power button is located on the systemboard too. Connect the external monitor and turn it on. If you get video on the monitor, start assembling the laptop back and test after each installed component. If it doesn’t start with video, then apparently the system board is bad.
August 24th, 2006 at 7:47 pm
Mike,
I have one more guess but I’m not sure if it’s correct. There should be a fuse somewhere close to the power jack. If the fuse is bad, the motherboard will not get power and you can fix the problem by replacing the fuse.
Here’s the thing I’m not really sure about. Would it be possible to start the laptop from the battery power if the fuse is bad?
I do not repair motherboards, so I cannot help you to locate the fuse. I just looked at Satellite 1135 motherboard and I found a small component located very close to the power jack with “FU” on it, I think it’s a fuse. If the fuse is good, you should get a good continuity between fuse ends.
Hey guys, if you know the answer and can help to locate and test the fuse, please leave a comment.
August 24th, 2006 at 8:28 pm
CJ,
Thanks for the quick response! In another part of your site someone with the same problem mentioned he had to reseat the CPU as many as 30-40 times to get the laptop to boot properly. I’ve read that the CPU mount is very finicky on this particular laptop. I will try doing that for a while to see if I can save myself from having to buy another system board. The board number is K000016390… what is the best price you can get it for?
August 25th, 2006 at 9:44 am
Ok, how do you get the laptop apart to even get to the plug?
August 25th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Sandra,
I’ve already mentioned a link to the disassembly guide in the post. OK, I added one more link under the last photo.
September 2nd, 2006 at 6:22 am
i need help! i followed the instructions of disassembly, got down to the board, but couldnt get it out of the case without force. so i left the old plug in and then just soldered the wires to the top of the board as in the picture. got it all back together and now alls i get is beeping from the adapter box. does anyone know what that is? must i take it back apart and remove the old plug? please help
September 2nd, 2006 at 8:09 pm
Tim,
Read comments 163 and 166 posted by Bernie here. It looks like you have exactly the same problem. Check if solder points on your motherboard are clean and there is no short of any kind.
September 4th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
Waht kind of wire did you use for the Power Jack Workaround
September 6th, 2006 at 9:04 am
IS THE DC JACK WORK AROUND THE SAME FOR THE M35X -S329?
September 7th, 2006 at 8:50 am
I have the same problem, my A75 will run off battery power but not AC. The battery will charge when the computer is powered down but not while it is on. I can go to the F2 boot option page and it will run without the battery in but as soon as windows starts it goes to battery power. Somewhere I read that it could be a bios problem but I am afraid to flash cause it wont run on ac and I dont want the battery to die in the middle. I have resoldered the power plug twice now and the first time it worked great but this time it wont run on ac?????????????????
September 8th, 2006 at 4:36 am
Hi Chris looks like i am stuck at the same point as you. I have dismantled my A75 twice and resoldered the connector on both occasions. Second time around i soldered the 3 pins together just incase. All was well till this evening. If i shut down the laptop the battery will charge fully. If i turn it on sometimes it will power via the adapter or the battery but not always. I might try flashing the bios on a full charge and see if that helps fingers crossed. Will let you know what my results are once i have tried it.
Regards
September 8th, 2006 at 9:41 am
Ok last night I took it apart yet again. I had my buddy solder from the center pin on the ac plug to the other end of the fuse. That didn’t make a difference. So then I downloaded toshiba power management software and that didn’t seem to make a difference. But, I woke up this morning and my battery is fully charged and my computer is running on ac power. I’m afraid to turn it off now! Dont know if maybe the aftermarket ac adapter I have is not powerful enough to charge the battery and run the laptop at the same time or what….. Actually that wouldn’t matter cause it wouldn’t run with the battery out either last night so who knows. It must have been little elves in my sleep.
September 8th, 2006 at 9:48 am
Albert,
DC jack workaround should be the same for both models A75 and M35X, they both use the same type of the power jack.
September 11th, 2006 at 6:27 pm
Hi, I have just doen the same to my Tecra 8000, using the original power socket. I had to solder the -ve wire to two fo the posts on the socket (it would not work with just one). Now it works great, However I have discovered the battery is either dead, not charging or not switching over to battery power (the latter is a problem I have with my Toshiba 490CDXT as the battery will work in my 400CDT)
Thanks for you great advice
September 14th, 2006 at 6:12 am
Hi Chris & Joe, Why don’t to try to relocate the DC jack outside the laptop? I reached this stage after my futile attempts to just resolder the DC jack, even Toshiba service centre failed to give a permanent solution. Toshiba service centre replaced my old DC jack with a new one and the laptop worked fine for about 2 months and it developed problem again. That was the time I decided to take out the DC jack. With the DC in, I faced the same problems as you all faced, like loose contact, battery not charging while PC is ON etc. Its been about 5 months+ since I did this (DC jack out stuff) and I am getting good results, not a time I faced any problem there after. Some of the people who read the messages in this forum did mail me saying that they too had great success.
Good luck to you all.
September 22nd, 2006 at 5:22 pm
I think I may have an improvement on the extremely helpful suggestions on this site. I took the suggestion of earlier commentors to look at Radio Shack for parts, but I ended up using 274-1582. That one has a couple of advantages: it has a slightly smaller outer diameter, and it mounts from the inside of the case with the nut going on the outside. The smaller diameter means it can fit where the old jack was, and since it mounts from the interior, if you ever want to pull the motherboard in the future, you won’t have to desolder the jack.
First, disassemble the laptop per the instructions on this site. Then desolder the jack from the motherboard. Next, enlarge the hole in the case, to fit the new jack, using a 5/16 drill bit. The new jack has a switching feature that we don’t need, but you will have to test the voltage coming off the back to get the right post for the negative wire. Once the wires have been soldered to the jack, make sure to insulate everything. I used heatshrink from Radio Shack, 278-1627. That is a pack of multiple sizes. It has small ones that will fit the wires/posts, as well as a big one that will fit over the whole assembly. I left only the threads exposed. Now fit it into the enlarged hole and thread on the nut. Solder it to the motherboard (I went from the bottom up, and tusked the extra wire underneath the motherboard). Finally, reassemble the laptop, and you should be in business. The advantage to this method is you don’t have to hav the connection dangling out of the case, but it also isn’t physically mounted to the motherboard, so no stress on the solder points.
September 30th, 2006 at 9:30 pm
Does anyone have the wiring diagram for Radio Shack part 274-1582 (referenced in post #57)? I lost the packaging with the diagram.
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:59 am
Long time no post thought i would update everyone. Basically what i have done now is what NP Suber has posted above. Remove the old jack totally and solder in a couple of wires then onto the new jack. I left the old hole in the case intact just moved new jack it a bit to the side. Laptop has been going great. The trick to this is solder on both sides of the motherboard top and bottom. Works a treat now. On a side note since you have it all apart remove the fans and give everything a good clean you will be suprised at the amount of dust that gets in there.
Regards
October 2nd, 2006 at 4:37 pm
i have a toshiba A75 laptop and i have the same problem.
i would like to ask if where can i buy a new AC/DC JACK and What kind or what size is the AC jack is? please someone reply?
October 2nd, 2006 at 9:38 pm
Louie,
You can find tons of power jacks on eBay if you search for “A75 power jack”.
October 4th, 2006 at 11:36 am
Joe, I was wondering if you could post complete descriptions about soldering both the top and bottom of the system board. If you have pictures that would be fantastic. I agree with NP Suber about attaching the jack to the case instead of the system board. Also NP Suber if you could post pictures that would be great as well. I,m also going to use either DC jack #274-1576 or #274-1583. If these won’t work please list the ones that will.
October 5th, 2006 at 12:36 pm
I have a Satellite 1115-S103 with this problem. Is there a web site that shows how to take it apart to install an outside located power jack?
Thanks! - Love the site!
October 8th, 2006 at 11:36 am
hi ,ive got the same problem ( now totally dead laptop )
Toshiba tecra 8200
is there a guide to taking the unit apart ??
thanks for any replies
October 9th, 2006 at 4:16 pm
Hey Tony, the pwr connector on my A75 started going bad a couple of months ago and has gotten progressively worse. It would sometimes take 10 mins to get the plug to stay in the ‘right spot’ to run on AC pwr. Talk about frustrating! Anyway, I found your site while researching this problen and it was a big help. After understanding the prob was weakened solder joints, I removed the laptops bottom screws and the two in the rear. I was able to gently pry the case open enough to gain limited access to the pwr connectors pins on the underside of the MB. I used a VOM to identify a bad (intermittent) pos solder joint on the MB. I reapplied solder to the joints (Your photos were very helpful) and things seem to be working ok for now.
I know the prob is very likely to reoccur in the future and if it does I think I will try your fix. Since I will only need to take out a few screws, it will be fairly quick & easy. I think I’ll order the new connector now and be ready. Much thanks dude.
October 11th, 2006 at 2:41 pm
[…] So I fired up my fresh new soldering iron and after practicing with a few resistors, I finally worked up the guts to solder the loose jack. I ended up with a decent sized blob so I cut off some of the extra with some wire clippers. It’s worked for a week now so I guess it turned out ok. So in summary it took me, a complete novice at electronics, several hours to fix and cost $45 but I can use the tools again and I learned a lot about the inner working of my computer so I guess the only real cost was a bit of solder. If it breaks again (knock on wood), I might have to try this workaround. […]
October 13th, 2006 at 3:10 am
After soldering and desoldering the wires to the motherboard THREE times and not getting the battery to charge, I went out and got a multimeter. After testing everything I discovered that the extension cord that was connected to the AC adapter was also going bad and that’s why I was not getting any power (additionally to the dc jack going bad).
Also, my local Radio Shack did not have parts 273-1563 or 274-1563 so I got 274-1577. It’s a little bigger but it works just fine and it has a screw-on housing so you can solder the wires to it and then the housing covers the soldered points.
Thanks a lot for all the tips everyone posted, great site.
October 14th, 2006 at 10:27 am
This site is AWESOME!!!!! I was able to repair the dc jack following the information in post #’s
57 and 59. Reassembling the the laptop was much harder than disassembling it, but as long as you’re patient you’ll be fine. I used 22 awg wire and radio shack dc jack #274-1576. You’ll need to use a multimeter to determine the proper polarity. I also soldered both sides of the system board to insure connectivity. BE SURE TO CHECK THE VOLTAGE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE SYSTEM BOARD!! The new jack connects to case and looks like it belongs there. Again as long as you’re patient it’ll work out fine.
October 18th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
I though i was the only one with that problem…
i fix it temporarily resoldering the broken point and it worked
for a couple of weeks, now it’s worst the battery doesn’t not
charges, with the slightest tip on the table/desk (and of course the A75) it reboots, freezes, locks up and/or the screen looks like a bad tuned/scrambled TV screen.
Fortunately I found this GREAT topic, but OMG i tried to dismantle the A75 again then I ruined up a screw (the F8 one) the cross turned into a cone.
How extract a ruined screw?
October 18th, 2006 at 7:23 pm
Ozzyys,
You can carefully drill it out or use a screw extractor tool. Google for “screw extractor” and you’ll get an idea.
October 19th, 2006 at 12:38 pm
Awesome instructions. Took the laptop to one repair shop and he quoted me 350.00 because the connector was “soldered” to the motherboard-ergo you need a new motherboard. Took it to another shop who was willing to solder the poweradapter onto the motherboard for 180.00. If I had done this I would have had the laptop back in the shop within 4 months-ergo another 180.00,
Just by luck happened to stumble over this website and lo and behold repaired the power adapter and had the computer up and running within an hour. I spent 2.35 for adapter #274-1582 at radio shack and followed Tonys suggestion about mounting the adapter in the original hole where the old adaapter was. The hardest part was getting the ribbons for the mouse and keyboard seated. So thanx for a great repair suggestion and a great web site. I even have enough money left over for a “couple of six packs”. Later guys and gals…. Rick W
October 19th, 2006 at 5:20 pm
cj2600,
I bought the screw extractor ($6 bucks the set) but as the screw was too thin, when I was drilling the “guide” suddenly the screw’s head climbed up the drill but at least the top cover was free, the rest of the screw came out easily with the help of a needle-nose pliers, now to find a new screw.
Thank you very much for all the information.
October 19th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
The fix is done (it looks almost exactly like the pictures lol but with a yellow wire instead the blue one LoL) and the holy A75 is alive again.
Just a last advice to those whose want to try this AWESOME workaround:
Watch the height of the soldering points at the MB because they could short with the base for the LCD frame hinges, preferably cover them with insulation tape too.
October 27th, 2006 at 5:57 pm
[…] Here’s another solution to fix the power jack problem, it shows how to relocate the power jack outside the laptop base. Check it out here: Toshiba Satellite A75 failed power jack workaround. […]
October 28th, 2006 at 8:44 am
I have soldered the wires out of the back of my A75 with a new connector and no luck getting it running. It runs on the battery but not on DC through the AC adaptor. I have checked the voltage on various points on the motherboard ( most of the screws are grounded) and get 19vdc so power is getting to the board. The fans did run momentarily when I plugged in the adaptor. Any ideas anyone?
November 6th, 2006 at 8:25 pm
Thank you so much for this solution, it helped me to save alot of money, and so far it is working. One question I do have if my battery light isn’t on but it shows on my power supply that it is charging is that ok? however it does light up when I hit my space bar, so Thanks again you fixed my problem.
November 7th, 2006 at 12:17 am
Christa,
The front LEDs and the touchpad connect to the motherboard via a flat cable (as you can see on the step 14). The connector is located under the keyboard, exactly under the space bar key. May be the cable is loose and should be reseated?
November 9th, 2006 at 5:56 am
Excellent write up and tips. I used the Dc power jack #274-1563 from Radio Shack ($1.99) and it worked out perfect and solid. I bored the new hole in the back of the case a little smaller than the new power jack so that when I screwed it in there it cut threads into the plastic and made it a solid and clean looking install.
Just wanted to say thanks for the great write up, easy to follow.
November 10th, 2006 at 11:00 am
I just have one question. I want to try this but I was wondering if I have to get a new DC jack or can I just break off the one that’s already in there and use that one? If anyone knows, please help. Thanks.
November 10th, 2006 at 4:19 pm
David,
You don’t want to “break off” the existing jack, you want to carefully unsolder it from the motherboard. If the jack is not broken, you can use it.
November 11th, 2006 at 8:55 am
Hi i have a problem in Power Jack on my Toshiba Setellite A75-S206. Firstly i would like to know the part no. that power Jack.
and seconly i want to know some technics of soldering the power jack with motherboard. I am not professional with soldering if u tell me the processer i will thankful to you. like what kind of material i need for soldering and many more which u think it would be helpful for me to do this job.
Thanks Gurjinder Kang
November 26th, 2006 at 12:49 pm
thanks guys for helpping me with my problem like all of you hade. i guees were all in the same boat. thank you gret site.
November 27th, 2006 at 10:53 am
LOOKING FOR A DC POWER JACK FOR A TOSHIBA PORTAGE R100 NOTEBOOK.CAN’T SEEM TO FIND A VENDOR THAT HAS THIS JACK IN THERE INVENTORY.PLEASE CAN YOU HELP.
November 28th, 2006 at 8:27 am
Hi cj2600/Tony,
Can I just leave the old power jack there and use a new one and wires to follow the instruction to fix it ?
November 28th, 2006 at 6:01 pm
You can get the original connection to worlk again just as easy. I did it the redneck way and wedged it open with pens sticking a hot nife in the solder.wiggle the connection to the ac jack while heating for a good solid connection. I also didnt take it all apart i just took some screws out where the location is. So if you wanna do that every 3 months it takes 5 min. I recomend your cord because toshiba’s cord puts stress on it and the solder is like a liquid, the same way glass is. When the heat and the strain from that thick cord combine the connection is doomed. Also remember to vaccuum the dam thing every 3 months or it will really do weird things!!!!!
November 28th, 2006 at 6:07 pm
Hey body ,
Ill explain in detail if needed. Take the battery out.
Loosen screws in main area of the power inlet. Get a hot nife going on the burner of the stove. Wedge it open with something enough to let the nife in. I would sudjest protecting the suroundings of the entrance with something.(tape) so it dont melt if accidently touched.Stick the plug in the jack and wiggle it while touching the positive with the hot nife. I use the nife because its skinny. This is easy and can be done quick
November 29th, 2006 at 12:42 am
Shiheng,
If I understand right, you don’t want to remove the system board and plan to solder the wires wile the power jack is still installed? I think there shouldn’t be any problem.
December 4th, 2006 at 11:17 pm
I have a toshiba tecra 8200 and I have the motherboard disconnected. I can’t put it back together because I don’t know where the black and white wire I must have unsnapped from the motherboard go. Can anyone help? sprint cell phone 214-450-1444 Thank you
December 9th, 2006 at 6:44 am
Just wondering for the Toshiba Satellite A75 failed power jack workaround -
What kind of wire do you use for it?
December 9th, 2006 at 9:17 am
Hey i would sudjest taking the motherboard right out , to apply solder on both sides of the pin. Also you should be able to access it from just loosening a coulple screws at the bottom, then wedge it open to do the work. Bad advise but sure saves time. Just remember you need the solder on the otherside tight to the board too. Dont do the workaround yet try to solder both sides! i just let it drip on the pin then heat it tilll it runs to the board.
The board is sorta hard to get out i looked up the way to take it out.
For example my a70 motherboard came out dvd area first.
good luck
Mike
December 9th, 2006 at 7:36 pm
Hello Robb T, Just use the a standard wire with SWG 22. You will get it at any local electronics spare parts shop such as Radioshack. Good Luck.
December 11th, 2006 at 11:34 am
I justreceived the A70/75 DC jack from an ebay vendor today.
Problem is that its “covered” in a metal sheath with a pin extension on each side of the metal cover (and there’s a 3rd & 4th pin coming from the centre of the jack) . So there’s no access to the described solder point/s on top - do i simply remove it with a small pliers to expose the top ?
December 14th, 2006 at 2:13 pm
here is a picture of the dc adapter i bought and i cant see where to solder the wires onto -
either the shiny metal has to be removed or maybe solder directly onto the pins ?
http://www.frankgross.com/temp/dc_adap/dc_adap.jpg
help appreciated
December 15th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Hello Frank, I have labeled the image and uploaded the same to: http://img2.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/de212f6c98.jpg
Also you may remove the metal casing as it is not going to server any purpose since we are not soldering the jack to the motherboard. The two leads from the metal casing is to make firmly solder the jack on to the motherboard.
December 21st, 2006 at 9:13 am
Thanks for the instruction on the power jack repair. I paid $280 to have it fixed once but it failed again. Just when I was going to toss the laptop, I found your site. I followed your instructions and was happily able to get the power jack repaired, using the pigtail approach. My only problem was when I put it all back together, the touchpad doesn’t work. I can plug in an external usb mouse and it works fine. Any suggestions for fixing the touchpad?
December 24th, 2006 at 5:04 am
Mate all i can say is that ur a legend.
I am a technician by trade and found ur instructions very simple and effective. Though the only change I made was using an in-line DC jack socket instead, just so if the insulation broke down, you would have no exposed wires. Good luck with all the other A70 owners out there, now its time for me to fix the DVD drive, yet another Toshiba screw up!!!
December 24th, 2006 at 3:34 pm
Richard,
Remove the keyboard and check if the touchpad cable is seated properly, all the way down the connector on the motherboard. Reseat the cable and make sure to lock the connector. Probably that’s your problem.
BTW before going inside try to enable the touchpad by pressing Fn+F9 key combination. May be the tochpad is just disabled.
December 25th, 2006 at 9:16 am
Hey guys just thought i would add to the question about the metal jacket on the ac inlet.” its fine dont mess with it” the 1 all by itself is the positive all you need to know!. First of all you all dont have to replace or attach anything , unless something is broken ie: the pin. I would sudjest soldering on either side of the board to assure no play stress is applied to the positive pin. If you only solder the top the pin will still have a week spot, this would be under the board. The pin will eventually be able to move wherever. The pin is still connected so it will provide minimum power required for charging.
These are tell tale signs that it can be repaired by solder the bottom.Or have wires hanging from your laptop!! get a vacuum cord so i comes back. :p
December 27th, 2006 at 6:28 pm
I am so glad I ran across this site. My dc adapter was losing its connection to the board and I was sick of re-soldering it. The external dc adapter is working perfectly.
Thanks !!
December 27th, 2006 at 8:34 pm
Can you please tell me how to put back black and white wires of wireless card in this laptop. One is AUX and Other is Main. which one goes where ? Thank you.
December 28th, 2006 at 8:10 pm
I had DC jack problem also. External wire was not an option for me. What i did was to desolder the dc jack. Positive terminal of pin was broken so all i did was to solder the back of positive terminal with flexable wire so what ever happens there is no stress on board solder. I think this is the best solution. Please comment. Also can someboday help me with wireless modem pinouts.
December 29th, 2006 at 9:56 pm
Hello Hammad Hassan, For your reference I have uploaded the photograph of the WiFi wires connection. The white wire goes to AUX and black one goes to Main. Looking at the image you should be able to identify. Here is the image: http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/99d609382a.jpg
December 30th, 2006 at 8:27 pm
My A75 S209 had the same problem but bafter going back to Toshiba it got fixed
But now the problem is different, The cursor just hangs up at times when u are working
December 31st, 2006 at 6:35 pm
Tony, Hammad Hassan,
From my knowledge, originally the white cable goes to the main connector and the black one to the auxiliary, but it shouldn’t really matter. Both ways should work just fine because both wireless antennas are about the same as you can see on the step 8 here.
January 1st, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Thanks, cj2600. When I reassembled the laptop, I neglected to connect the touchpad cable. Missed that step. 5 minutes later, I reconnected the touchpad and everything works great now. Thanks again.
January 3rd, 2007 at 11:59 am
Pictures of dismantellingl the laptop helped me alot. Here are some simple tips to take apart the laptop. Since the screws are so tiny, put scotch tape over the screws after you loosen them. You wont loose them and the screws stay in their original hole. Laptop parts are also small so I use a notebook binder with plastic page protectors. I number each page 1-30. As I unscrew each part, I put that part in a page protector. Just one part per page. Heavy things like the battery, I just put aside, not in the binder. The last piece I took out is the last page. When I want to reassemble the laptop, I begin with the laptop component on the last page and then go to the next page (e.g., page 30 - page1). If you need to put notes to yourself about that component, you just slip it in the page protector with the component.
January 4th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I also have a power receptor issue. A friend of mine dropped her laptop on the power cord male end while it was plugged in and broke the positive receptor post inside the receptacle.
I found drawing a simple diagram of the back of the laptop and mapping the screws as well as a simple sketch of the interior and doing the same. I also took some digital shot at a few stages of disassembly.
January 6th, 2007 at 8:15 pm
Hi Tony,
I followed the instructions for installling a new radio shack jack that had a small nut on it to secure it to the case. When I went to screw the motherboard down it was jammed by this nut. I then hacksawed a tiny piece off to increase the space to fit down. it still was not flat, however when I finshed with all of the screws it did seem ok. I was able to start it up and everything seemed great. The battery charged up at what I think was a faster rate and held the charge at 100%. I then had to leave with the laptop and did not shut it down, just closed it and left for a ferry. when I opened it the next day it did not start up, and still has not….any suggestions? Thanks for all the help so far!
January 11th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Incredible. My son who is in college has had the exact same problem. I gave him my HP to take back to school while his unit went off to be repaired - AGAIN - for exactly what you described above.
why hasn’t Toshiba issued a recalland FIXED?
Even if it’s out of waranty as stated in the item above, they have an obligation when its an apparent flaw.
January 15th, 2007 at 12:45 pm
Argh, I have this same problem with my A75 but I don’t have the courage or skill to do the fix. Is there such a thing as an external battery charger out there?
or is there anyone in the Cincinnati area that would be willing to do the fix for $?
January 15th, 2007 at 9:38 pm
I have the same DC jack problem on my toshiba laptop. I have disassembled the unit but don’t know how to get the old DC jack off of the motherboard. Can anyone offer some help? Also, while taking the thing apart i accidentally pulled one of the wifi wires off of the connector. That looks like it just pushes in to the connector though..
Thanks,
David
January 16th, 2007 at 5:32 pm
Thank yoiu for the information. I have the same problem with my Toshiba laptop.
January 17th, 2007 at 7:44 am
[…] Then I tried to clean the contacts on the board with an eraser to remove any oxidation on the copper, stuck the jack back in its holes and soldered it back on. So far I haven’t had any problems, we’ll see if it last this time. If it breaks again (knock on wood), I’m definitely trying the external power jack workaround. […]
January 17th, 2007 at 8:18 pm
Hello David,
Well, if you are implementing the external DC jack fix, you may let the broken jack be there in its place. It will do no harm. But if you insist on removing it, you will have to desolder it using a soldering iron and desoldring pump. The basic technique being to remove all the solder holding the DC jack to the motherboard and then pull it out. And regarding the WiFi antenna cable, it ok, its just a push-in connector and you just need to push the connector back into position.
Regards,
Tony Sakariya
January 18th, 2007 at 12:01 am
LB,
If you bought your Satellite A75 notebook in the United States, I think you have a chance to fix it for free. Toshiba issued a 12 months warranty extension for Satellite M30X, M35X, A70 and A75. Check out comments 7 and 8 in this post.
January 18th, 2007 at 5:42 am
Hi Tony, Thanks for the response. I may just leave the old one in place then. That seems much easier.
David
January 18th, 2007 at 5:44 am
LB,
Unfortunately mine is an A65, so while it apparently suffers the same malady as the other models it’s not covered.
Thanks,
David
January 18th, 2007 at 2:36 pm
Why would any1 want a cord hanging from the laptop? Just be smart and solder it on the top and bottom of the board. This worked well with the a70 jack. At first i was just loosening screws and sticking a hot butter knife in there to heat the solder joint , renewing the connection!. This has to be done on both sides or the cord will start to wiggle within the first week. Also any1 doing it to the Toshiba 2800 power cord fix i used a cannon printer parts to fix the broken power plug. This part would work in any laptop fix. The good thing is it has wires hanging from it so dont attach the part to the motherboard anymore!
January 18th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
The pathetic thing is i just sent that message and already i have to resolder my board again. I just looked down and saw the light go out. It means taking all the screws out all over , i wanna sell it, or have a wire hang out of it. I might consider not attaching the ac inlet to the mother board. I will take my old inlet and mount a wire from the pin directly to the positive on the motherboard. Im just wondering if i should do this? or i could use a different type of solder that is harder. This is gonna be funn!!
January 20th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Hello Mike, I had gone through your exact problem. My first solution was not to dangle a wirte outside. I had sent the laptop to Toshiba service centre and they resolddred it. It worked fine for few weeks/months. I was gettting so frustrated by this that I had to come up with the “out of the box” solution. I know the dangling wire does not look good at all, but this solution works great. Due to the bad design the possiblility of breaking the conneciton if the DC jack if directly on the motherboard is very high. Hence I suggest you take the connection out. To answer your question, this is exactly what I did, soldered the wires directly from the motherboard.
Good Luck.
Tony.
January 20th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Ok i did it again. The solder on the opisite side of the board. I even noticed the board comes out like a stick of ram. The smart card being the button you have to press to open the board with the video and usb connection area as the hinge. I made sure the solder covered the pin all the way to the board i hope this lasts ;p I also fixed my mouse it was cracked in