[RESOLVED] Broken power pin

[techallenged]

Hi all,

I have been asked to have a "look" at a "broken" laptop!

The broken bit is the pin in the socket that receives power from the ac adapter.

Never having seen the inside of a laptop I am not confident on what I might find in there!

Anyway would anyone know if this pin and whatever it was fixed to is a replaceable component?

The laptop is an Acer Aspire 5051 AWXMi

Many thanks,

Tech

[lgbpop]

Doubtful that it's anything easy. The socket is soldered to the mobo, so you'd have to remove and replace that. I've never tried it myself, and wouldn't run uphill for the opportunity either.

[ginky4]

I've tried it and it's virtually impossible to fix. I tried to resolder the joint and it broke within no time. I wound up replacing the motherboard.

[techallenged]

Thanks guys,

you've pretty much confirmed what I was expecting...

I recommend the laptop go into a repair shop of some sorts...

Thanks again

Tech

[lgbpop]

Tech, sorry I didn't find this earlier:

http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...light=teardown

The OP, cj2600, was posting every few days for a while with laptop teardown instructions. He was heavily into Toshibas, as you can see, but the procedure is similar for other brands I imagine. Check out the link to his site; several of his guides show a method for replacing the power connector. Hard to believe it's been two years already since these were done, it seems like six months ago.

[techallenged]

Very interesting links there lg, thanks for stayin with it.

Have to say I'm not filled with confidence, but the owners want me to have a go!!! I have issued a disclaimer that if it goes pear shaped I aint being held responsible, it is a favour after all.

So I will let you know how I get on...

[lgbpop]

Get a signature on that disclaimer/waiver. No good deed goes unpunished, so it's said........

[flaude]

It's nothing to be afraid of if you can handle a screwdriver, a soldering tool and have some resolve.

You've got to strip it down completely to get to the motherboard & fix the power jack. The link lgbpop provided may help guide you. One of the Toshiba's came apart very similar to an HP DV4000 I repaired recently. HP provided a tear down .pdf online. (DV 4000 PDF) I looked for one for your Acer, but had no success.

The biggest thing to worry about is breaking parts while disassembling and reassembling. It starts at pulling the switch cover cap which is very thin, but more durable than it seems.

I found the very inexpensive ($5.99 USD) HP jack @ DC Power Jacks

There are services that replace the jack for $125 USD (http://www.repairpowerjack.com/)
where you'll find towards the bottom of the page their explanation of the care required to desolder and resolder the jack without damaging the board with excessive heat.

I set up some heat sinks with needle nose pliers and dental picks on the surrounding traces and had no damage.

You'll also need a vacuum desoldering tool which I found @ Radio Shack. It helps pull the solder out of the jack leg to mobo slots and works quite well.

The real killer is having to reassemble EVERYTHING to find out if your fix was successful. Maybe someone who knew how to test the power traces would get around that, but it was beyond my capabilities.

You'll have to pull the CPU & heat sink, so have some thermal paste handy @ reassembly.

Make yourself diagrams and notes right on the frame and internal parts to help you reassemble. I wound up with extra screws...