Laptop Damage?

[cabinetman]

I run my laptop off an AC adapter. One of our dogs got caught in the wire and jerked the wire out of the port. It still works if I jiggle the jack to get the light to come on.

Didn't know if the jack or the port was damaged. In a search, found out that the port is soldered to the MB, and if it's the port, it's expensive to get fixed. Is this a fairly common occurrence with laptops?
.

[Rand]

I don't know if it's common but here's how you can determine if it's the jack or the socket.

Use a voltmeter on the jack. If the voltage changes when you wiggle it around then that is your problem. If the voltage stays constant then you have a damaged power socket.

[LinuxRandal]

I know it was fairly common a few years ago. My brother, b-i-l, and a computer store I helped with, all had this issue, and my father regularly came across broken power port. I believe it was something like three solder connections across a thin circuit board that held them together.
Back in those days (around 5 years back), IF you could find someone, it was $150-$200 to fix, if it could be (gamble) otherwise it was a replacement motherboard. (brother ALWAYS takes out extended warranties on laptops, and his has paid for itself twice)

[mpc]

Yes, it is a very common failure point on laptops. The power port on the laptop ought to be screwed to the case, or at least to whatever metal acts as a frame... but most are just soldered to the circuit board. The metal frame is then screwed to the circuit board "somewhere nearby." The distance between those screws and the power socket though can still flex leading to:
* solder joint failure
* circuit board patterns (aka traces) "lifting" - i.e. the copper wire pattern separates/delaminates from the main part of the circuit board. The thin copper piece will then bust.

If it really is the laptop power port that is bad (not the cable - Rand's voltmeter test is the easiest/correct way to check that) your options are:

1: Open up the laptop and attempt to fix it yourself:
Remove the battery and any PCMCIA/CARDBus cards, memory sticks, and other cables plugged into the edges of the laptop. You'll need teeny jewelers style screwdrivers generally. And a large sheet of paper: sketch the laptop outline on the paper, then poke the screws through the paper in their approximate positions. This will keep them sorted - you'll probably find several different screw lengths. Many laptops have a thin plastic piece above the keyboard... push this left or right, or gently pry up one edge, to pop it free. Then you'll see a few more screws that hold the keyboard and some of the circuit board. Pay close attention to the various connectors. Some will be simple plastic plugs that just snap in/out... others (like the keyboard and touchpad cables) will be flat ribbon cables. These flat cables do NOT like to be flexed much - they'll fatigue and break just like flexing a paperclip a few times. Follow the end to the circuit board... it'll end in a long plastic connector. The edge of this connector will slide out about 1 millimeter (sliding "up" the ribbon cable) to unlock the ribbon. It should then easily pull out. Some ribbons just plug into tight-fitting connectors though - no lock - so if you don't see a divider line/crack to separate the edge then this is probably a push-in only style connector.

Once you can see both sides of the power connector... use a bright light and magnifying glass to eyeball the solder joints. Any signs of cracking? Plug the power adapter in (but don't have it plugged into a wall socket!) and use that to gently flex the socket... watching for signs of movement in the solder joints. If your bug is simply the solder joints, that's an easy repair with a small (22 to 35 watt) soldering iron. If the power connector itself is physically damaged... maybe glue will work. But I'd go online to DigiKey.com and scan their catalog - they have more bloody connectors for sale than you can shake a stick at. I'll bet they have a replacement.

Can't find the right socket? You could just snip off the plug from the power brick and install your own male & female pieces, using a couple inches of wire to let the new power receptacle "dongle" from the laptop. Ugly, but cheap.

Once fixed, look at how the power receptacle mounts to the computer. If it's held in only by solder joints to the main circuit board, consider slathering two-part epoxy to either side of it as reinforcements.

2: Send it to a repair center... not cheap.

3: How old is the laptop? It might be cheaper to replace it with a new one than to pay to have it repaired. If so, gut the memory and eBay it. Or see if your laser printer can accept that laptop memory. Remove the hard disk and buy a USB laptop drive case and turn the old hard disk into a backup device.

mpc

[cabinetman]

Rand - Thanks for the meter suggestion, that's my first step.

mpc - Quite a detailed fix. If it gets to taking it apart, I'll follow your suggestions. I appreciate the help.
.

[cgallery]

We fix 'em all the time. Some are a bigger PITA than others.

For example, some newer machines (some Toshibas and HP's) use a jack on a cable. It is quite easy to replace with a little disassembly of the machine. No soldering required. However, some of them are broken with such force that they break the restraining mechanism and sometimes you have to resort to (gasp) glue.

Dells are about the easiest for me to tear-down quickly. Probably because I've worked on so many of them.

You should be able to find a local shop that will do it for you. The going rate is about $100 to $150, depending on make/model.

As an aside, if you can get the motherboard out almost anyone with some soldering talent can do it. If you don't have a desoldering station, then the best thing to do is to crush the connector with a pliers, and then individually remove the leads with your soldering iron. When they're out, drill-out any remaining solder with a #80 bit in a pin vise.

The trick to removing the motherboard is to have the service manual. You can find a lot of them online. They will give you the step by step procedure for removing the motherboard.

BTW, this is just MPO, but a 25 or 30-watt soldering iron isn't the ticket. I use a 50-watt temperature controlled iron but wouldn't mind an 85-watt iron. The ground planes on these boards work against you like a heat sink. You need to throw down enough heat and fast enough to get a good joint, without heating the surrounding areas of the board and causing other problems.

[Sid]

Apple genius

Yes, it is a very common failure point on laptops.

The break-away feature of the ingenious magnetic power cord connection on my MacBook has saved me from damage more than once.

Sid

[JSUPreston]

The break-away feature of the ingenious magnetic power cord connection on my MacBook has saved me from damage more than once.

Sid

Sid, I was about to mention the same thing. SWMBO has one, and I've very impressed with how well it works.

[gsmittle]

The break-away feature of the ingenious magnetic power cord connection on my MacBook has saved me from damage more than once.

Sid

Ditto! I hate to think of how many times I would have pulled my MB off a table or lectern without the mag connector.

g.