Power jack needs replacing - Tosh Satellite A30

nikaso

Hi all,

Basically my laptop was charging away merrily then my oaf brother :mad: came along and kicked the power lead snapping the power pin off. Now it needs a new power jack fitting, looked into this with a local PC repair store who said

"Yes we have replaced them before but never again, very fiddly and the repair is never as strong as it used to be" They also charged £120 for doing this.

Now I reckon in full working order my laptop is only worth £250 or so (Pentium 4 3.06 GHz with 2Gb RAM +internal wireless) so not sure whether its even worth finding somewhere else to do it?

Any advice would be most appreciated!

tom9980

New laptop or do it yourself IMO best options everything else is pretty much new motherboard which costs a lot as you can see.

http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2006/01/28/toshiba-satellite-m35x-a75-power-jack-problem/

http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/07/16/satellite-m35x-fixing-power-connector/

http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/12/06/dc-power-jack-repair-guide/

Sourcing the correct jack and opening up the laptop to do the repair are the hard parts then i hope you have a good steady hand to do the soldering work. Potentially costs you less than £20 if you have a soldering iron etc already or can borrow one.

nikaso

I'm leaning towards new laptop eventually, don't trust myself with soldering delicate electrical components!

culpepper

It isn't all that difficult, I just did mine .Granted it just needed resoldering not replacing but if you can get the old one out, then you have a reference for sourcing a new one.
The acer laptop I have ,comes apart quite easily and so long as you note which screws go where and take your time, it is worth a try, especially if the alternative is to bin it and buy a new one.
If you do go for a new one, check out selling the old one as 'spares or repairs' as people often just want the screen ,power charger , battery or whatever.

nikaso

I might just give it a go, working term time only at the moment so will probably wait till holidays start so I can do it at a leisurely pace!

Thanks for all the helpful comments though

Regeneration

Here's a guide to do it yourself
http://www.laptoprepair.co.uk/how-to-repair-laptop-power.htm

This company says they will not be beaten on price, so if someone has quoted you £35 im sure they should be cheaper
http://www.cambridgelaptoprepair.co.uk/index.php/DC-Jack-Repair.html

nikaso

Regeneration wrote: »

Here's a guide to do it yourself
http://www.laptoprepair.co.uk/how-to-repair-laptop-power.htm

This company says they will not be beaten on price, so if someone has quoted you £35 im sure they should be cheaper
http://www.cambridgelaptoprepair.co.uk/index.php/DC-Jack-Repair.html

Just submitted a quote request now, see what they come back with!