Laptop repair tip: Got one of those pesky Compaq Presario 1200 laptops or another with a damaged power plug jack?

[CZroe]

This tip is not for those of you with warranties or deep enough pockets for factory repair. This is for those with damaged power jacks and no way to ever find a replacement. This is as close to a replacement jack as you'll ever get!

I get called in to a local computer shop for nearly every laptop repair they encounter (They don't have experience opening the darn things up ). Nearly every time it's because the AC adapter's DC plug has damaged the receptacle on the laptop and they can't get it to reliably charge or power up. Over the first few months, we saw over 20 Compaq Presario 1200 series (Mostly just plain 1200's) laptops with the exact same problem. Every time someone carries one in we shock them by already knowing the problem Over the same time, we did encounter two Presario 1250's and a few Toshiba's with the same problem, and many more various models since, but now you see why I mentioned the Presarios specifically I'm sure the majority of laptops are easily damaged in the same way...

When you plug in your laptop, the connector is usually directly soldered onto the motherboard. VERY BAD. Any stress on the plug is directly applied to the solder joints and the contacts within, so it's VERY easy to damage one.

I've seen them with the plastic cracked all around (Into little-bitty unassembleable pieces)
I've seen them with the contacts bent all over and broken (Requiring some seriously small jumper wires)
I've seen them with loose solder joints and damaged traces on the motherboard (Usually requiring a little trace exposure and tinning or alternative solder point hunting)


They almost always have at least two of these problems. Otherwise, the customer would just deal with a "wiggly" power jack that you have to fiddle with to make contact.

My advice DON'T COMPOUND THE PROBLEM! As soon as you notice that the plug is having problems, have someone solder and secure it. But that's not enough! It's bound to be more fragile than ever. It's bound to happen again. You'll never find a replacement connector that solders onto your motherboard just right. You don't want dangerous wires hanging out of the back instead. S do what I suggest the customers do:

Buy a universal AC adapter kit with replaceable tips (Preferably, one with small tips at the very end). Stick it into the repaired jack and GLUE IT GOOD with a strong epoxy. Who cares if you have a protrusion. Trust me, you'll need it. Let it take a beating. Make it A PART of the laptop's housing, so you'd have to crack the laptop to budge it. If it starts to sustain damage, glue it again or replace it. At least something external and replaceable is taking the damage instead.

You could skip the initial repair if you think you can get a good enough connection to maintain with the external plug glued in permanently, but be wary: I've seen charred and fried motherboards with bad trace damage from loose, shorting, sparking, overheating contacts so BE SURE.

As mentioned before, this is as good as a replacement jack you'll ever get.

 

[CZroe]

Just found ANOTHER one of these pesky things today. This one is beyond repair.

 

[Abhi]

Anthing i can do about the laptop lid getting loose with time?? (talking Dell here)

Is there a way of tightening the hinges??

 

[Paperlantern]

sometimes you can tighten them, sometimes not, depends sloley on the laptop model and the type of hinges they used. you have to expose the hinges to see, but if there are screws ON THE HINGES, not on the edges to hold it in place on the laptop, but other screws RIGHT ON the hinge, then chances are those will do it

and about the laptop thing, that is agood idea, however, 9 times out of ten its because the end user IS ABUSING the plug. for example, leaving the adapter plugged into the laptop while transporting it, isee that ALL THE TIME, and its the worst thing you can do. OR someone tripped over it, now thats not abuse but a mistake, but it happens. you have to be gentle with them, plug the cord in with asmuch force as it takes to insert it and no more, also remoce the plug with only as much as it takes to remove it, and never transport it with it plugged in (unless your gonna epoxy it to the chassis like he suggests ) and it should always be fine, but to each his own

 

[CZroe]

Originally posted by: Abhi
Anthing i can do about the laptop lid getting loose with time?? (talking Dell here)

Is there a way of tightening the hinges??

I have seen some which can be tightened like Paperlantern points out. My Compaq Presario 1800T could not and exposing the hinges revealed metal shavings which ground out more metal shavings when moved. The 1200 series laptops seen at work seem to have identical hinges except I've seen them with a different "looseness" problem (More like, slack before the hinges budge). I haven't figured out what causes that yet.

Originally posted by: Paperlantern
sometimes you can tighten them, sometimes not, depends sloley on the laptop model and the type of hinges they used. you have to expose the hinges to see, but if there are screws ON THE HINGES, not on the edges to hold it in place on the laptop, but other screws RIGHT ON the hinge, then chances are those will do it

and about the laptop thing, that is agood idea, however, 9 times out of ten its because the end user IS ABUSING the plug. for example, leaving the adapter plugged into the laptop while transporting it, isee that ALL THE TIME, and its the worst thing you can do. OR someone tripped over it, now thats not abuse but a mistake, but it happens. you have to be gentle with them, plug the cord in with asmuch force as it takes to insert it and no more, also remoce the plug with only as much as it takes to remove it, and never transport it with it plugged in (unless your gonna epoxy it to the chassis like he suggests ) and it should always be fine, but to each his own

Good advice. The proliferation of these 1200 series models having this problem also points to a design defect or just parts that are much too weak. Check on eBay for "1200 Jack" and you'll find a few too many results. There is ANOTHER 1200 seris laptop in the shop yet again for the same reason.