Posted: 12/8/2008 7:38:16 PM EDT
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I have an dell laptop that needs the DC jack replaced. How difficult of a task is this for someone with very basic soldering skills? Is this something that I can DIY or should I send it out for repair?
If you say send it out can you recommend a service that you trust? |
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Quoted:
I have an dell laptop that needs the DC jack replaced. How difficult of a task is this for someone with very basic soldering skills? Is this something that I can DIY or should I send it out for repair? If you say send it out can you recommend a service that you trust? A friend of mine had that problem with his gateway. He told me that those parts are available at Radio Shack for like $3 bucks or something. He told me also that it's doable, but his laziness kicked in and basically said FK it. So, he bought a new laptop instead haha If your laptop is under warranty, i'd say jsut send it back because they'll give u a new mobo, at least a refurbished one. |
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It's definitely doable if you keep track of the screws and which holes they came out of.
Lots of tiny screws with different sizes and lengths. You will also need a good soldering iron that can reach high temps for desoldering the old jack. Copper desoldering wick will also help a lot. You basically have to disassemble the whole laptop to perform the repair. |
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Ive done it on two of our laptops. It can be a little intimidating the first time you tear your laptop all the way down till you have the motherboard in your hand. The first one I did went without a hitch, I think that was an inspiron 1150. The 2nd one was a B130 that I nearly wrecked the motherboard trying to desolder the old jack. The B130 was my daughters and about 6 months later it started acting up again. This time, I did not remove the board completely, instead just exposed the bottom of the jack, and re soldered the connections.
I would suggest that if you actually buy a new jack, test your power cable BEFORE you solder the new jack in. The B130 I did is very tight, which is what caused the 2nd failure. |