Toshiba laptop power jack repair issue- jack's cable wire broken off of motherboard. How to fix?

authorktea

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Jun 2, 2014
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Hi there, I have a friend's laptop here... It's a Toshiba Satellite A500-1GL and the power jack was broken. I took the laptop apart, and unlike most power jacks that solder directly to the board, this has a cable and plugs into the motherboard. The socket that plugs in has 4 pins, but the old sockets pins are still in the mobo. I've tried and they won't budge... Does anyone have any ideas of how to either get the old pins out or a workaround? I'm pretty competent with a soldering iron.

Thank you so much for any help you can offer, I really appreciate it. A new mobo is about £75 and I don't really want to go there for a laptop that's pretty sucky!
 
Solution
OK. pulling harder is not the answer. there are actual tools similar to a hollow screw driver to get them out. you shouldn't reuse the pins but its possible if your carefull. if you don't have proper tools taking a small pin and pushing on the slots on the side of the connector will release them but you must pull wire out while pushing with the pin

calmreacher

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Feb 7, 2014
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Okay i may be reading your post wrong... You have gotten stuck trying to remove the cable from the motherboard connector?? Or you tried to remove the cable and the pins broke and are stuck in the motherboard connector?? If it's the first one it seems you may need to pull a little harder. The cable should pop out of the motherboard no problem. Take a look and see if there are nubs on the side of the connector that may help you loosen the cable. I usually use a dentist's scraping tool on tough connectors.

As an afterthought you can buy just the DC Jack connector and solder the new jack onto the cable.
 

authorktea

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Jun 2, 2014
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Thanks for your reply! The pins broke off the old jack connector (the white plastic bit connected to wires with the actual jack on the other end) and are stuck in the motherboard. When I pulled the connector out, I had to pry it and it left the pins behind. I can't get them out to put the new one in so I have no way of making a connection. I hope that makes sense? Basically all I have now is 4 holes in the motherboard with the old pins stuck in them, and I can't remove them to plug the new one in!
 

calmreacher

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Feb 7, 2014
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Ok, So I do not believe I have ever seen Toshiba solder pins into a connector so it should just be a matter a finding the right tool for the job. Are the pins solid or open?

Open pins (so there is an open space where the wire would be soldered in) should not be to big a deal. Grab a pair of good tweezers and give them a yank. If you dont have a good set of tweezers most hobby shops sell them pretty cheap. Even alot of mechanic shops have them. They should pull out with some effort. So one side of tweezers on top and one inside.

If they are solid this may be a little more difficult. Hopefully you have some pin length sticking outside the connector and you can get ahold of them with a pair of needle nose pliers. They might require a little more effort than open pins.

Just try wiggling and pulling at the same time. They will come out as long as they were not soldered in as i mentioned before.

Let me know how it goes.
 

calmreacher

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Feb 7, 2014
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As long as you are not bending the motherboard or putting alot of stress on parts or screws you should be fine. If you find you need more leverage because of stress on the MB and parts. Find something like a piece of rubber or something to put pressure beside the pins as you pull.
 

heather kuhlman

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Jul 30, 2014
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OK. pulling harder is not the answer. there are actual tools similar to a hollow screw driver to get them out. you shouldn't reuse the pins but its possible if your carefull. if you don't have proper tools taking a small pin and pushing on the slots on the side of the connector will release them but you must pull wire out while pushing with the pin


 
Solution