Compaq Presario R3000 power cord issue - Page 2

To the same docking port the media cable connects to.
docking at techexcess

We have had the same problem with our R3000. We disassembled the computer, but couldn't find the loose solder joints. We're not too handy with hardware and tools.

I called HP and they offer to refurbish the compter for $300. They sent me a shipping box via FedEx. I returned the box the same day to them. They had it a day and shipped it back to me. I called them Monday and had my computer back on Friday. For the $300, they installed a new Motherboard, fixed the built-in mouse pad and cleaned the keyboard (which has some sticking keys).

Not a cheap fix, but better than the $500 most repair places charge for a new Motherboard or the $300 commercial repair shops want for soldering the power port.

Don't think it is a "too much job". If you already have succesfully opened other electric devices, it is not as hard as it looks, specially with the guides in this thread. Soldering did not fix my computer, changing the capacitors might, but I just put it back together after a second total strip, so that is for the next saturday.

if u have answers or wanna talk bout stupid bateries worth 60 bucks im me: heres my aim sn herms023

Hey guys....looks like this problem with the power cord is very common......and it doesnt surprise me a bit considering what i saw on my motherboard last night when i opened my laptop...the soldering was pretty bad, not only for the power pins, but also for other connectors on the board. Anyway, I had time only to fix up the middle power pin (which looked like it lost its solder).

Anyway, if you read the first page of this thread, you will get all the information you need to open your laptop and learn where exactly to solder. And FYI, you HAVE to pull apart the entire laptop - COMPLETELY - till you can see the power connector pins on the top side of the motherboard. It might sound tough, but it was quite simple to do....however, it was very time consuming for me as it was my first time opening a laptop. The manual provided by HP Compaq is all you need....and disassemble each part in the order given in the manual...that's all. Here's a review:

Remove in order:

battery
hard disk
combo drive
strip cover (the strip which has the power button on it - above the keyboard - this one is a tough cookie if your afraid of breaking the piece, but just pry it open from the top after removing the necessary screws under the laptop and ur all set)
keyboard
display (LCD)
Base enclosure (the bottom casing of ur laptop)
speaker
heat sink
and then finally....MOTHERBOARD

Beware, they're a lot of screws, and although the guide was really detailed and i was extra careful about not forgetting any screws, I still missed ONE screw....basically coz I now have a small silver screw left in the box of screws i removed when i first opened the laptop.

My advice: if you are confident about opening your laptop, and know somebody who can solder the pins (I got an electrical engineer friend of mine to help - but you could do it yourself too!!!), this is the best way to go since you save a LOT of money. Also, this way, you get to remove and blow away all that nasty dust that accumulated over the years. Cheers and good luck

-Aravind M.

Wow I have been searching for days trying to figure out why my compaq turns off unexpectedly (battery died long ago). And this is definetely the same problem! What a great releif to find links to a dissasemble guide since I couldn't find out how to remove the top/keyboard to get the mainboard fully out.

Thanks a lot guys you've been a great help!

ok quick question did you guys all take out the entire mainboard when you did the power jack solder or did you just remove the back casing to get at it? I have a r3120 so while it's slightly different the design is bascily the same but I can see the power jack without taking out the motherboard (from underneith, not keyboard side)

I took it down to the level specified ing the manual. This constitutes "ripping it apart". The correct way to do it. Good Luck!

So does the HP DL516a is an expansion base for the r3000 resolve the power jack issue for people? If it does, please let me know!!!!

Thanks!

Are you saying + and ground are touching causing a short circuit? You could easily measure that with an ohm-meter?
Look at the docking port on the right side of the laptop. The most left and most right contacts (copper ones) can put through power to the computer too, that's why some people with connector problems are helped with a XC1000 all-in-one media cable, or a docking station, because they use the docking port to connect to, and have their own socket to connect the power-adapter to. So you avoid using the dc jack with those.

So I am having the same problem as everyone else, and with the help of these posts was able to successfully disassemble my computer with no prior experience.

I got to the motherboard and took a soldering iron to the 4 pins referenced on the 1st page. I got the machine back together and working and I think I have at least improved the power input problem.

Here is my question though - do I need to actually put additional solder on or around the pins, or is what I am trying to accomplish just to remelt the existing connection. Hope that question even makes since, as this is my first ever soldering attempt.

Thank in advance.

I, too, just completed my power jack repair on my Compaq R3240US, thanks completely to the helpful posts here. Since I, too, had never soldered anything in my life, I was somewhat at a loss as to what to do, even after reading this. I tried heating up the pins and then putting the solder down as per the instructions, but no matter what I did, they didn't get hot enough to melt the solder. Finally, I ended up melting the solder directly against the iron and letting a little plop drip down on to each pin, which I'm sure was the wrong way to do it -- but it ended up doing the trick anyway.

As for remelting an exiting connection, there was almost no solder on my pins at all, so there was nothing to remelt. I melted and scraped away an incredibly thin film that might've been solder, but there was so little of it that it was really impossible to tell. Seems Compaq's workmanship was less than stellar on this machine.

In case anyone else approaches this from the same inexperienced perspective that I did, I was able to get everything I needed at Radio Shack. I got a soldering kit (with solder, iron, and stand), screwdriver set and anti-static wrist strap, all for under $20 total. I looked online and was even able to check to see if each item was in stock. That was helpful, since I needed the equipment immediately.

I printed out chapter five of the Compaq disassembly manual, as well as this image from rschultz's links. I wrote on that picture to keep track of which size screws went back into which holes. There are two screw sizes for almost all parts, although one or two interior screws were unique! I also printed message #60 in this thread, a post by achi2k, which helped me remember what order to do all of this stuff in. Although that post calls for removal of the heat sink itself, that step wasn't necessary for me. Also, the "combo" drive mentioned in the manual assumes that you have a floppy drive along with your DVD/CD drive. As was rschultz's case, I do not, so there was no ribbon cable to disconnect.

Total time spent was about four hours, and the experience wasn't too stressful. The hardest part was getting some of the screws to turn. I used little screwdrivers for the bulk of the job, but had a larger handled one on hand for the tightest screws because the little one just wouldn't budge the things.

This thread was incredibly helpful, by the way. Thanks to everyone who has contributed, I was able to fix my laptop for under $20, instead of either spending $150 on a docking station or spending who knows how much on a repair job. (Plus, I got to clean the cat hair out of my machine... always a plus!) The help was very much appreciated.

Well, the power cord on my machine has always been a bit loose, and it does come unplugged pretty easily if I move it around. I've heard the same from others, so that's normal, I'd say.

As far as the shutdown issue goes, yes, I'd say your battery is probably dead. Mine only lasted about a year, and again, that seems to be about the norm. The shutdown does happen very quickly, without warning, once the battery gets bad. Mine shows as 99% charged, but then almost immediately drops to 3% ten seconds after I unplug it -- which is enough to trigger an instant standby or shutdown.

So, if it works when it is plugged in, and only shuts down when the machine is moved and the plug comes loose, then you're probably looking at just a battery issue. If, however, your laptop is shutting itself down sporadically even when you have not moved the computer, you may be dealing with the same power cord issue as many of the rest of us have.

But either way, it sounds like your battery is dead.

Hope that helps!

You better resolder it good, heat them up long enough to get all the solder molten. A good solder is shiny and smooth. If it looks dull and has a rough surface, forget about a good connection. Add solder if you have to, there's not much on it right from the factory. Is your battery still charging, does it run off battery?

Hello,
I'm from Croatia Europe, and i have the same problem with power jack. And i like the idea about law suit, so let's kick their ... . Anyway, i've decided to fix it by my self, but i do not know the real name of power jack (serial number, manufacturer or something), so i can look for it around here and replace it...
I just hang up off the phone talking with the service guy, who told me that if the problem is just for soldering, than the soldering part would be around 30$ but if it's not enough just to solder it than i would have to change whole board...which is more than stupid. Because they are doing it only with original parts, and it's not possible to order any single part except whole board. So i would like to get it to him. And if it's true that they don't have it in this country, i'll order it from e-bay or something.
So if anyone can help??

Anyhow...i have my R3000 (it sounds like a model of borg ) for at least 3 years, and i have problems with the power for at least last 2yr...First i was thinking that it's because i used to hold my laptop on a small chair, while sitting on floor, but it was only for a couple of weeks period, than the games started...fixing it, moving it, somehow...luckely for me, and the chair, i didn't even think about that the problem is in power cord. If i decide to fix it by myself, i'll post pictures here, regardless of outcome... So wish me luck...and found out the serial and manufacturer name of power jack...

You may not need a new power jack. Have you tried resoldering the jack to the board, as per the instructions in this thread? That might fix your problem. I'd try that before ordering the other part, unless you're in a hurry.

The jack is not accessible just by removing the top plastic part. You have to disassemble the whole laptop to get to it, as per the instructions provided earlier in this thread.

You can buy a jack if you'd like, but that may not be the problem. Its connection to the motherboard is more likely the issue, and that can be fixed by soldering the existing jack back to the motherboard. I would definitely recommend trying that before ordering something internationally and waiting weeks for it to arrive.

Candy_girl, that sounds like a different problem than the one discussed here. Is the battery charging when the computer is off and connected to the power supply?

Looks like a short between your powerline and ground of the board or connector. Check the adapter plug and cable, where the cable goes in the plug, for breaches. Got another adapter from a friend maybe, to try?
It might also be the center pin of the dc-in connector, touching ground inside the case. Is the center pin loose? (Try to wiggle it with tweezers, but with the battery out!) More serious if you dislocated the whole connector, and maybe damaged the board itself. I guess you should find someone to take it apart, and do a check/repair, if the fault is not in the adapter plug or cable.

Hi guys

I too have been suffering from the r3000 power cord issue so I decided to take the advice on this forum and take apart my laptop to solder on a new connector that I managed to get hold of on ebay.

Everything seemed to go well until I re-assembled my laptop and found that when I turn it on the only things to light up are the power lights on the power button and the front of the laptop, the light on the touchpad and the charging light on the front. The screen remains blank and there does not seem to be any communication with the hard disk. The HD light flashes on at start up but then goes out and nothing else happens. One of the fans seems to power up too.

I spoke to Compaq who have said it'll be $299 for on site repair which i really cant afford right now. Any help or suggestions on this would be very much appreciated

Thanks
Jimbo

Thanks for the reply

I stripped it all down again and had a good look at the connections. Turns out I'd not noticed that the CPU needs to be locked in place using a screwdriver so it was just sat on top of its connection. Doh!!

Anyways. I now have a perfectly operational laptop that charges quite happily. Lets hope it stays that way for a while!

Thanks for your help

Hope for you the memory isn't seated right, or the processor isn't put right in the socket. Next thing could be a corrupted bios. The other option is you shorted something, and/or killed the video, which is bad coz it means another motherboard is needed.

About the video, an external monitor, but you already tried that. No need to push keys, workes right on boot up if nothing is wrong. You might want to check the internal cable to the lcd. Bad contact maybe, can prevent monitor-out too, but rare. About bios corruption, see if an attached usb-floppy drive is trying to read when you hold the FN and B key on powering up. Alternative keys: Windows-key plus B key.
If lucky (drive light comes on) unzip a bios rompaq (biosupdate file) with winzip or winrar. Keep unpacking till the rar files are all unpacked. Put the phlash.exe, the bios.wph file (rename it to that if named different) and the minidos file on a bootable floppy and let the computer boot from that usb floppy drive with this disk.
If nothing, take the whole board out and try to get it working out of the case.
Are you shure about reseating that processor, applying heatpaste and -sink. Or did you leave the processor on the board while soldering? Running P4 or AMD?

For P4's: solder the positive pin on both sides of the board! Hope this solves something, but I'm afraid not.