Replace Broken DC Power Jack on Your Laptop Computer (UPDATED).

OK, I had my kids running around my room and kept tripping on my laptop's power cable. Then DC power jack was damaged. I had to always keep pressing the jack in order to charge my laptop. I reached my limit. I was almost throwing my computer out of my window, but it cost about $1700 three years ago. I decided to fix it. If you don't want to spend $400 by asking professional, you have option to do it yourself. My cost was about $12 ($7 DC jack, $5 desoldering braid).

This instructable does not require advanced soldering/desoldering skill. I had never desolder anything before, but was able to somehow desolder the jack.

[UPDATE]
The problem kept coming back. So I did permanent fix using modem port in my latest instructable.

Step 1: Initial Diagnostics

You can observe the damaged DC jack on the back of my computer.
The new DC jack shows how it is supposed to be.

Step 2: Materials Required

Materials required for this instructable are following.

1) Soldering iron (25W)
2) Multimater (optional)
3) Small screw drivers: 1set
4) Pen
5) Paper
6) New DC jack*
7) Thermal compound (often used for computer)
8) Disposable cups x6
9) Desoldering braid ($5 at RadioShack)
10) Isopropanol (not RNase Free)

New DC jack was puchased from DC PowerJacks.net

DC PowerJacks.net
Mine was less than $7. You can google and find cheapest source.

Step 3: Most Important Key! DOCUMENTATION!

The reason why you need pen and pencil is that you need documentation. I can't emphasize enough this. You will find yourself with extra screws and non-functional laptop if you don't.

Look around and write down schematic diagram of your computer.
You will assign screw numbers and mark them into your figures as you disassemble.

Step 4: Disassemble 1

Remove hard drive, optical drive, battery, and what ever you can remove.
Remove screws and assign screw number.
Place screws into corresponding disposable cup.
Take note where and what type of screws were there.

Step 5: Remove Plate Connector

Observe how the plate connector is fixed to computer body.
My case was that the back of hinge had place to pop up.
Very gently slide flat drive in and gradually lift it until the plate pops up.
Reverse the laptop and remove the plate connector.
Remove the cables and plugs attached to the plate.

The mechanisms how plate connector is affixed to body of the computer varies.
Some manufacture is more difficult than the others.
Do not force pulling the plate out.

Step 6: Keyboad and LCD

Remove some screws then you will be able to remove keyboard.
I could not figure out how to disassemble further and it took 30 minutes to find out that I needed to remove the keyboard. My keyboard was fixed with double-sided adhesive pad.

Then you can remove LCD cables and antenna. Unscrew the real hinges and remove LCD.
If you have antenna, make sure which cable was attached to which.

Step 7: Remove the Exoskeleton

After removing some screws, you can remove the plastic exoskeleton (if you call it so) by finding out how it is connected.

Step 8: Remove the Endoskeleton

Now you see the naked computer. Unscrew some more and unplug whatever connectors you have to, you can remove endoskeleton.

Step 9: Desoldering Old DC Power Jack

Finally you can see the circuit board for DC power.

Desolder your old DC jack following the This Guide "How To Desolder Components""How To Desolder Components"

Another and much better guide to desolder and re-solder a power jack is DC power jack repair guide. Do-it-yourself instructions. The credit goes to Laptop Freak.

I did not use desoldering pump. Instead, I bought desoldering braid from RadioShack for about $5. Soldering before desoldering works pretty well, though.

Step 10: Soldering New DC Power Jack

After desoldering, use the small flat driver to secure enough space to put new legs of DC jack.
Place the new jack, solder the legs.

Step 11: Reassemble

You can check the continuity with multimeter. In my case, it was difficult to place the probe into the jack. Then follow the diagrams and screw back the screws.

Before placing endoskeleton, you need to clean remaining thermal compound from CPU heat sink with 90% Isopropanol and add new drop of thermal compound.

Reassemble the rest of laptop computer. Make sure all the cables and connectors are placed back. It is arduous to open it again and reconnect.