How To: Toshiba Satellite P305 DC Jack Repair

This is a common failure on this model. Reference:
Toshiba Satellite DC Jack Plastic Breaks

I received this laptop needing a power jack repair.

When the AC adapter was inserted into the laptop, it made no connection to the DC jack. The jack just pushed inwards and getting the adapter into the jack was impossible. Having seen this many times before, I conclude that it is time to dismantle the laptop.

First I remove the battery.

Slide battery latch to unlock

 

Remove the battery.

Under the battery are 3 screws. These hold the thin strip of plastic above the keyboard in place. It is a keyboard bezel of sorts, if you will.

Remove these 3 screws

Once those are out, I flip the laptop over and open it up and gently remove the keyboard bezel with a flathead. Once it is started, it just snaps right off. Under it are more screws. These screws are for the keyboard. Once they are out, be careful removing the keyboard. You do not want to rip the keyboard ribbon or else you will be buying a new keyboard.

Gently lift up.
The strip will easily unsnap.
Unscrew the keyboard screws
Lift up on the keyboard but be careful to not rib cables underneath which connect it to the motherboard.
Here is the connector.
The connector flips up from the 3:00 position to the 12:00 position. Be gentle.
Now the cable will slip right out if it hasn’t already.

Once the keyboard is out I remove the optical drive and then disconnect the ribbons for the touchpad / palmrest / keyboard bezel, and then there are a few screws here in the metal to be removed as well.

Remove this so that the optical drive can be removed.
Remove the optical drive.
Grab the blue pull tab. Pull directly back. Do not lift. Be gentle.

Remove any screws in this metal.

Flip it back over. Remove the hard drives, memory cover and screws from the bottom of the machine. Be sure to get the hidden screws. Then the palmrest assembly comes off.

Remove HD cover.
The hard drive slides the direction of the yellow arrow.

Remove the secondary HD cover.
Hidden screw 1.
Hidden screw 2.
Hidden screw 3.
Lift up on palmrest.
This is the bottom of the palmrest once it has been removed.
And here is the inside of the laptop.
And here is the problem jack.
The green line shows where the plastic was before it snapped. The red arrows are pointing to the plastic in it’s current location. It will not be holding any jacks in place in this condition. The plastic is very thin and breaks under little stress.

In the pic you can see that the AC adapter is indeed putting out 19V, or something close. Be sure the voltage is not fluctuating.

At the motherboard, the voltage is again checked. While the tester is attached to the motherboard the jack should be wiggled around in several directions to be sure that it is not loose from the wiring harness and that the AC adapter is making a secure connection. The voltage should not fluctuate. This particular jack held at 19.40 Volts. This means the jack is ok and the connection is secure and we can move on to the epoxy stage.

The motherboard is getting full voltage.

 

I always use plastic bonding epoxy like this one.

Follow the mixing instructions and whip up some glue. Slather generously where the jack is going to permanently be affixed. Quickly remove any excess epoxy and do not get it on the case. Press the jack into place. Go ahead and add more to the sides and this thing will never move again. If you are curious, yes, removing this will be very difficult if it breaks again, but the jack itself is pretty durable. I’ve done this to hundreds of machines with zero complaints.

Epoxy
Jack sitting in fresh epoxy. Clean up your mess fast.
If needed use a clamp to hold it in place like in the picture.

Epoxy applied to the side of the jack makes it super strong.

After the glue is dry install the palmrest, install the battery and connect the front ribbon. Plug the machine in to the AC adapter and you should see the LED light up indicating that the unit is plugged in and the battery charging LED should illuminate as well.

Here we can see that everything went well. The LEDs are lighting up properly.

Now remove the battery and reassemble the unit and test it out.

When reassembling, push the keyboard towards you into place.
Run your finger down the plastic to snap this back into place.
Plug it in, power it on, and give it a test.

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *