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Brooks B
@24.184.202.x

Brooks B

Anon

Laptop is driving me crazy!!

I will start by saying that I have been doing basic stuff with computers my whole life. Nothing crazy but I can easily switch out a hard drive and memory. Now, I have a lenovo ideapad z580 with an i5 and I switched out the factory 750GB drive for a 250GB SSD drive. Now the problem: during a move, the pin that goes in to the power cord when you plug it in somehow came loose. I tried take the laptop apart but that part was inaccessible as far as I could tell (covered by a thin metal plate). I managed to pull the pin forward enough that I can plug in the power but it is VERY loose (it just falls out). Also, sometimes moving the computer or putting pressure on my wrists will cause a fatal error blue screen and restart the computer. Any ideas would be great, thanks!!
8744675
join:2000-10-10
Decatur, GA

8744675

Member

You normally have to take the laptop apart all the way down to the mother board in order to get at the power jack. If you are good at soldering or know someone who is, you can fix it very inexpensively. Power jacks go bad often due to the cord being tugged on from tripping over the wire or too much wear and tear from plugging and unplugging. Sometimes the center pin breaks off, and sometimes the solder points where the jack attaches to the mother board get loose and break. They may look perfectly normal, but a minute crack that you can't see is enough to break the circuit.

You can find a replacement jack online for about $10. If you know how to solder or know someone who does, it's pretty easy to desolder the old jack and resolder the new one. Or you can take the jack and board to a TV repair shop and have them do it for you.

Another option is to replace the whole mother board, which can be expensive. There are place online or eBay who repair power jacks for $50 - $100. You have to send them your laptop and they fix it and send it back.

Google "laptop power jack replacement" to find instructions and places to buy a jack or send for repair. If you buy a jack, it has to be specifically for the laptop and motherboard version. There are step by step teardown instructions for many different laptops online. Google "laptop disassembly guide" or "laptop teardown guide" and narrow the search for your laptop model number. If you can't find the exact model, find one for a laptop from the same family that is as close to yours as possible.

Keep good track of what screws go where by labeling where they came from. An HP Pavilion has about 72 screws and some others have only 10 or 20. You'll never be able to remember where they go so write it down. While you're in there, be sure to clean the heat sink vents which collect alot of dust and can clog, causing the processor to overheat, which can fry the CPU or make it act really wonky. Also remember the orientation of some of the heat shields and parts, because it's sometimes tricky trying to figure out how it was before you removed it. Also be very very careful with the ZIF ribbon connectors. It's very easy to break off the little plastic locking bar that holds the ribbon cable in the connector, and you can't repair them if they break. Use small jewelers screwdriver to gently lift the lock bar. Some lift straight upwards, some tilt forward to release, and it's hard to tell by looking at it. Try light pressure in both directions to see how it moves.

psafux
Premium Member
join:2005-11-10

psafux

Premium Member

said by 8744675:

An HP Pavilion has about 72 screws

You forgot the /sarcasm tag on that. The highest screw count I've personally worked with was about 30 and that was a "everything comes out" situation. HP, Sony, IBM/Lenovo tend to be the worst though in general. The biggest issue for most people is not the quantity of screws but the variance of screws. I'd rather deal with 30 screws of 3 different sizes vs 15 screws of 8 sizes. I like to grab a sheet of paper and make a (very amateur) diagram of the system. As each screw comes out it goes on the paper diagram right near where it was removed. Works for me pretty well.

Rest of the advice is spot on.