Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Gateway W323 DC power jack board short repair problem

Recently we have had more and more issues with the Gateway W323 laptops that utilize a small DC jack power board (daughter board if you will) that attaches with a wire harness to the motherboard. The problem we're seeing typically occurs when someone attempts to repair or replace the DC power jack by applying too much heat during the soldering or desoldering of the jack. There is not much insulation between the positive (voltage) and negative (ground) circuits on this board, so it doesn't take much burn damage to cause a permanent short circuit on the DC power board.

The DC input board on these models is very fragile and prone to such issues, so care must be taken not to inflict additional damage during repair attempts. A basic Radio Shack soldering iron is NOT acceptable for DC jack repair on these W323 models. Comprehensive Computing has state-of-the-art soldering equipment and laptop repair technicians skilled in DC power jack replacement. We will take extra care with your laptop and provide professional service just as with any other model laptop we see for DC jack repair.

Please note this also affects the Gateway W322 laptop models as well.

DC POWER JACK REPAIR

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Bad power connector can damage your AC power adapter!

Every so many laptops we see come in for dc jack repair also come with another problem. The AC power adapter (charger) is also dead. Why does this happen? When the positive center pin of the DC jack is loose on the motherboard, the laptop will try to pull power faster from the power adapter than it should. When a laptop tries to pull excess current from a power adapter rated for 3.42 Amperes (amps), something has to give. Think of it as trying to sip through a very narrow straw. You have to work harder to get what you need. Basically it's the same type of problem. A poor connection between the adapter plug and the power jack will generate heat and even melt the power plug. Yes, we've actually seen the power plug get so hot that it melted!

We keep plenty of replacement power adapters in stock for such occasions. If you need an adapter when we perform DC jack repair on your laptop, just let us know and we'll send one right along with your laptop when the repair is complete.

Tuesday, August 19, 2008

HP Pavilion ZE series laptop DC power jack repair

The older HP Pavilion ZE series laptops are, in our opinion, the most solid laptops of all time. Of course, like any laptop, they do come in quite often for DC power jack repair. From our experience with the hundreds of these laptop models, however, they have a nearly 100 percent success rate with power connector replacement in our repair facility. Outside of needing to replace the DC jack, the ZE series laptops rarely have any other major repair issues.

The DC power jack used in these HP laptops is a small non-sheilded power port with three contacts: the positive (voltage), negative (ground) and a switch that tells the laptop that the adapter plug has been plugged in to the jack itself. The power jack is not reinforced, so it tends to break or come loose somewhat easily. This, of course, will lead to a dead laptop with no power whatsoever, a laptop with intermittent power and/or a laptop that will not charge the battery.

The good news is we keep plenty of DC jacks on hand for these HP and all other models of laptops out there. DC jack repair is $99 plus return shipping at Comprehensive Computing, and we turn this repair around in 1 to 2 business days.

Some of the ZE series laptops we consider to be overall solid laptop models are:

ze4201, ze4202s, ze4204s, ze4206s, ze4207, ze4208s, ze4208s, ze4209, ze4210, ze4211, ze4219, ze4219, ze4220, ze4221, ze4222, ze4229, ze4230, ze4231, ze4232s, ZE4239, ze4240, ze4241, ze4251, ze4261, ze4268, ze4271, ze4274s, ze4278, ze4281, ze4282, ze4284, ze4288, ze4292, ze4294, ze4294, ze4298, ze4305EA, ze4307LA, ze4308EA, ze4310, ze4311, ze4312, ze4313, ze4314, ze4315, ze4315ca, ze4316, ze4317, ze4318, ze4319, ze4320, ze4321, ze4323EA, ze4325ca, ze4325EA, ze4335us, ze4345EA, ze4347EA, ze4348EA, ze4351EA, ze4367EA, ze4375EA, ze4385EA, ze4386EA, ze5207, ze5217, ze5228, ze5232, ze5232, ze5236, ze5238, ze5238, ze5240, ze5242, ze5244, ze5250, ze5252, ze5258, ze5262, ze5270, ze5279, ze5307LA, ze5315EA, ze5315EA, ze5320AP, ze5320EA, ze5325EA, ze5343EA, ze5344EA, ze5345EA, ze5345US, ze5354EA, ze5357LA, ze5360EA, ze5362EA, ze5365us, ze5375us, ze5385ca, ze5385us, ze5395us

HP POWER JACK REPAIR

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Dell Inspiron B120, B130, 1000, 1200 and 1200 DC power jack repair

Although it's been a few years since these models came out, these Dell Inspiron laptop models (the 1000, 1200, 2200, B120 and B130) are still among the least problematic Dell laptops out there as far as repair goes. Of course, this is with the exception of one problem: the DC power jack, which does tend to break somewhat easily. So, we see quite a few of these Dell laptops in our shop for DC power jack repair.

In later models, Dell used a 9-point "double barrel" DC jack, however these models have a more standard design with a 2.5mm DC power jack. The good news is that a more simple design usually means fewer complications resulting from DC jack problems. Overall, Comprehensive Computing has a DC jack repair success rate of approximately 95.2% in the last couple of years. Our success rate of replacing the power port in the 1000, 1200, 2200, B120 and B130 Dell Inspiron laptop models is among the highest of any models we see at 98.9% successful!

So, if you own one of these particular Dell laptops and find yourself with DC power input problems, rest assured it's worth the $99 plus return shipping for our DC jack repair service. Your laptop will be powering up properly within 1 to 2 business days after we receive it for DC jack repair!

To find out more about our DC jack repair service, visit http://comprehensivecomputing.net/laptop_power_jack_repair.htm

Gateway MA3 and MA7 DC Jack Repair

Gateway MA3 and MA7 model owners, we see many of your laptop models for our DC jack repair service. The MA3 and MA7 models are the most common Gateway laptops that come in for DC jack repair. The DC power jack appears to have come from a bad die (see our blog for more details on this at http://comprehensivecomputing.blogspot.com/2008/08/gateway-ma7-ma3-ma2-and-ma2a-dc-power.html), so we replace this jack with a DC jack made by a different manufacturer when one comes in for power jack repair.

These are very nice, but simple laptops made by Gateway. The motherboard is typically very solid with the exception of this fautly DC connector. Your MA3 or MA7 is in good hands with our laptop DC jack repair technicians at Comprehensive Computing and will be good as new after DC jack replacement! If you are in need of our power connector repair service, click here.

DC JACK REPLACEMENT

Gateway MA7, MA3, MA2 and MA2A DC power jack repair

We see many Gateway laptops here for our DC jack repair service, and we're beginning to wonder about a problem with the DC jack (power port) that was factory-installed in the Gateway MA2, MA2A, MA3 and MA7 laptop models. This jack tends to break right at the same juncture: the intersection between the back plastic wall of the DC jack and the positive terminal coming from the back where the jack is soldered into the laptop's motherboard. Other DC jack types tend to come in to our repair center broken in a variety of ways. This jack, however, is almost always cracked or broken right in the same place. This leads us to believe that this DC jack was possibly defective right from the die in which it was created. (We will note that Gateway was not at fault. They, along with HP, Compaq and Toshiba, purchased this DC jack from a 3rd party vendor.)

How do we fix this situation? When we get one of these Gateway laptops in for DC jack repair, we replace the defective DC jack with a new jack from a different manufacturer. This replacement power socket is much stronger than the original and not as likely to break as the original jack. It will still fit the power adapter just the same as the original jack, as it has the same center pin size and barrel diameter as the original DC jack.

By avoiding the problems associated with this defective DC jack in the first place, we significantly reduce the likelihood that your Gateway MA2, MA2A, MA3 and MA7 series laptop will be back for DC jack repair in the future.

Here are a few of the Gateway laptop models affected by this DC power jack problem:

6010GZ, 6018GH, 6018GZ, 6020GZ, 6021GZ, 6022GZ, 6023G, 6510GZ, 6518GZ, 6520GZ, 6525GP, 6531GZ, MT3104b, MT3110c,
MT3111c, MT3112c, MT3303j, MT3304j, MT3305j, MT3421, MT3422, MT3423, MT3707, MT3708, MT3710c, MT3711c, MT3712b,
MT6015j, MT6016j, MT6221j, MT6224j, MT6225j, MT6228j, MT6229j, MT6451, MT6452, MT6456, MT6458, MT6459, MT6460,
MT6704, MT6704H, MT6705, MT6706, MT6707, MT6708, MT6709, MT6709H, MT6710, MT6711, MT6722b, MT6723, MT6724b, MT6821,
MT6823b, MT6824b, MT6825b, MT6826j, MT6827j, MT6828, MT6828H, MT6830, MT6831, MT6833b, MT6834b, MT6835j, MT6836j,
MT6838j, MT6839b, MT6840, MT6841, MT6842b, MT6915b, MT6916, MT6917b, MT6919, MT6920, MX6025, MX6025H, MX6027,
MX6027H, MX6028, MX6030, MX6121, MX6123, MX6124, MX6124H, MX6128, MX6135, MX6420, MX6421, MX6423, MX6424, MX6424H,
MX6425, MX6428, MX6436, MX6437, MX6438, MX6440, MX6440H, MX6442, MX6450, MX6455, MX6625, MX6627, MX6627H, MX6629,
MX6629H, MX6631, MX6633, MX6633H, MX6640B, MX6650, MX6650H, MX6708, MX6708H, MX6710, MX6750, MX6912, MX6951, MX6951H

GATEWAY LAPTOP POWER DC JACK REPAIR

Toshiba Satellite A75 DC jack repair

What is the most common Toshiba laptop we see for DC jack repair? You guessed it. It's the Toshiba Satellite A75. It uses the same defective DC power jack that many of the Gateway and HP laptops use that appear to have come from a bad die in the manufacturing process. So, many owners have an intermittent power connection or even no power at all due to the broken DC jack. We replace this DC jack with a power connector made by a different manufacturer. Again, this new DC jack is much stronger than the original jack but is the same 4 pin configuration with the same barrel and center pin size so that it will fit the power adapter plug just the same as the original jack did.

Most people with power problems related to a broken or loose DC power jack on a Toshiba A75 have read many pages on the Internet regarding the frequency of these DC jack issues, so this is not likely to be news. Comprehensive Computing offers a fix for this problem: our $99 laptop DC power jack repair service! We'll repair your Toshiba Satellite A75 series laptop by replacing the DC jack, which will save you from having to replace the motherboard, for only $99 plus return shipping. To read more about our DC jack repair service, click here.

LAPTOP POWER JACK REPAIR

Compaq Presario 2100, 2200 and 2500 laptop power DC jack repair

The Compaq Presario 2100, 2200 and 2500 model laptops are very common DC power jack repair candidates in our shop. The motherboard is basically the same as many of the HP ZE series laptops and is considered one of the most solid motherboards in any laptop we see. The big flaw in the Compaq 2100, 2200 and 2500 laptops, however, is they use one of the weakest DC jacks in existence. Plus, there's no aluminum shield on the power jack itself, so the jack is held in place only by the 3 contacts soldered onto the motherboard. Thus, many of these end up with a broken or loose DC jack and come in for DC jack repair.

These laptops are definitely, in the author's opinion, worth having the DC jack replaced because of the fact that there are very few other problems that tend to come up with these Compaqs. So, if you own one of the Presario 2100, 2200 or 2500laptops and are experiencing power problems due to a bad DC connector, our $99 DC jack repair service will have you enjoying your laptop for years to come!

Find out more about Comprehensive Computing's DC jack repair service.