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In this guide I remove the motherboard and repair the DC power jack in a Dell Inspiron B130 laptop. You can use same instructions for Dell Inspiron 1300 and Inspiron B120 laptops. All three models have same type of body.
In my case the power jack started failing intermittently. The laptop started switching from AC to battery power on its own. In order to switch it back to the AC power I had to fiddle with the adapter plug and find the right position. I tested the laptop with another adapter and it failed exactly the same way. I came to a conclusion that the DC power jack is not making good contact with the motherboard and has to be repaired.
In Dell Inspiron 1300/B120/B130 laptop the DC power jack is soldered to the motherboard. If the jack is broken, you’ll have to unsolder it and replace with a new jack.
Let’s start removing the motherboard.
STEP 1.
Check out spare parts for Dell Inspiron 1300/B120/B130.
Before you start taking the laptop apart, do not forget to turn off the power and remove the battery.
Lift up the right side of the keyboard cover with a small screwdriver and continue removing the cover with your fingers.
STEP 2.
After the cover is removed you can access two screws securing the keyboard. Remove both screws.
STEP 3.
Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest.
STEP 4.
Now you can access the cable connector and release the cable.
STEP 5.
Unlock the connector, pull the cable and remove the keyboard.
On the following picture the connector is displayed in the unlocked position.
STEP 6.
Remove two screws securing display hinges on the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 7.
Remove two screws securing display hinges on the back side of the laptop.
STEP 8.
Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard.
Disconnect the wireless card antenna cable.
STEP 9.
Remove the display panel assembly.
Here’s an example of removing the LCD screen from a Dell display panel.
STEP 10.
From the bottom of the laptop you can access the hard drive, memory modules, wireless card, optical CD/DVD drive and heat sink.
STEP 11.
Remove the hard drive cover.
Pull the hard drive assembly to the left and remove it from the laptop.
STEP 12.
Remove one screw securing the optical CD/DVD drive to the laptop base.
Pull the drive from the laptop and remove it.
STEP 13.
It’s not necessary to remove both memory modules and wireless card for the purpose of this guide but you have to disconnect the Wi-Fi antenna cable.
STEP 14.
Loosen four silver screws securing the heat sink.
STEP 15.
Pull the heat sink up and disconnect it from the processor.
As you see, in my laptop the heat sink is clogged with dust and needs a good cleaning.
STEP 16.
Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 17.
Remove eight screws securing the top cover.
Disconnect the touch pad cable.
Disconnect the lid close switch cable.
Disconnect the CMOS (RTC) battery.
In this model the lid close switch is discrete module and mounted under the fight hinge.
If the lid close switch failed, you can remove it and replace with a new one or simply unplug the faulty switch from the motherboard and use the laptop without it.
STEP 18.
Separate the top cover assembly from the laptop base and remove the cover.
STEP 19.
Remove five screws securing the motherboard.
Disconnect the speaker cable from the motherboard.
STEP 20.
Start removing the motherboard from the right side as it shown on the picture below.
STEP 21.
Remove motherboard from the laptop base.
The DC power jack is soldered directly to the motherboard.
I assumed that the power jack is not making good contact with the motherboard and I was correct.
As you see, there is a crack in the solder joint around the “+” pin.
The “+” pin got oxidized and not making good contact with the motherboard.
If you resolder the jack without cleaning the “+” pin, your repair will not last.
It is necessary to unsloder the power jack, clean all contacts and solder it back to the motherboard.
You’ll find more detailed instructing in this guide for fixing failed DC power jack in a laptop.
On the following picture you see the same jack soldered back to the motherboard.
You can find a new power jack for Dell Inspiron 1300/B120/B130 here for less than $8.
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October 1st, 2009 at 4:41 am
Thank you so much this was EXTREMELY helpful!
October 25th, 2009 at 3:42 am
Yeah, but it’s the reassembling thing that’s getting to me . . .
October 29th, 2009 at 7:52 am
look at it beening assembling was so much easyer then i thought.geting the old solider off was way aaaaaaaaaaa to hard.but i do thx the person who show good detils
October 29th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
jennifer daniel,
It’s always easier on the picture.
November 24th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
Very nice. Clear, detailed pictures. I need to replace MB on a B120, and this will be most helpful!
November 26th, 2009 at 8:11 am
Nice guide.
November 26th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
touchpad connector – i found this part a bit quick – do you have some photos on how i can remove the touchpad connector? very useful otherwise – provided i manage not to break the touchpad connector whilst attempting to remove it.
November 27th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Aran,
You move the locking clip about 1 millimeter towards the LCD screen and release the cable.
This post explains in more details how to unlock this kind of connectors.
December 20th, 2009 at 12:32 am
That is info on the locking clip for the keyboard. Aran is talking about the little cable for the touchpad. I found it easy to take out the cable by slowly and carefully sliding it out, putting it back in was harder though. Also, connecting the wifi cable was hard as it was not long enough to do with the screen off.
Great fix on this problem, which I have read is common with Dell Inspiron 1300 DC Power Jack. I took it in once to a professional to have it fixed….$100 later, and about 4 months passing by, my screen still flickers, and the computer goes from battery to charger on and off. I opened it up last week to check it out. Wasn’t sure I knew what to do. After this guide, I know exaclty what needs to be solderd. THANK YOU. Hopefully I can successfully do this.
December 23rd, 2009 at 8:10 pm
I found this site to offer all the help i needed to replace the power connector on a family members’ Dell B130. Removing the old connector was the toughest part but the link offered helped a lot. I also found that taking a sheet of paper and drawing a rough diagram of the laptop and taping each screw to the corresponding position made it a snap to put back together.
December 24th, 2009 at 6:10 am
When taking apart a Toshiba Satellite, I thought I broke the touch pad connector so I bought a new one and perhaps I’m installing the new one incorrectly, because I can’t get it to work. Got any pics or tips?
December 24th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
One of my daughters broke the power jack off completely. There isn’t anything but the metal “nubs” barely sticking up. Issue I am having is getting the pieces out. I can do some minor soldering but am hesitant about putting more heat around this area and pushing what remains out. What is the recommended way to remove those pieces? I have a replacement jack but I may be wasting my time if I end up damaging the board. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
December 29th, 2009 at 9:13 am
First off, thanks for this pictorial site! It worked PERFECTLY for helping me replace the heatsink fan on my Inspiron 1300.
Second, for Jeff: To pull the pieces out from what your daughter broke off, you will need a soldering iron and a sturdy set of tweezers. The key is to work quickly. If possible, use a temperature controlled soldering iron. If this is not in the bank account, then I would recommend a 25 watt soldering iron. I think a 40 watt is way too hot for a circuit board.
Put some flux on the connection and with a hot soldering iron, touch the joint while pulling on the post with the tweezer. If all goes perfectly, it should pull out rather quickly. Leave the iron on the joint for only a few seconds. Overheating that joint can cause the pad to raise and killing the connection in the main board.
If pulling is not an option, do the same thing as above, but rather than pull, try pushing the post through the hole with the tweezers. This won’t remove it, but will make it easier to grab from the other side by doing the first step I mentioned.
After the posts are removed, wick the solder out of the hole using solder wick.
I will add one more time. Be careful how long you leave the iron on the hole. Work as quickly as you can. I don’t want to scare you, but I don’t want you to ruin your main board either. Also, if you are unsure of the wattage of your soldering iron, go buy a new one. Plain jane models are not that expensive. Typically they come in 15, 25 and 40 watt models. Personally I think 40 watts is too hot for circuitry.
Good luck!
January 6th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Someone gave me a dell inspiron 1300 laptop with a broken dc power jack,but the laptop turned on with the battery,just for a few seconds then it went off.
I got the old jack off except for the pins,plus i had a dc jack laying around,but it wasnt the same one so i would have to mount it outside the laptop for now,i know you can order a new jack for around $10,but i wanted to see if the laptop worked first.
I soldered a wire to the + pin(the pin in the middle back that faces sideways) and i soldered a 2nd wire to the – pins(the 2 pins that are side by side next to the power pin).
i ran the 2 wires out the hole where the dc jack used to be,and i soldered the 2 wires to a dc jack i had laying around(+ wire solders to pin on back of dc jack and – wire solders to pin closes to the spring tab that you can see inside the jack).
The laptop works perfect when its pluged in,but i have not tested it with the battery in it yet to see if it will charge it.
January 8th, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Update: laptop is working great and battery is charging 100% and it still can be used while charging. It works either plugged in or if i just want to just use the battery. On this model the battery does not need to be in laptop if you have it plugged in.
January 9th, 2010 at 4:21 pm
Hey thanks for the tut. Somebody gave me a B130 and the only thing other than reinstalling the OS and adding ram was the power plugin was shorting or whatever.
I never soldered anything in my life, but I followed your tut and just added a ball of solder to the positive terminal, and so far, its working.
I can’t see well enough to do it 100% the right way, but, hopefully this will last for a bit.
If it messes up again, I will do the workaround with soldering a couple wires to the term, wrapping them around the plastic grill, and attaching them to another DC connector.
I honestly can’t believe the thing booted up after I took it apart, let alone the green charging LED was glowing when I finally got it back together…..
January 24th, 2010 at 7:38 pm
I followed your instructions and with a jewelers loop I could see the soldered power jack terminal just as you showed (cracked and corroded). I would have never figured that out without your help. I added some solder, put it all back together and now It works great. I had been blaming the AC adapters all this time. You’re a genius! Also a nice guy for sharing your knowledge.
January 26th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Superrrrrrrrr thnx