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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.
May 5th, 2013 at 12:17 pm
Thank you so much! I have an ancient Dell that I just now got working. Replaced the power connection and stuck in a new battery. It had the problem that the battery would discharge in 60 seconds, and I’d have to tweak the power cord in just the right way to get a connection. I don’t have a big need to get a new laptop; this one does the job as I mostly use remote desktop.
I think the thrill and surprise of victory might be better than actually fixing the laptop!
February 7th, 2013 at 3:37 pm
@ acharya binod,
DC. The power adapter gets AC from the wall and converts it into DC for the laptop.
February 6th, 2013 at 2:55 am
which power(AC OR DC) is used computer motherboard and other components ?
October 6th, 2012 at 6:40 am
i have same problem of battery not charging. my laptop is dell inspiron 1318. can you please show how to do samef or my model. thanks in advance
September 30th, 2012 at 10:41 pm
Many thanks. My laptop is working now.. WOW
Though i didn’t had powerjack problem, after reassembling it again it is working now.. huray.
thank u very much
August 24th, 2012 at 10:03 pm
Thankyou Laptop Tech for your help. I reseated the ram and it worked but I discovered it was the DC Jack all along. The computer posted b/c of the charged battery, previously had a dead one. In the BIOS setup screen I saw the screen flicker dim on and off. I adjusted the jack and it stayed bright. I must have a bad dc jack connection and need to do the repairs detailed on this page.
Again thanks for solving this mystery.
August 19th, 2012 at 10:44 am
@ gtv,
Have you tried reseating memory modules? Maybe it’s just bad connection?
Have you tried removing memory modules one by one and testing in different laptop slots?
August 17th, 2012 at 2:34 am
Hi, I have dell inspiron b120. It would boot to blue screen error. I was going to install new os and save system. It had minimum 256 ram so I tried to upgrade ram. I have upgraded ram before. After attempted upgrade, the system only shows green charging light when ac power plugged in. When you hit pwr button all lights flash once and immediately turn off. I do not believe I shorted mother board when I installed ram but this is possible due to static. Does it sound like a bad MB? I have a new MB coming but would like to be able to salvage this one.
The battery was completely juiced and I had done a hard reset to discharge power before installing the ram. I got a neww battery it charged for a while (30 min+) with a slowly flashing green light then changed to an orange flashing light. So will not start with battery or ac power alone. This seems to mean the dc jack is okay, or could it still be faulty? Please any advice is helpful, I have read all 50 comments on the page. Great info here, thanks to all posters and original creator.
February 24th, 2012 at 1:55 pm
@ mikhail francis,
Either you have defective parts or assembled the laptop incorrectly.
February 21st, 2012 at 1:23 pm
what if you did that and it did not work