Comments on: How to remove motherboard and repair DC power jack in Dell Inspiron 1300/B120/B130 laptop

By: pinoy dell user

pinoy dell user — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 13:27:18 +0000

please post about the voltage needed by the motherboard.. is it like 5 volts and 12 volts from the 19 volts?

i think one of the regulators is dead.. i can measure 5 volts but cannot find other voltages like 12 volts.

tnx…

ive looked closely at the voltage power jack..it looks ok no cracks .

By: Peter

Peter — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:42:46 +0000

Thank you for the help. I can get the thing apart without pictures, but it REALLY helped me ensure I wasn’t left with any “extra” screws!

By: bubullea

bubullea — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:17:37 +0000

Superrrrrrrrr thnx

By: Jerry Stallman

Jerry Stallman — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:38:49 +0000

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.

By: todd yarling

todd yarling — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 00:21:30 +0000

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…..

By: cabinfever1977

cabinfever1977 — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 06:27:43 +0000

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.

By: cabinfever1977

cabinfever1977 — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 05:24:03 +0000

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.

By: Larry

Larry — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:13:11 +0000

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!

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:46:00 +0000

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.

By: LT

LT — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 14:10:29 +0000

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?