How to repair damaged power jack in Toshiba Satellite L305 and L355 laptops

Today I explain how to repair a damaged power connector also known as power jack in Toshiba Satellite L305 and L355 laptops. I started covering this problem in one of the previous posts.

Also this power jack modification should work for the following models: Toshiba Satellite L300, L305D, L355D, P305, P305D, Toshiba Satellite Pro L300, L350 and probably some other Toshiba laptops.

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION. The power jack gets pushed into the laptop base so it feels loose.

I will replace the original plastic jack with a generic metal jack purchased at RadioShack for about $3. The RadioShack part number is 274-1576. This jack is designed for tip size 5.5mm O.D.x2.5mm I.D. You can order this jack online or pick it up in a local store.

Proceed on your own risk! If you do something wrong, you can damage the laptop.

In order to access and repair the power jack its necessary to disassemble the laptop and remove the top cover assembly (palm rest). Heres an example of removing the top cover assembly from a Toshiba Satellite L355D, youll have to follow steps 1-14. Disassembly steps for all above mentioned models will be very similar. OK, lets say the top cover is removed and we are inside the laptop. By the way, Im fixing a Satellite L305D laptop. Why the power jack feels loose? You see the answer on the picture below. In my case both, the power jack and mounting brackets on the base assembly got broken. Even if you replace the broken jack with a new one, it will not stay attached to the base. If you send a laptop with a damage like that to a repair shop, they will recommend replacing the power jack harness and laptop base. This repair will easily cost over $200 but I have a better idea how to fix it for $3 without replacing the base assembly.

Heres my new replacement panel-mount jack which should last for a long time unlike the original Toshiba jack.

All laptops mentioned above come with one of the following AC adapter: 19v-3.42A, 19V-3.95A, 19V-4.74A or 19V-6.3A. All these power adapter will fit perfectly into the jack from RadioShack.

LETS START THE REPAIR. STEP 1. Using a pocket knife remove plastic supports from the internal side of the base assembly, so the side where the new jack will be mounted is flat.

On the picture below you see plastic supports removed.

STEP 2.

Again, using the pocket knife remove the plastic wall surrounding the mounting hole. Make the hole larger, so then new jack fits in.

STEP 3. The new jack is too long and if you install it as is the laptop cover will not sit properly on the base. It happens because one of the speakers (in Satellite L305D) is located very close to the power jack. It will work if you make the jack shorter. You can cut off part of the long - lead or simply bent it as I did. After its done coat both leads with generous amount of solder.

STEP 4. Now remove the damaged power jack from the laptop and cut off wires somewhere close to the jack base.

Remove isolation, twist wires and coat them with solder. The red + wire will connect to the lead in the center of the new jack. The black - wire will connect to the lead on the side the one you made shorter. In some laptops Toshiba uses green wires instead or red wires. They also should be soldered to the + lead in the center of your new jack. .WARNING! Check the polarity before you apply power to the laptop.

STEP 5. Now mount the new power jack on the base.

STEP 6. Solder wires to the new jack. Again, the red wire is soldered to the lead in the center and the black on to the lead on the side.

As you see, I soldered wires at a 90 degree angle to the jack so the top cover (and the right speaker) fits in. I covered both leads with electrical tape.

The new (modified) power harness has been installed into the laptop base. Now you can tighten the nut on the power jack and secure it on the base.

STEP 7. Youll have to modify the top cover assembly a little bit so it fits on the laptop. Remove plastic reinforcement walls so they do not touch the power jack when the cover is installed. If you leave these walls, there will be a gap between the cover and base.

The plastic walls have been removed.

STEP 8. Assemble the laptop. You are done! I think the new power jack is way more robust then the original one and should last for a long time.

And it looks great too.

Heres an example of damaged power jack in a Satellite L355D laptop. This base is bigger than in Satellite L305 and youll have plenty of space for your modification.

Heres another example of damaged base assembly in a Satellite P305D laptop. Again, there is plenty of space for the jack modification.

Static electricity can kill your laptop. I recommend wearing an anti-static wrist strap while working with internal parts of your laptop.

1.

283

StlouisRepair Says:
October 11th, 2010 at 2:36 pm

Thanks for the excellent instructions. The dis assembly and power jack and re assembly went great. Computer still would not turn on but that turned out to be the power pack. Once we picked up a new pack the computer was better than new. We had sent this computer in 3x to have this exact problem fixed and it took about two weeks every time. Now it is repaired permanently. Thanks again!

2.

282

Laptop
October 11th, 2010 at 12:22 pm

Tech Says:

l300 toshiba, I actually tried to glue the powerjack back onto the side but it would not work unless a play around with the adapter for a very long time, i was wondering if the problem could be with adapter or could it be with my laptop itself. I Could cannot be bad tell power cable without on the AC testing adapter or your bad DC laptop. jack.

Find a multimeter and test the AC adapter. If power cuts off when you move the cable, its bad cable. Replace the AC adapter in this case.

3.

281

l300
October 11th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

toshiba Says:

Hi,

I actually tried to glue the powerjack back onto the side but it would not work unless a play around with the adapter for a very long time, i was wondering if the problem could be with adapter or could it be with my laptop itself. also if i get the metal adapter would i need to solder it together oris there another easier way to do this. Thank-you.

4.

280

Laptop
October 9th, 2010 at 6:21 pm

Tech Says:

pete, did all the steps, step by step to a t. i couldnt get it to charge. not sure what i did wrong. i did it exactly as listed here. i have the red in the center black on the outside. soldereed them togetherdidnt break anything. Maybe you had a different problem with your laptop.

Maybe it wasnt just a bad/damaged jack. Did it charge before?

5.

279

pete Says:
October 9th, 2010 at 6:12 pm

did all the steps, step by step to a t. i couldnt get it to charge. not sure what i did wrong. i did it exactly as listed here. i have the red in the center black on the outside. soldereed them togetherdidnt break anything. this sucks!!!

6.

278

John
October 5th, 2010 at 7:05 pm

B Says:

Cheers and salud to you! This works awesome!! I installed it on my L355D. Plenty of room to fit it. I just had to snip out the broken bracket from the inside and I used my dremmel to widen the hole. I didnt have to alter the top case. Looks nice and it is really sturdy. Only if they would use a proper part to start with.

Thanks again!!

7.

277

Felix Says:
October 3rd, 2010 at 9:53 am

Firts of all thank you very much for this great solution because this jack will never cave in. I like to repair things one time. Last night I relocated the voltage regulator away from the exhaust pipe on my motorcycle so that it will never overheat again. This morning I got on the web (google) and found your site, went to RShack & got the part and installed it in no time. The instructions were great. My laptop is a Toshiba Satellite L355D-S7825.

8.

276

Sarrkazztic Says:
October 2nd, 2010 at 6:09 pm

I wanted to say, I have read this through a couple of times and after having superglued or goop adhesive repairing two L350-S1001V (Toshiba Satellites) a couple of different times, I decided to give this a try. Backstory is this happened for the first time to my wifes laptop about a year or so ago.it was still under warranty so I took it in to the local Toshiba certified shop and they replaced the jack and the bottom shell. This held for a couple of months then it broke again so I did the superglue fix..somehow she pushed it in again so I used the goop. After this the jack finally broke on mine (we have identical models) so I did the superglue fix on mineit lasted for a couple of months and then I came home from work one night and found I could not plug in my charger. So i decided to bite the bullet and put the metal jack in. Instead of using a pocket knife to clean up the jack location, I used my handy dandy dremel tool checking frequently to make sure I did not take too much material out and that the new jack would fit securely. In the L350s I did not have to later the length of the longer connection on the jack. I soldered it all up and used heat shrink tubing over the solder joints instead of electricians tape. I figured it would be better in the long run and if I ever had to do this again I would not have to deal with sticky wires. Once I finished putting mine back together and making sure it worked correctly the wife promptly asked me to do hers.luckily I bought 2 of the jacks at our local Radio Shack. 2 do both laptops probably took me 45 minutes in all, and I know both of them are fixed

permanently now..of course we have brand new P505-S8025s on the way to us.one of the L350s will be handed down to our daughter and the other will be sold to recoup some of the money on the new laptops. Thanks again for a great tutorial. It was a HUGE help to me today.

9.

275

HRD Says:
October 1st, 2010 at 3:20 pm

Hi, thanks for your instructions above, I repaired my girlfriends sons laptop and used a hand held countersink to make the hole in the side slightly larger as required. This allowed me to screw the DC jack into the case itself and also secure it from the inside with the supplied nut. All is now going well, thanks again. HD

10. 274

Laptop
October 1st, 2010 at 8:12 am

Tech Says:

Mabel, I followed your tutorial and I was able to disassemble my laptop successfully. Unfortunate I was not able to get the Power Jack, so I used JB Weld to permanently glue the old connector together to the holder there. If it works, it works!

11. 273

Mabel Says:
October 1st, 2010 at 4:34 am

I followed your tutorial and I was able to disassemble my laptop successfully. Unfortunate I was not able to get the Power Jack, so I used JB Weld to permanently glue the old connector together to the holder there.

Thanks alot.

12. 272

Laptop
September 28th, 2010 at 8:24 pm

Tech Says:

KM, I had made a pretty serious blunder! I accidentally picked a Size M jack out of the Size N jack box! They look virtually identical, so its hard to tell! Installed the Size N, and it fits like a glove! Amazing how much of a difference 0.4 mm can make If someone not sure which jack to choose, take your adapter to the store and try it in there. Make sure the adapter plug fits tightly into the jack.

13. 271

KM Says:
September 28th, 2010 at 4:43 pm

Hello again, Laptop Tech! I had made a pretty serious blunder! I accidentally picked a Size M jack out of the Size N jack box! They look virtually identical, so its hard to tell! Installed the Size N, and it fits like a glove! Amazing how much of a difference 0.4 mm can make! Thanks for the great guide! -KM

14. 270

KM Says:
September 28th, 2010 at 12:18 pm

Hello, LaptopTech, and thank you for the fantastic guide, I performed the replacement on a Toshiba L355D just as you specified, but when I plug the charger into the charging port, it crackles and smokes. Ive made sure to connect the green wire (aka, the red wire) to the center and the black wire to the outer tab. Thing is, I was a noob at soldering when I first did this until I looked up how to actually solder correctly. I also wrapped each lead in electrical tape to isolate them. Is it possible that

Ive damaged/burned out the replacement charging port, and can I simply buy a new one and do it right? Really stressed! Thanks for your help! -KM

15. 269

Laptop
September 27th, 2010 at 11:21 am

Tech Says:

Ed, Just called Toshiba, and yes they are covering this repair for free. HOWEVER, you must ship it off to them for 7-10 days for the repair to be done. Since my laptop is outside of the warranty anyway, I will opt for a $3 2 hour fix! Good to know that Toshiba still fixing this problem at no charge even on out-of-warranty units. Most likely some people can afford to wait for 7-10 days to get it fixed at no charge. Good luck Ed! Hopefully this fix works well for you.

16. 268

Ed Says:
September 27th, 2010 at 9:10 am

Just called Toshiba, and yes they are covering this repair for free. HOWEVER, you must ship it off to them for 7-10 days for the repair to be done. Since my laptop is outside of the warranty anyway, I will opt for a $3 2 hour fix! Wish me luck.

17. 267

Fishguy Says:
September 25th, 2010 at 8:29 pm

Nike,

Try the following if you have access to a multimeter I would recommend checking your power supply to make sure its functional. If the power supply works take the computer apart again. Disconnect the power harness from the mother board. plug the power supply in and use the multimeter to test at the terminal that plugs into the mother board. It may be that you have a short at the new connector. Also double check to make sure that you have soldered the red (or green depending on the model) wire to the center post of the new connector. The black wire goes to the outside post. This is super important as reversing the polarity can have the painful effect of cooking your motherboard. If the power harness checks out okay, I am sorry to say that there is a decent possibility that you have a bad mother board. As a quick side note. Many people like to use those cold heat soldering irons. They are great for soldering simple wire connections etc., but should never be used on items with sensitive components as they work by created an electrical arc from one half of the tip to the other and can easily fry sensitive components. If you use one for this project make sure that the wire harness is not plugged into the motherboard.

18. 266

nike Says:
September 25th, 2010 at 6:43 pm

i change the new dc jack i buy it from R shake.and i soldring it after soldrign my computer did not work .its not charging and also no power up

19. 265

Fishguy Says:
September 22nd, 2010 at 6:54 pm

Did this on my wifes comp tonight. L355D. Worked great. A few tips:

1) To enlarge the hole I wrapped a pencil with 100 grit sand paper and rasped it out. This gives you a very smooth finished hole, not that anyone will see it of course. Be sure to blow the dust out of the computer. 2) I also used liquid tape to cover the solder joints and terminals on the new fitting. Its much easier that trying to wrap tape in such a small confined space. Its available int he electrical section of almost any hardware store. 3) I used some sand paper to rough up the terminals prior to soldering. It helps with adhesion of the solder. 4) Its easier to unplug the wire harness and push the wires to be soldered through the hole in the computer and solder outside the computer. It gives you a little more room to maneuver. Just make sure that the lock washer and nut are slipped over the wires on the inside of the chassis first otherwise youll have to de-solder and start again. 5) If you notice the new fitting loosening at all unplug the comp, open it back up and tighten the nut INSIDE immediately. DO NOT tighten it by spinning the fitting on the outside. The wires will break and may short out causing damage (such as a cooked mother board). This is a great fix that can be done with next to no tech skills. If youve never soldered before yo may want to practice on some spare pieces of wire prior to working on the actual computer.

20. 264

ET Says:
September 20th, 2010 at 11:17 am

Just fixed the jack in my p305-s8814, worked great. except the jack wasnt my problem, it was the power cord. *shrug* After replacing that, the power jack worked wonderfully! i guess i killed two birds with one stone.

21. 263

CplPeoples Says:
September 19th, 2010 at 7:17 pm

A quick question and hopefully an easy on the budget answer. I have a Toshiba A305S6905 Unit, and have the following problem. It does not hold charge anymore. Ive googled and found your site very knowledgeable but i dont think i can find my answer. Ive dismantled the top of the laptop, and checked the jack to make sure everything is fineit is..so what else could it be? The Battery pack itself or the power brick? Also the laptop doesnt turn on anymore so no post codes that i can tell you that would be of more use. Thank you greatly! CplPeoples

22. 262

nike Says:
September 19th, 2010 at 4:05 pm

hello i have toshiba L305D-S5900.i have same problem its not chrging /i bought a new dc ajck and countec with laptop not like u show ing up.i buy the whole dc jack wire.but its only give me few sec green light and than nothing.any advise thnkas

23. 261

Russ Says:
September 18th, 2010 at 7:32 pm

Thanks so much for help. The pics and instructions were dead on. Awesome job. My wife thanks that Im the bomb of computer repair now. Truth be told, this is the first computer repair that I have ever done. I couldnt have done it without this article. THANKS MUCH!!

24. 260

SwagOnGeek Says:
September 17th, 2010 at 6:07 pm

Thank you for all of your help. Unfortunately, all of the websites with that part # dont have it in stock. Including, Toshiba. I have ordered a similar cable for a different model Toshiba. Part # P000459710. Hopefully, this cable will work. I was able to get my hands on similar ffc cables from a local computer repair store but when I attached them & turned the power on. The touch pad lights dint come on & when I looked @ the cables, they had split along the edge. These were 12 pin, I believe. Most luck Ive had was a 6 pin. The lights would come on momentarily but then go off & the touch pad never functioned. Again, thank you for your help & Ill keep you posted. Hopefully, this will help others.

25. 259

Laptop
September 16th, 2010 at 5:40 pm

Tech Says:

SwagOnGeek, A505-S6973. Would like to know where I can find the ribbon for that Here V000939430 this are cable connects part the touchpad board numbers: with motherboard.

V000939440 this cable connectes the touchpad board with touchpad. The touchpad board is a board where left and right click buttons located. Not sure which one you damaged. also the ribbon for the touch controls(volume, mute, etc) atop my computer . Not sure about this one. Google the part number and youll find it.

26. 258

SwagOnGeek Says:
September 16th, 2010 at 3:34 pm

A505-S6973

27. 257

Laptop
September 16th, 2010 at 1:53 pm

Tech Says:

SwagOnGeek, I bought a $10 replacement cord on Amazon plugged it in today and Im holding a good steady connection on my laptop. However, throughout this process, I messed up the touch pad ribbon. Using a usb mouse but would like to know where I can find the ribbon

for that & also the ribbon for the touch controls(volume, mute, etc) atop my computer . Please help Is your laptop a US model?

If you give me the laptop model number, I can try to find part numbers for your cables.

28. 256

Tony Says:
September 15th, 2010 at 7:20 pm

Used these instructions to fix a L505D. It worked great. Also, here is the guide I used to disassemble the laptop. http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Satellite-L505-L505D/remove-laptopmotherboard-1.htm Thanks for the guide Laptop Tech

29. 255

SwagOnGeek Says:
September 15th, 2010 at 8:03 am

I bought a $10 replacement cord on Amazon plugged it in today and Im holding a good steady connection on my laptop. However, throughout this process, I messed up the touch pad ribbon. Using a usb mouse but would like to know where I can find the ribbon for that & also the ribbon for the touch controls(volume, mute, etc) atop my computer . Please help

30. 254

SwagOnGeek Says:
September 14th, 2010 at 10:59 am

Do you think it could be the power cord? The power light comes on & off as I rotate the cord inside the jack Ive ordered a replacement cord and will test it tomorrow