Busted laptop

61 Comments

• I have an HP nx9110 which also had a power problem. I had it repaired after a couple of months because it got so unreliable on the AC power. I still like my laptop, but the lecky tape thing is scary.
  

• hmmmm, I was able to find a replacement system board for my wife's Toshiba laptop for sale. I ended up not needing it though, I was able to re-solder the connection I needed. Could you order a replacement system board cheaper than a new laptop?
  

• I found someone that sells the actual jack, so I'm going to try soldering that in first. It's so tiny, but I have to give it a shot.
  

• jeff: try www.laptopparts.com I got Dell parts from the and they were great.
  
  
  
  here are main boards for hp laptops:
  
  http://www.laptopparts.com/laptop-motherboard/hp-motherboard.asp?cidx=240382923-5X23X2005Y6Z25Z34YAM
  
  

• Not sure if may help but Dell is having $750.00 off their notebooks today.
  
  
  
  http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050524-4937.html
  

• Well, I guess that's an easy no-brainer decision. $756 to get what I actually want. Done.
  

• I have a HP pavilion ZE1210 with the same problem. I have not been able to find the manual to download. I wonder if HP has a design problem and are waiting for fires before they react.
  

• "My HP laptop has had a problem with maintaining a good power supply connection since I got it in 2003, requiring you to sometimes jiggle the cord at the laptop to get it to maintain power. Finally, yesterday, it stopped working entirely."
  
  
  
  Hello, I think I have the same problem as mentioned above. Once I get it to power, I have to keep it very still so as any minute movement may put it back to battery.
  
  The model number is HP pavilion zx5070US.
  
  
  
  Does it need a change in the power jack? Woud like to know if the power jack is integrated in the motherboard for these models???? Is there any schematic diagram available for the mother boards of this series of HP?
  
  

• The jack is mounted on the surface of the motherboard, and as mentioned in a later entry, I got a replacement (see link above) and soldered it on. I still bought a new laptop.
  

• I am having the same trouble also. Mine is an HP Pavilion n5340. The power connector seems to have come off of the mother board and I don't know what to do. Is there a way I can fix this?
  

• Hey Jeff I would love to know of the place youi orderd the replacement power jack from.
  Could you please mail me? tillotsonn@yahoo.com thanks a mill.
  

• http://www.laptopparts.com/dcjack/
  

• My one year old HP Pavilion Laptop suddenly started showing bad power jack symtoms any one has a suggestion? please
  

• This weekend my hp laptop power connector busted too. It's a good thing I was home when it happened because I'm pretty sure it would have started a fire if I hadn't been there to unplug it. The connector was blackened and slightly deformed from the heat.
  

• "I have a similar problem. I have had the part resoldered once and replaced once, but it keeps breaking. I am told that I have two options: Replace the motherboard (almost half the cost of a new laptop) or have them hardwire an external power supply jack (rather than the current internal one) into the computer. Does that sound bogus? I am tired of throwing money at this thing!"
  
  I'm currently working on a laptop with that same issue, it's an HP pavilion 1210,
  There is a way to fix the power supply mount issue with out using the flimsy connections that the machine has originally (otherwise, you'll end up with the same issue down the road) Right beside the power jack is a blank spot used for a mouse connection, you can pop that out and find the mount that would fit you machines connections, feed the new jacks wires through the hole from the outside and solder them in place, you can easily find a power mount with a screw on washer/nut that tightens from the outside greatly reducing the tension and play on the motherboard. Have fun!
  

• I have an HP Pavilion ze5400. The back of the dc power connector broke off. I am not going toreplace the connector, I just want to know where to solder a hard wire to the motherboard. it is not readily identifiable where I should make this connection. Anybody know where I can get schematics?
  Thanks,
  Tom
  

• I have had the same problem since I bought my compaq nx9110 in 2004. It got progressively worse and a few months ago sparked as I tried to re-insert the ac power cord. The pins in the outlet were out of alignment according to the service guy who repaired it. However, shortly thereafter it became very loose again and it is hard to keep it in the right spot to get a connection. I brought it back to the service guy who told me the whole motherboard would need to be replaced in order to repair this and it would cost 3 or 4 hundred dollars and only be warranteed for a month. huh???? He did not think it would be cost effective to repair. At least now I can see that it is a recurring problem with this laptop and I am not going to try and repair it.
  

• Hi Sandra Stewart, your connection from the power cord, is it a round plug with a pin like thing inside? Is it this part that is giving you problems?
  

• I to am having ac problems with my laptop. Is there anywhere to get schematics for this. HP pavilion ze5607wm?
  
  

• Hi,
  I also have the power jack problem on my HP Nx9110. Anyone know where I can download a manual to dismantle the bak to get to the jack so it could be soldered or repaired.
  
  Thks
  
  Sanjay.
  

• Too funny, I am having the same problem, loose connection between the power cord and laptop. I have had this issue for 2 years now and would not buy another HP again.......
  

• I've had an HP dv8000 since 12-05.. same problem.. bad power connector burnt the motherboard. compusa warranty fixed it the first time but 3 months later it did the same thing.. now compusa says no, physical damage or some crap.. never will I buy anything HP again.. really bad design..
  

• i guess im not the only one with the problem!my pavillion ze5607wm decided to go for a fly,droped 3plis feets,busted the dc jack,i took it apart,but i couldnt get to that area to replaced it!i understand its conected to the motherboard and might have to replace the board too?sparepartswharehouse.com said it will charge me 200 for repairing it,that includes parts/labor/and shipping to my hm.Doesnt it sound too good to be true?i hope not!!!shipping it today!!!
  

• Same problem. I stuck a tiny piece of tinfoil into the power chord, then stuck it in the computer. It's working and I needed to jiggle it constantly before.
  

• Same problem as you all have on my HP Pavilion ZV5000.
  
  Today I am going to replace the power jack with a new one which I ordered at Ebay.com
  
  This is a big problem for HP and I will never buy a HP laptop again unless they recognise and fix the problem.
  

• Same Problem. Gonna put a socket on a pigtail and change the plug on the charger.
  
  

• It's not a problem with just HP notebooks, it's a problem with all Notebooks. The plug is small and everyone seems to think that you need to jam in the power adapter to make sure it's plugged in. You don't need to force it. I have my own IT company and have fixed many of these.
  

• Not all notebooks... Apples have mag-locks that never break.
  

• I had power issues on HP NX9110 a while ago , i switched to a new adapter , it worked a while and now the power light blinks like crazy .... I like my laptop ... is there anything I can do to fix it ... makes me want to sue HP ...
  

• HP makes the worst laptops ....
  

• My son also have the problem with his lap top. HP had replaced the mother board once, now it is aging giving the same problem not coming up. I have not seen mother board going bad within six months. The problem is some where else, Defective desing, insuffient cooling.
  
  Thanks
  Sudhir
  

• I fixed my loose plug by slipping a .22 cartridge (already fired) over the external plug. Then I cut off the end of the cartridge case. This put a thin copper sheath around the external plug and made it fit tightly into the socket in the back of the Pavilion laptop.
  
  

• I have had had the same problems with the HP laptop and took it apart, soldered the loose connector and it worked fine for a few more months. Now it will not charge again. This should be considered as a class action lawsuit against HP as I know of other friends that have had had the same problem. Best fo luck. justinzack@hotmail.com
  

• MY HP Pavilion ZE4210 just fried at the jack. I literally scoreched the adapter. I am furious I have a dead laptop that I have owned since Feb.
  I don't want to throw good money after bad so can I get the steps on how to fix it myself [ no experience with laptop disassembly]
  tobimrtn@yahoo.com
  

• Power jack failure seems to be a common problem with a lot of different laptops. I found a fix that worked for my Toshiba laptop. I'm going to be trying it on an HP.
  
  It does require disassembling the laptop and soldering connections. I don't recommend trying it if you're uncomfortable with working with a computer's innards or the machine is still under warranty.
  
  http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2006/05/27/failed-laptop-power-jack-workaround/
  
  The principle should work on any laptop with a loose power jack.
  
  Good luck.
  
  joelbt1 (at) gmail.com
  

• Having the same problem as many others... ZV5000 series laptop. I was having issues with it not charging and the plug feeling loose. I worked around it many differnet ways but nothing actually worked. Today i ripped the DC connector out of the laptop. I was so done with it. I've been looking for a way to hardwire to the motherboard and figured i have to be insane to try this, but it's absolutely pathetic that it's been done seemingly hundreds of times before..
  
  Are the pos/neg terminals on the top of the motherboard like with that toshiba?
  

• I bought an HP pavilion ZV5000 from Circuit City on 8/13/04.
  
  Within a couple of months, I noticed it wouldn't run over 20 minutes on the battery. By 1/29/05, it wouldn't power up via battery or AC. I contacted HP and they told me that I had the wrong AC adaptor -- it was the one that came with the unit, so obviously it was HP's error. So, they sent me a new adaptor & I sent the old one back. Repair was under original HP warranty.
  
  Still, with the new AC adaptor, the battery didn't stay charged very long. Over time, the length of time it would run on battery kept dwindling until it just got ridiculous! Literally, if I wanted to do any serious work on it, I had to stay connecte to AC to keep from having it shut down on me. I had purchased an extended warranty, so I called in for repair, thinking that the problem might be the battery. The HP tech support person did not offer any other suggestions as to what the problem should be, but insisted that I go through the process of reconditioning the battery 3 times before we could pursue any other options.
  
  I had to jump through hoops to get them to even consider replacing the battery for me and finally had to call the store manager where I had bought the unit and threaten litigation because they were not honoring the service agreement I had purchased. They reluctantly sent me a new battery.
  
  This fix lasted approximately 1 month. It got to where the battery power was so unreliable that I got into the habit of using AC power as much as possible. It wasn't long until that started being an issue because the AC jack would dislodge with the slightest movement. Still, I would rather deal with that than have to go through the aggravation of trying to get warranty service again.
  
  In mid-September, 2006, a new issue arose: the unit would power up, but the display was so dim you couldn't see the mouse arrow. I was in the middle of preparing for a business trip overseas, so I just closed the laptop up and put it on a shelf in the closet. I had hoped to take it with me on the trip, but I knew there was no way I would get the problem corrected in time.
  
  I'm embarassed to say that I left it sit there all these months. I've been just too disgusted with the product and the service experience to even deal with it again until recently. I bought the laptop for use in a seasonal side business, so instead of dealing with the problem, I kept manual records in the field and entered the data on my desktop PC after the fact.
  
  I started thinking about the money I spent on the laptop, on the extended warranty, etc. and decided I needed to deal with it. So, today I pulled out the laptop to check the status, etc. and guess what? It won't power up at all now - on battery or on AC. The LED light on the AC adaptor indicates power, but the laptop WILL NOT BOOT. It doesn't even make a sound like it is TRYING to boot.
  
  I will have to wait until Saturday to contact them on this because past experience with them has taught me that I will have to spend hours on the phone with tech support, so it will have to be a day when I'm not at my "real" job.
  
  I am SO through with HP and with Circuit City!!
  
  

• I have a HP nx9110 that I have dismantled 4 times and resoldered the DC power socket back onto the motherboard. The charger for the nx9110 is large compared to most notebooks (18.5 volts at 6.5 amps compared to an ACER at 19 volts and 3.42 amps), as a result the whole power circuit runs hot and I think that the DC power socket can unsolder itself off the motherboard. In my view, it definitely is a design issue.
  

• my personal ze5400+ is doing it. The power light blinks from yellow to green on it's own. The screen goes to power mode (80% so I know) on it's one also. The laptop doesn't move.
  
  I've thought that it was the jack, but it doesn't seem to be the case.
  
  The laptop just shuts down, like it's overheating.
  
  if anyone has a solution, send it to dglienna (at) hotmail (dot) com
  
  

• I have an HP Compaq Presario R3440CA....Having the same problem....must jiggle the power cord to get a connection and the battery has barely any charge left on it. Also noticed notebook very warm around power supply...worried about it overheating and causing a fire. I am NOT impressed with HP and if anyone is interested I would consider a class action suit.
  

• hp designs bad laptops, when it comes to the power jack!
  

• Problem with zv5000 laptop - jack plug wobbly - think I will have to re-route the jack plug which has created an intermittent circuit on the mother board.
  

• I used to work for an outsourcing company that supported averatec laptops and gateway plasma tv's, and medion computers. I can tell you they all outsource their laptop production to a company in taiwan, it wouldn't surprise me if HP does the same thing. I have 3 laptops here, 2 HP and 1 compaq. The Compaq and HP I got in 2k4 and 2k5. The compaq's lcd went out, so I plugged it into a monitor, it became a desktop. The HP was for my wife, it replaced an aging desktop and worked fine for nearly 2 years then the power connector started having issues. Luckily I had bought an expansion bas for the Compaq andi it works with it fine, so it has no power issues using that. The DV8000 I got in 2006 after the lcd went out on the compaq. Let me knock on wood before I type this. Luckily it's had no real issues and has worked fine. When I use teamspeak or ventrilo with it and use push to talk, the keyboard and windows gets a little screwy, simple reboot fixes that. I'm currently looking for a schematic for it since I'm changing the cpu from 1.8ghz to 2.2ghz, a $47 upgrade, things are getting dirt cheap. I still trust HP, they assemble all their desktops in America and it's rare one fails. The company that laid me off this year uses nothing but HP and has for years, so they have a rep with them for being rock solid. Their laptops it seems aren't as rock solid and if I get another one, it won't be til vista has had a lot of issues fixed with it. Best of luck everyone.
  

• Bought Compaq 2104US in Aug 2004. It worked ok
  for 2.5 years. Then I added memory to it. A
  couple of months later, the power connector got
  stuck to the laptop and wouldn't come off. Some
  force had to be exerted to pull off the connector.
  Since then the power connection has been flaky.
  One has to jiggle the connector to get it to
  connect and a slight movement throws it off.
  I have the motherboard out now, and hope to
  solder on a new connector. Ugh!
  

• I had the same problem with my hp pavilion ze 4600, purchased almost 4 years ago. The power connector is L-shaped. I found a small rubber band and wrapped it around the part of the L that was closer to the wire until only a little band remained. Then I wrapped the remaining part around the top part (not the tip) of the prong, looping it twice. I pushed the prong into the power supply opening and guess what - problem solved!! This takes a little personal judgment about where to place the rubber band. You need to have just a little rubber band around the prong, and the rest of the band is up on the L-shaped boot.
  I keep my laptop turned off when I am not using it
  due to fire hazard. I just don't keep much plugged in when I am gone - unless needed.
  

• This seems to have been an issue for years judging by the amount of material on the web about it.
  
  If people still think the issue is widespread, let me i know and I'll press the consumer protection regulators to take some action.
  

• I've had my HP laptop for 1year and 33 days when the power port began to loose connection with the power adapter. I too have had to jiggle the power cord in the port to get it to work/charge and now it won't work at all. I called HP to tell them what had happend and the only thing they said is the warranty was up 33 days ago and they can't help me. I asked a few people if they've had this problem with their laptop and it seems to be a common theme/problem with HP laptops. When I spoke with a Hp customer service rep they said there was no recall on the product and if the company felt it was a manufacturing default the problem would have been addressed. I've had my dell LapTop computer for over 4 years now and thank goodness nothing internally has happend to it. I'm probably going back to Dell even though their customer service isn't upto par their products are a bit more durable. Unbelievable HP I'm very disapointed!!!!!!
  

• I have been repairing laptops for the last five years. Over 60% of my business is repairing broken DC power jacks. It is the most common problem because it is where the most physical contact occurs.The only other physical things that go are LCD hinges, keypads, keyboards, etc. The jack is fairly easy to unsolder and solder in a new one, but it is labor intensive because the whole laptop must be completely taken apart to get to the jack. This normally reuqires about 4 hours to disassemble, reassemble, test for operation and make sure the battery is charging.
  As to the particular brand of laptop I can only say that jack failure depends on the frequency that you plug the AC adapter into the jack and remove it. The failures I have seen range from Dell, Compaq, HP, Averatec, Emachine, IBM, and Toshiba. Any one of these will fail if you force the plug in or pull on the cord at an angle.
  Regards,
  Mike
  

• I also have HPnx9110 same problem as all others have stated ie:power jack. I suggest before seating the new power jack in place to put a drop of Gorilla Glue between jack and motherboard. So far this has worked extremely well as far as any repeated problems. Hope this helps. Steve
  

• My Compac 2500 will only work if you hold the plug just right. It is very warm and a pain in the hard drive, if you know what I mean. I really do not care about portability just having a laptop. What's the procedure to hard wire the plug? Just hook up the cord to the motherboard? If so how do I tell which is positive?
  

• I have owned my HP dv9894 CA for 4 months. Just in the past two days I noticed the AC has been flakey. Today, while I was teaching my students, I smelled melting plastic and realize it was my plastic on the tip of my AC chord melting.
  
  I am very pissed off. I bought the computer in Canada, but now I am teaching in Mexico and I wll have to face much difficulty and expense to get tr repaired, and it is not under warranty because I am out of the country.
  
  Let me know what I can do if you need another bitchy voice - gristlemix at hotmail.com
  

• A friend of mine reported the same problem with her HP laptop in Australia. Not sure what model or age. Looks like HP don't care from what I've read in this list. I'll investigate.
  

• I've repaired a lot of these already. A bad/inexperienced tech can damage the motherboard where the dc jack is soldered on it, but even that is sometimes repairable.
  

• Wow, I wish I would have searched for this sooner. I do most of my work on a MacBook Pro, but I have a few programs that only run on Windows, so I decided to break out my old HP laptop that I thought was dead.
  
  After several hours of frustration, I managed to get it to reboot (it had died due to shutting down during the boot process too many times). It worked ok for about a week (with just minimal use). But now it's right back to the same old power problems. Battery won't charge, and just shuts down at random when on AC power.
  
  All this time, I thought it was just my computer.
  
  I don't know whether to be relieved, or more pissed off, that this is such a common problem.
  
  Todd
  

• Same problem with my 2 Toshibas.....
  

• one of my keys on the laptop came off. how do i fix it??
  

• Well, let me add my voice to the discussion. Here's another Compaq nx9110 with the same power jack problem. It has been a year now and getting so bad that I cannot even hold a connection for even a few minutes. What I don't want is a fire! A fix is planned shortly. How about a class action suit with HP?
  

• Just found this if anyone is interested:
  
  HP Pavilion Notebooks
  
  Summary of Pending Case: On January 6, 2009, Shepherd, Finkelman, Miller & Shah, LLP ("SFMS"), along with co-counsel filed a Class Action Complaint on behalf of Mr. Cass Wilson against Hewlett-Packard Company (“HP”) in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, Civil Action No. 1 09-CV-132004. The Complaint alleges that HP misrepresented and concealed material facts regarding certain laptops including a design defect, which causes the power jacks of the laptops to fail. Specifically, the defect affects the attachment of the power jacks to the motherboards of the laptops. As a result of the defect, the solder connection between the motherboard and the power jack is interrupted, which ultimately causes the laptops to fail. The HP Pavilion laptops at issue in Plaintiff’s case include laptops in the following series: dv, zd, ze, zt, zv and zx. Please click here for a list of laptop models that are excluded from Plaintiff’s case, as they were covered by a separate case and subsequent settlement.
  
  Plaintiff seeks to represent a class of all persons or entities in the United States who purchased, not for resale HP Pavilion Notebook model computers from the dv, zd, ze, zt, zv and zx series (with the exception of the excluded models mentioned above), directly from HP or from authorized resellers. Through his Complaint, Plaintiff alleges violations of the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, the California Unfair Competition Law, and for breach of express warranty.
  
  Status of Pending Case: A case management conference has been scheduled for June 2, 2009, where the Court may set a scheduling order with certain deadlines for the case. In the meantime, Plaintiff will continue to conduct discovery in this matter. If you have experienced one of the above problems with your HP Pavilion Notebook, please fill out the form below.
  
  see: http://www.sfmslaw.com/pages/cases.php?id=300
  

• Wow. I wonder how that will work out, considering other laptop makers other than Apple make just as poorly designed DC Jacks...
  

• okay so wait...is there still a class action suit going on with this? i'm having this problem but getting that last bit of info a little to late im afraid. I think i'm going to try to re-solder mine and maybe replace the part and solder it. I really, though, like this idea floating around about being able to hard wire my laptop. Can anyone explain how to do this correctly please?
  

• April 23 2010
  
  Same problem here. HP Pavilion zd7000A.
  Broken AC Power Jack. I can't say enough cuss words!
  I can say never another HP and I will do everything possible to spread the word about their defective product.
  
  steptex@hotmail.com