Laptop Repair Guy points out that Toshiba has issued a warranty extension resulting from a class action lawsuit. As far as I can tell (I’m not a lawyer so better check for yourself) I’m out of luck since I’m in Canada but definitely better to have Toshiba fix it for free than try yourself.
My Toshiba Satellite A70 started having power problems several weeks ago. Although the power cord was plugged in, the computer was not charging and was draining the battery. The little ‘plugged-in’ LED would come up but the battery status LED would still show power coming from the battery. I could jiggle the power cord and it would come back up so I ignored it and got used to jiggling. Unfortunately, the power got more and more touchy and I spent more and more time jiggling the stupid power cord. I first guessed it must be something with my power adaptor but (after cutting open the outer wrap of the cord), I finally put it together that the ‘plugged-in’ LED was coming on but not the battery charging light. This seemed pretty odd. So I finally went out and bought a multimeter. For $20 it was a really good investment and I wish I would have bought one several hours of jiggling frustration earlier. Anyway after the multimeter showed the cord was giving the appropriate 19V without any interruptions, I finally got the bright idea to google the problem and found out that this is a common problem for the A70. Although I have soldered maybe once in my life, the repair didn’t look all that difficult so I thought I’d give it a shot. I ran out and grabbed a crappy Radio Shack iron for $15 and a pack of resistors and circuit board to practice on for $10. You could skip the practice if you were already confident in soldering.
The website How to dismantle a Toshiba A70 is invaluable for this task. I just thought I’d add a few notes to their steps:
- Step 2 includes “Remove the metal brace and the wireless card.” I think this could have been a bit more descriptive. There are two wires running fromt the card up through a hole in the motherboard. I’m pretty paranoid and I couldn’t quite work up the guts to disconnect these until I already had the screen off. But you really don’t have to worry. The wires end in little connectors that pop on and off easily enough. Also when you disconnect the wires, make sure to note which one goes where. I forgot to and took a guess. Since my internet, isn’t reversed I’m assuming I was correct.
- Steps 6 and 7, “Remove the securing strip,” are a real pain. I took the little strip above the keyboard off three or four times and every time it gave me a hassle. It seems to help if you get the bottom keyboard side off first and then work on the top. It’s amazing how well it holds on for just being little plastic tabs.
- When following step 10, “Disconnect the keyboard cable from the system board,” there are little lock things on each side of the keyboard ribbon. Don’t forget to unlock these when taking it out and relock them when putting it back. I forgot to relock them and spent a few anxious moments trying to figure out why only half my keyboard was working.
- Step 20, “Carefully remove the system board from the base,” is even more of a pain than removing the securing strip. It’s sort of the same idea only with a $1000 dollar motherboard instead of a $5 piece of plastic. The motherboard is really wedged in there. I found it easiest to start by getting the PC slot side out first. If you push in the little PC ejector button and sort of lever it and the i.LINK port with a screwdriver, you should be able to get it above the plastic. After that, a little lever action on the volume and headphone jacks on the other side and it should come out fairly easily. This took me about half an hour to figure out. An important note is that if you are certain the DC input jack is the problem you don’t even need to take out the motherboard. You could just solder the end of it with it in place. A good way to check this would be to wiggle the power connector from the outside and watch the pins of jack on the inside.
- One general point is that there are more than two types of screws. I saw long ones and short ones and assumed that there were only two types. But somewhere in there there is also a medium length screw. You would probably want to pay better attention to this than I did. My last hole didn’t fit my last screw. Luckily, it was only the hard drive cover and it already had one screw holding it in so I guess it will hold until something else breaks…
So once I finally got into the motherboard, I could see the rear pin of the power input jack moving freely in and out it’s hole on the motherboard. I’m not electrician but I assumed this was a bad thing.
So I fired up my fresh new soldering iron and after practicing with a few resistors, I finally worked up the guts to solder the loose jack. I ended up with a decent sized blob so I cut off some of the extra with some wire clippers. It’s worked for a week now so I guess it turned out ok. So in summary it took me, a complete novice at electronics, several hours to fix and cost $45 but I can use the tools again and I learned a lot about the inner working of my computer so I guess the only real cost was a bit of solder. If it breaks again (knock on wood), I might have to try this workaround.
Edit: Laptop Freak left a informative comment:
As you see on the photo above, the positive connector oxidized and almost black. If you put a fresh solder on the connector like this, the power jack problem will reappear very soon. I usually remove the power jack from the system board (with iron gun and solder sucker), clean oxidized pins on the power jack and pads on the motherboard and only after that resolder the power jack.
So I may be getting the chance to replace my missing screw sooner than I had hoped.
Update:Laptop Repair Guy now has a great step by step guide (complete with many pictures) to repairing the power jack.
Laptop Freak | 11-Oct-06 at 7:03 pm | Permalink
As you see on the photo above, the positive connector oxidized and almost black. If you put a fresh solder on the connector like this, the power jack problem will reappear very soon. I usually remove the power jack from the system board (with iron gun and solder sucker), clean oxidized pins on the power jack and pads on the motherboard and only after that resolder the power jack.
$45 is a good investment. If you would bring this laptop to our shop, we would charge you at least $200.
ScottS-M | 11-Oct-06 at 9:58 pm | Permalink
Shoot I was hoping I had it fixed. Well I guess I’ll be getting some more computer repair experience in the near future. Thanks for the advice, I’ll be sure to clean it up better when it breaks again.
ScottS-M | 01-Nov-06 at 5:00 pm | Permalink
Well Laptop Freak was right. My connector started coming loose about a week ago. It finally got bad enough today to overcome my laziness and I opened open the computer and threw a little more solder on it. I think I’m going to try to dig up a new power jack and try this workaround the next time it fails.
jontiw | 25-Feb-07 at 1:00 pm | Permalink
With respect to Step 2, wireless card connections, there is a little B and W, standing presumably for Black and White, moulded onto the bottom case on the lip of the access hatch. Easier than having to remember it…
ScottS-M | 01-Mar-07 at 8:46 am | Permalink
@jontiw
Thanks for the tip. I must have missed that. That’ll help next time.
Barb | 10-Mar-07 at 10:33 pm | Permalink
Hi Jim,
I appreciate your instructions on fixing A/C battery problem. I am having the exact same symptoms! Do I need to take all the screws off the back to get to the top of the motherboard?
ScottS-M | 10-Mar-07 at 11:19 pm | Permalink
@Barb
I guess you just want to check and see if you have the same problem? If so then you might be able to get away with not taking out a screw or two to look at the top of the motherboard but some do connect through to other parts and get in the way. I can’t really remember which is which. On the other hand, in the long run I think screws are the least of your worries. Screws come out nice and easy. The nerve wracking steps (at least on my computer) are taking off that stupid piece of plastic above the keyboard and getting the motherboard out of the case (and soldering if you decide to do that yourself). Luckily, if you’re just checking you wouldn’t need to take the motherboard out.
John Chambers | 18-Mar-07 at 9:52 pm | Permalink
Hi,
I’m having the exact same problem as you are describing and my laptop is a little over a year old and barely out of warranty. I am very careful about bending the cord and putting strain on it to the connection in the back. I have had company laptops and have learned that this connection is the “Achilles Heel” of Laptops. I will check out the site to see how to dismantle the unit to get at the jack. I have had a lot of experience soldering. thanks for the tips and help.
ScottS-M | 18-Mar-07 at 10:27 pm | Permalink
@John
If you’re good at soldering, it should be an easy fix. I was a bit nervous since I’m bit of a soldering newbie. Good luck and let me know how it goes if you get the chance.
SonicBlue | 27-Apr-07 at 8:31 am | Permalink
A friend of mine decide to have a go at repairing this problem his laptop himself. After having his gf’s cat disturbing his carefully laid out screws he gave up, (basically what screws went where) he brought it to me to complete.
I must say, Holy crap there is a alot of screws! Gone are the days of the simple IBM designs eh.
Is there and actual way to test to see if the connector is the problem. B/C it is not actually moving freely. The connector might need to be replaced instead and where to get it, in canada. He said it has been done once before and the place charged him 250 for the repair.
ScottS-M | 27-Apr-07 at 9:10 am | Permalink
@SonicBlue
There sure are a lot of screws. I still don’t have mine in all the right places but at least it holds together.
If you’re having power problems but it’s not obvious why, it’d probably be worth picking up a multimeter. In a rush, you can get a decent one for less than $20 at Radio Shack (or the Source in Canada). Then you can plug in the motherboard and (carefully) test the power jack connectors to see if they’re getting the 18V. Also it’d probably be worth using the multimeter to check the male connector from the power block and making sure your problem isn’t there.
As for replacing the jack, I got lucky and could just clean mine. But it looks like you can get jacks on Ebay (search for “Toshiba A70 power jack”) for less than $10. Or you could look for one of the big electronic catalogs like Digikey and find the appropriate power jack for around $2 (unfortunately I’m not exactly sure which of the many jacks has the correct arrangement of connectors).
ozmoses | 07-Oct-07 at 5:32 am | Permalink
I have just done one and discovered that the Positive connector on the socket is soldered to a plated through hole on the mainboard. When I put this one back together, I still had a power problem (but not as bad as it had been). Using a multimeter I discovered that the top side of the board was not making good contact with the leg of the socket. Sigh, I had to take the socket off the board again.
Then, I had to remove some of the green coating from the top side of the board and, working very carefully, tin the top side and try to get some metal to flow down through the hole before cleaning it all up again.
This process took me about 40 minutes (I am an experienced electronic repairer).
Before putting the socket back on the board, I made sure that I had solder all the way up the positive leg. Putting it all back together was just as I hoped and the machine works fine now. I also, using the longest and finest soldering iron tip I own, made sure there was a reasonable amoount of bright solder around the contact on the top side.
A lot of care is needed here as there is a small surface mount component close by which is heat susceptible.
When soldering on these boards, it is important not to leave the heat on for too long as you risk damaging other components near by. Also, make sure your solder joints are bright and shiny. Dry or cold joints do not make good contact and can cause you to have to do the job again.
ScottS-M | 07-Oct-07 at 6:46 am | Permalink
@ozmoses
Thanks for the great comment. Good thing you were experienced in electronics. I don’t think I would have figured that one out any time soon.
CC | 07-Nov-07 at 2:30 pm | Permalink
I F$%&ing hate Toshiba. I just got in a big argument with them about this problem. They just flat out refuse to acknowledge that the problem exist with theri Canadian models as well. Using the computer in this state is very ineffective. Now I don’t know what to do. Don’t really have money for a new computer. Even if I did buy a new computer I don’t even know what brand to buy because I don’t trust any of them!!
ScottS-M | 10-Nov-07 at 7:54 am | Permalink
@CC
Sure seems like it’s also a problem in Canadian laptops. I thought I saw somewhere a year or two ago that they were trying to get together a Canadian class action but I can’t google anything on that now. Anyway, it seems like a repair company shouldn’t charge more than $150 (which is certainly annoying but still cheaper than a new laptop).
JOHN | 24-Nov-07 at 7:10 pm | Permalink
Great information. Thank you very much. I have A70. I was trying to think to change AC-DC adaptor but now I know what a problem it has.
D-Hass | 01-Dec-07 at 5:40 pm | Permalink
Is there a work around to solder power cord to motherboard?
ScottS-M | 01-Dec-07 at 5:45 pm | Permalink
There’s this guide on soldering wires internally and a jack externally.
Laptop Repair Guy | 11-Dec-07 at 6:23 pm | Permalink
Step-by-step power jack repair guide. This guide will explain how to remove, clean and resolder the power jack back on the laptop motherboard.
ScottS-M | 12-Dec-07 at 2:00 am | Permalink
Wow that’s a great guide Laptop Repair Guy. The pictures really make it clear. Thanks a lot for putting it up.
gibson | 01-Jan-08 at 9:10 pm | Permalink
I am having a similer problem. My toshiba a70 will charge from the (brand new)adapter when the laptop is not on, however when the laptop is powered on, the led stays on but it will only power from the battery. Is this the same sorta thing? I dont understand how it can charge the battery, but not run the machine….Any help would be great, thanks!
ScottS-M | 09-Jan-08 at 12:28 am | Permalink
@gibson
Sorry I took a while to reply. Been offline with moving. That could be something similar. I can’t remember if mine actually charged the battery when the computer was off or not. Anyway it did do a lot of weird power things before I figured out what was happening (and left me with battery only good for about 30 seconds after I unplug).
Also you say the adapter is brand new. Did you just buy it? A friend got a new adapter that wasn’t rated to as many amps as the stock one and her computer seems to switch to battery power whenever the computer does anything intensive. My stock A70 adapter says 19 volts at 4.74 amps. I’m not sure how often it needs all those amps (and what happens to the adapter when the computer tries for more) but it’s something to consider.
Rich | 09-Jan-08 at 9:18 pm | Permalink
http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/ToshibaA75/satA75_1.htm Discribes removing the connector and how to be careful when doing so. I’m at that stage and worried now that I may remove it incorrectly and damage it. THe picture and directions are not clear if I’m pushing in to unlock or what…and when I do unlock in which direction do I remove the connector….Up or backward toward the screen…Can you be a little more descriptive for me?
ScottS-M | 10-Jan-08 at 2:01 am | Permalink
@Rich
By “connector” do you mean the securing strip above the keyboard? That thing is a real pain. Every time I’m afraid I’m going to break it. A credit card or guitar pick might be handy for prying underneath it. Starting at the hinge between the body and monitor with a screwdriver like object is also a good tactic. I pried about like he shows in his picture for Step 6. If I remember right I pried at one hinge, then the other and then sort of pulled the monitor side of the strip out first and then worked on the keyboard side (it’s been a while though). Gentle but firm is the idea. There’s not really any way (that my limited experience revealed) to get the connecting tabs to release except wrestling with the whole strip. Once you get one tab to release the rest should be easier.
Rich | 10-Jan-08 at 2:03 pm | Permalink
No, that went real easy actually…Brute strength and stupidty has it’s place. Where I’m having trouble is with the keyboard connector. I’m older and the eyes are not as good as they used to be. I can’t focus long enough to figure out in which direction the connector locks disengage. Then in which direction I pull the connector out.
ScottS-M | 10-Jan-08 at 3:06 pm | Permalink
@Rich
Ok that makes sense. I was looking on page 1 of the instructions and trying to figure out what the connector was. I remember the keyboard connector worried me too but ended up coming out pretty easy. It’s been a little while since I’ve been digging around in there so if any of this seems wrong it might be. Anyway I think the keyboard connector locks open towards the monitor. They don’t move very far, maybe 1/8th of an inch. In mine, the keyboard ribbon just sort of slides out and all the plastic bits stay with the motherboard.
If that doesn’t seem right let me know and I can crack mine open. It probably needs a cleaning anyway.
gibson | 11-Jan-08 at 1:35 pm | Permalink
Hi Scott! Thanks for the info! I bought a universal ac adapter for it. It uses the 19v setting which is apparently 5amps. I think its the adapter itself so i’ll have to hunt around for another one and hopefully that will fix the problem!! I also have a sound issue with my a70. Is there a seperate topic for that? Thanks again! Awseome site!
ScottS-M | 13-Jan-08 at 1:02 am | Permalink
I was going to say I haven’t had any sound issues yet but now that I think about it I seem to remember a few years ago the sound card driver turning itself off every few days or something like that. I can’t remember exactly what I did to fix it. I do remember downloading a Realtek Audio driver from Toshiba’s Support Page and reinstalling that but I’m not sure if that’s what fixed it or not.
gibson | 15-Jan-08 at 10:50 pm | Permalink
Hi Scott!
Havn’t figured out the sound thing yet aside from buying a usb sound card. Back to the power thing though, turns out the new adapter I had bought wasn’t powerful enough. I purchased a higher power universal adapter and it runs the laptop. The only thing I am finding now is that I have to take the battery out in order to power the laptop with a/c. Otherwise when the battery is in, it runs off the battery even though the LED says its getting power. Sometimes I have to take the battery out then put it back in again to get it to power up……I’m going crazy tring to figure out what could be happening! Any ideas, Scott?
Thanks again,
gibson
TrueNorth | 16-Jan-08 at 3:39 am | Permalink
Thank you very much for posting this. Also have a Satellite A70(Canadian Model) I had been having the jiggling problem for the last couple of weeks. Kinda lived with it until the jiggling no longer worked. Surprising how fast the battery would drain.
I’m very comfortable with taking apart desktop computers, so I decided to disassemble the laptop. Power Jack Looked like your picture with less burn. Used a pick tool and what was left of the weld popped right off.
Trotted down to the Source and purchased a Nexxtech welding kit for 14.99. 16.92 with the tax.
Cleaned up the area a bit dropped a spot of weld. Put the million screws back in & it fired up like new. In all it took me about 2 hours.
The instructions and tips posted here were flawless,
thx again…..Rich
PS…Also noticed that the laptop if running less hotter now.
TrueNorth | 16-Jan-08 at 4:11 am | Permalink
PS…Please note that I meant Soldering rather than weld in my post.
Rich…
ScottS-M | 16-Jan-08 at 3:02 pm | Permalink
@Gibson
Hmm. That sounds like an odd problem. I wonder if it could still be something to do with the power adapter not providing enough amps to both run the computer and charge the battery? That seems unlikely though when you just bought a stronger adapter. I googled around and there’s a forum post about something similar but it sounds like the people there (who seem to know quite a bit more than me) are falling back to bad adapter. Sorry I couldn’t be more helpful and let me know if you solve it.
@TrueNorth
Glad I could help. Sure seems to be a common problem with A70’s.
Bob | 21-Jan-08 at 3:12 am | Permalink
One great way to stop power plug problems before they start is with a JerkStopper Cable Restraint Device. Funky name but it sure works! Uses an available USB or RJ11 or RJ45port. http://www.jerkstopper.com
Bob | 22-Jan-08 at 8:40 pm | Permalink
Cable damage can be minimized in daily use with a jerkstopper. I bought two online for our laptops. Beats yanking on the plug every time I accidentally bump the cable.
ScottS-M | 22-Jan-08 at 9:19 pm | Permalink
@Bob
That does sound like a good idea. My only worry would be yanking the cord and watching my laptop fall on the floor. They’ve worked well for you?
timg | 27-Jan-08 at 1:16 am | Permalink
I had this power jack jiggling problem on my A70 about three times before. Each time I resoldered the jack it came undone a few weeks later. This time before I resoldered the jack/motherboard connection, I stuck a little piece of plastic cut out of a pop bottle between the jack and the motherboard on the opposite side of the post. It acts like a shim and keeps the jack snug and hopefully will correct the jiggling problem so that the solder won’t crack.
Also be sure to clean out the fans while you have your computer open. And print out the instructions for disassembling your laptop so you can follow them in reverse when you are re-assembling.
ScottS-M | 27-Jan-08 at 9:38 am | Permalink
@timg
Good points. My fans are always getting clogged. Not sure what genius decided to put the intakes on the bottom.
Just out of curiosity, did you clean off the posts of the power jack? I didn’t do that the first time and it started jiggling again pretty quickly. But the second time, I scraped a bunch of black oxidation off the posts and the solder’s held for a year or two now.
adam | 13-May-08 at 8:49 pm | Permalink
wow mine looked horrible compared to yours when i opened it it was completly burnt out and black thanks so much this is going to be really helpful
harry | 04-Jul-08 at 11:23 pm | Permalink
While there’s no universal standard, a blinking LED on the battery charge indicator is probably not good news. It often indicates a battery that has been over-discharged, the voltage is so low that it’s confusing the charging circuitry into thinking the battery has a dead cell and would just overheat if a charge is pushed into it. The newer the laptop, the smarter the charging logic, and it won’t want to try putting a charge into a battery that may damage either the battery or the notebook itself. In some cases, you’ll be able to recharge an over depleted battery if you wait until the notebook is shut down, install the battery, and then plug in the the battery charger, but I’d keep a close eye (and occasional finger) on it for overheating. There are also fuel gauges built into some newer batteries that simply disable the Toshiba satellte a70 battery when it reaches it’s planned cycle life.
Daryoush Namiranian | 15-Jul-08 at 7:50 pm | Permalink
I just replaced the AC/DC jack on my Toshiba Satellite mother board Model: A15-S420 recently Now when I push the Power Button it does not turn on. The Battery gets fully charged.
Daryoush Namiranian | 15-Jul-08 at 8:45 pm | Permalink
The Model That I mentiond on Jul, 15 is not A15-S420 it is P15-S420
Does anyone know where to get the schematic for the above model?
val20098 | 23-Jul-08 at 3:47 pm | Permalink
i have this same problem. when i put the power cord in it gets no power. i brought it to a technician but he couldnt fix it. could somebodyhelp me with this
ScottS-M | 26-Jul-08 at 9:37 am | Permalink
@val20098
If it really is the same problem then you need to find a new technician. It’s not that hard a fix.
gibson | 11-Sep-08 at 4:59 pm | Permalink
Hi again, Scott.
Long story short: I replaced the jack on the motherboard, everything worked fine after putting it all back together and firing it up a couple times.(toshiba a75) Now it fires up, but won’t go into windows. I get the red toshiba start up thingy, but nothing else. The screen then goes black and the laptop stays running. I’m not sure what the heck I did to it. Any thoughts?
gibson | 11-Sep-08 at 8:54 pm | Permalink
In regards to the last message…
I think I got it figured out now. I reformatted and so far so good….though i’m not sure the battery is charging right but thats ok, so long as everything else works good! Thanks!
Bob | 27-Feb-09 at 10:07 pm | Permalink
ScottS-M You asked “My only worry would be yanking the cord and watching my laptop fall on the floor. They’ve worked well for you?”
The guys in the repair business I have talked to tell me that 9 times out of 10 if you yank the cord hard enough to put the laptop on the floor it’s also going to trash the power pin or connector in the process. So far the jerkstopper is working great on both of our systems (my wife uses it on her MagSafe Mac for the same reason Leo LaPorte does).
nigel smith | 25-Nov-09 at 5:52 am | Permalink
if you have problems with the a70 not running and charging at same time it may just be your using wrong charger as these require about 19v 6.4 amps i had same problem till i got the correct one but have since caused mayhem by using a boggy charger that arced out and i think it has fried the power connector on m/b or the charge circuit has bit the dust