T41 Power jack broke. Easy Fix?

[davekung]

My T41's power jack at the back of the laptop finally broke ( internal connections to the Motherbaord broke off) last night. Thankfully, I have separate battery charger.

Is this an easy fix ( I have solder, solder iron, etc). Where can I get a relacement power jack? Radio Shack?

Thanks,

David

[underclocker]

Well, the power jack swap is easy, just one screw and one connector. However(!), getting to the jack is time consuming.

The entire motherboard has to be removed. Figure about an hour to remove and another hour to replace it. You'll need to follow the Hardware Maintenance Manual very carefully.

The jacks are available on eBay for a few dollars. (Or you can post a looking for ad in the marketplace forum here.)

Good luck!

[hadoken]

I'm going to be doing this exact repair next week. I can tell you that after taking apart a an IBM 560, 570, T22, and Ibook G3, IBM service manuals are great and you should not have a problem so long as you are not rushed.

[davekung]

Just did a quick search on ebay. Looks like the connectors on the power jack are not soldered on the motherboard, but rather connectored to MB via wire and couplers So may be the play I noticed ( when the power adaptor tip is inserted inside the power jack, I can move the tip left and right a bit) is caused by a loose screw.

However, it still looks like a time consuming project just to tighten the screw, since I need to remove the motherboard first anyway.

[Chris001]

However, it still looks like a time consuming project just to tighten the screw, since I need to remove the motherboard first anyway.

Nope, you just need to remove the palmrest and keyboard bezel. Then disconnect the LCD cable and move it out of the way. This will give you acces to the screw on top of the DC power connector.

Chris

[abudabu]

However, it still looks like a time consuming project just to tighten the screw, since I need to remove the motherboard first anyway.

Nope, you just need to remove the palmrest and keyboard bezel. Then disconnect the LCD cable and move it out of the way. This will give you acces to the screw on top of the DC power connector.

Chris

Thanks that was helpful. While you must remove the entire motherboard to replace the power jack, it is possible to tighten the screw which holds the power jack in place by just removing the keyboard bezel. Removing the LCD panel screws-- which isn't too difficult -- permits better access to the powerjack screw.

My powerjack was becoming more and more loose, and at some point, my laptop wouldn't charge anymore. I thought I'd have to replace the powerjack. I disassembled the laptop to the point of figuring out I would have to remove and reassemble my entire mobo and then gave up.

Instead, I simply screwed the powerjack in tight, and put the keyboard & bezel back in place. Fortunately, after this, my power jack worked again.

[carbon_unit]

If after tightening the screw it still does not charge, try this: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... 164#231164

[ethridgt]

Can anyone tell me where I can get the Hardware Maintenance Manual that underclocker mentioned in his post?

Thank,
Trey

[RealBlackStuff]

See point 8 ) in this FAQ: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=1689

[ethridgt]

Thanks for the help guys! I was able to just tighten my screw that holds the power plug. That fixed my charging problem.