Thinkpads Forum

My brothers X200s won't turn on. A wobbly plug where the power cord goes in indicates a broken connection. Given the expense, it's probably not worth fixing. However, I recently saw a docking station for the x200 for sale at a very reasonable price. It seems to have a separate power plug. Does this bypass the x200's plug? Would it allow it to power up the laptop & charge the battery?

Welcome to thinkpads.com!

If you are referring to the UltraBase for the X200 systems, then yes, the docking port has its own power connections which bypass the DC input jack at the back of the laptop. Everything will work as normal.

ref: http://support.lenovo.com/us/en/documents/migr-70299

However, if there's a problem with the laptop's internal power control circuitry, then using an Ultrabase will not eliminate that problem. If you believe that the power jack is simply broken, then a dock should work. I'm not exactly sure with the X200s (I have a couple) but usually it's fairly easy to replace just the jack. This looks like what you would need:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/181102124996

In addition, download a copy of the Hardware Maintenance Manual (see HMM link at the top of this page) and that will lead you through the process of taking the system apart, and hopefully getting it back together correctly.

Thank you. The link to the photo of the replacement part was most helpful. Seeing the connectors did not need soldering motivates me to attempt a dis-assembly and plug replacement. If not, it's nice to know there is an alternative in the Ultrabase.

Thanks again.