Motherboard DC jack removal/desoldering misery

[mrbongo]

So my laptop has been playing up for a while now after my cat jumped on it and it fell onto the plugged in charger tip. I would charge but only when the charger was held a certain way/wiggled into the port.

The plastic in the DC jack was cracked so I ordered a new one and got a soldering iron.

Having disassembled the laptop and removed the motherboard, I have now spent hours trying to get the broken jack desoldered from the motherboard.

The two pairs of side pins holding it in eventually melted away after I took a new iron to the contacts.

The three 'top' pins holding the jack onto the motherboard seem impossible to desolder. Making things worse is that the black plastic of the broken jack is melting and making a mess so it's even harder to work with as I am only able to place the soldering iron on one side of the motherboard.

Any tips or tools I can be using to otherwise dislodge these three pins?

I have tried placing the soldering iron in the pins and gripping the jack whilst wiggling in an attempt to ease it out but nothing is working. Two of these pins seem very clogged and almost cemented in.

I am at breaking point. Thanks in advance for any help or suggestions.

 

[Pauly]

Sounds like you need a solder sucker, a spring driven vacuum sucker, very cheap bit of kit and very effective
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SOLDER-SU...Home_Garden_PowerTools_SM&hash=item53f4ff2ea9


Thumb press the rod until it locks down, melt solder with iron then push button to give a shot of suck to clear away the solder in that joint, repeat with all joints and the plug should come away with a little wiggle

 

[mrbongo]

I used one of those earlier today which helped clear four pins but the trouble now is that the solder just isn't melting that I can suck up the molten solder.

I am attempting to find a tool small and precise enough to cut the metal of the jack away so that the pins remain and then I have more room to melt and wiggle each out.

I am very sad right now

 

[mrbongo]

Removed at last, more solder added to it helped in the end but I will attempt to solder on the new jack tomorrow, with the hope that the motherboard has survived the ordeal better than I have. Watch this space.

 

[Wrenches]

Your iron might not be hot enough. I never use less than 30 watts.

Also always tin the tip before using.

 

[mrbongo]

Well, I soldered on the new jack and put the laptop back together. Plugged in the charger and the power light lit up.

Apart from this, the laptop won't power on. It's a Samsung R530. When I plug the charger in, the light goes green briefly and then steady orange. Pressing and holding the power button doesn't boot it up.

*UPDATE*

Ladies and gentlemen, we have power! Keyboard not working but I suspect that's a loose connection that I struggled to secure in when re-assembling this beast.

 

[mrbongo]

Life can now resume.

 

[3D Jed]

*** doffs cap to mrbongo ***

anyone who can reassemble a laptop gets my vote.

 

[mrbongo]

*** doffs cap to mrbongo ***

anyone who can reassemble a laptop gets my vote.

Hehe, well I'm about to impress you again. Horrible whirring noise coming from the fan - which I hastily cleaned so I gotta open it up again...

 

[3D Jed]

Cleaning fan ? Can I recommend aerosol compressed air. I sometimes get whirring noise after reassembling repaired pc - usually a rogue wire touching the cpu fan.

 

[mrbongo]

Cleaning fan ? Can I recommend aerosol compressed air. I sometimes get whirring noise after reassembling repaired pc - usually a rogue wire touching the cpu fan.

Compressed air! I just KNEW I'd forgotten to pick up something at the hardware store. Right now, for the first time in months I am enjoying the simple pleasure of using my laptop as a laptop and not plugged in and obsessing over a wiggly wire. Once this whirring noise is gone I will do a big clean-up, so much junk on my desktop, unused programs etc.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Congrats on the excellent job of the plug removal, just opening up a lappy fully to clean is a daunting task on many models but to break out the soldering iron and remove parts and re-install is fantastic even though it sound straight forward it always is a bit nerve racking.

 

[mrbongo]

Cleaning fan ? Can I recommend aerosol compressed air. I sometimes get whirring noise after reassembling repaired pc - usually a rogue wire touching the cpu fan.

It was indeed the speaker wire making all the noise. Now nice and tidy and had a good clean under the keyboard too.

 

[mrbongo]

Congrats on the excellent job of the plug removal, just opening up a lappy fully to clean is a daunting task on many models but to break out the soldering iron and remove parts and re-install is fantastic even though it sound straight forward it always is a bit nerve racking.

Thankyou! I knew I had three options.

1: Ignore the problem and eventually explode with rage over the problem.

2: Buy a new laptop.

3: Fix it myself.

I guess I should feel nervous about opening it up but I don't have a lot of fear when it comes to these things. Fixed my other halfs 'black screen at boot' issue years ago by doing some motherboard jumper maintenance and the machine is still going strong - we recently gave it to a 'silver surfer' friend of ours who uses it every day now.

When I was practising my soldering I got out the motherboard for my old laptop so I may go ahead and strip some stuff off that. The spec is low but I might need them one day as spares, I guess.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I'm definitely impressed! Most laptops are a beast to work on. The *&^%$#@!s who design how to open them up have a mean streak a mile wide and should be condemned to eternity repeatedly disassembling and reassembling them.

 

[mrbongo]

I'm definitely impressed! Most laptops are a beast to work on. The *&^%$#@!s who design how to open them up have a mean streak a mile wide and should be condemned to eternity repeatedly disassembling and reassembling them.

Haha I picture a dark room in hell with rows of them crying, screwdrivers churning continuously...

I guess the point is to make them inaccessible to the people using them to prevent fools like me tinkering with the bits inside. Also to increase the likelihood of the manufacturers worthless extended warranty plan being taken out and also to keep techies in jobs (much the same as my Norton antivirus/virus creator conspiracy theory).

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

I'm definitely impressed! Most laptops are a beast to work on. The *&^%$#@!s who design how to open them up have a mean streak a mile wide and should be condemned to eternity repeatedly disassembling and reassembling them.

Haha I picture a dark room in hell with rows of them crying, screwdrivers churning continuously...

:roflmao::roflmao::roflmao: Dante forgot that circle (or it was too horrible for him to be allowed to see it).

 

[mrbongo]

The 8th deadly sin - Laptop chassis manufacture.

Hehe, it would have been a lot more painful had I not been blinded with a dark rage that had been building for months.

 

[Lady Fitzgerald]

The 8th deadly sin - Laptop chassis manufacture...

:roflmao::roflmao:Choke!...gasp!...:roflmao:

 

[bobafetthotmail]

For the next time (and future readers), try solder wick to remove the solder. It's the stuff that people use to solder miniaturized and BGA components by hand (and remove the mess of solder that doing it by hand causes), so it's pretty close to magic.

Btw, professionals of board recycling use heat guns.