Melted DC jack

[Emmien]

I have a laptop (A niceish school laptop) which was being thrown away.

At first there was no issue with the laptop, apart from the missing power supply, so I brought a universal power supply, and it was working okay until I smelt burning and noticed that the area around the DC power jack is really warm and the top if the charger is burning hot.

I opened it up and it looks like there is a cold solder joint on the motherboard. That is an easy fix, but now there is molten plastic all over the inside of the power socket.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how to remove it?

[Windows7ge]

How to remove the entire DC jack? Soldering iron, solder wick, pull the jack then insert the new one. Re-solder new jack.

[Emmien]

1 minute ago, Windows7ge said:

How to remove the entire DC jack? Soldering iron, solder wick, pull the jack then insert the new one. Re-solder new jack.

I meant the plastic.

I have tried to remove the DC jack though, and it really doesn't want to come out.

[Lord Nicoll]

5 minutes ago, Emmien said:

I have a laptop (A niceish school laptop) which was being thrown away.

At first there was no issue with the laptop, apart from the missing power supply, so I brought a universal power supply, and it was working okay until I smelt burning and noticed that the area around the DC power jack is really warm and the top if the charger is burning hot.

I opened it up and it looks like there is a cold solder joint on the motherboard. That is an easy fix, but now there is molten plastic all over the inside of the power socket.

 

Does anyone have any ideas on how to remove it?

Well for one, it's usually either reflow or wave soldered, you'd either need a vacuum soldering pump or hot air rework station depending on what type of solder joint, but replacing it won't help, it heated up for a reason, most likely an incorrect voltage or amperage sent into it. Such work is easy but try not to damage the board.

[Windows7ge]

3 minutes ago, Emmien said:

I meant the plastic.

I have tried to remove the DC jack though, and it really doesn't want to come out.

Ah, just the plastic. I'm not sure. I wouldn't recommend it because it helps secure the connection. Removing it would make the charging cable all floppy inside the jack and may worsen the connection. It could result in more overheating.

[Emmien]

2 minutes ago, Lord Nicoll said:

Well for one, it's usually either reflow or wave soldered, you'd either need a vacuum soldering pump or hot air rework station depending on what type of solder joint, but replacing it won't help, it heated up for a reason, most likely an incorrect voltage or amperage sent into it. Such work is easy but try not to damage the board.

I'm fairly certain that it heated up because of a bad solder connection causing resistance, but it could be because of the power supply we brought was a loose fit, causing resistance.

[Emmien]

4 minutes ago, Windows7ge said:

Ah, just the plastic. I'm not sure. I wouldn't recommend it because it helps secure the connection. Removing it would make the charging cable all floppy inside the jack and may worsen the connection. It could result in more overheating.

Yeah. It would probably be best to replace it. I have no idea how I am going to get it off though, or where I can get a new one.

The brand on the laptop is Ergo, who make loads of school computers, but don't have much information about their products online, but the manufacturer is Clevo, who make laptops for several different brands.

[Lord Nicoll]

1 minute ago, Emmien said:

I'm fairly certain that it heated up because of a bad solder connection causing resistance, but it could be because of the power supply we brought was a loose fit, causing resistance.

Generally older connections would be looser, but not enough to melt plastic that was designed to survive a reflow oven like that one. I'm sure you made sure the A/C adapters voltage was the same, so I won't patronise you about that, but the adaptor itself might as you suggested, have a different size jack or might itself be faulty, but that plastic doesn't melt until over 300°C. 

[Emmien]

1 minute ago, Lord Nicoll said:

Generally older connections would be looser, but not enough to melt plastic that was designed to survive a reflow oven like that one. I'm sure you made sure the A/C adapters voltage was the same, so I won't patronise you about that, but the adaptor itself might as you suggested, have a different size jack or might itself be faulty, but that plastic doesn't melt until over 300°C. 

Yeah. It could have been that the universal type power supply was faulty.

 

I have now got a brand new charger (Not original, but intended for that model) for when the laptop works again.

The top of the laptop was incredibly hot. I am surprised that not more melted. I was a little worried the computer part was overheating, and was surprised because all I was doing was copying files. I thought that I had burnt myself when I touched the power jack. Luckily I didn't.

 

 

 

[Emmien]

9 minutes ago, Lord Nicoll said:

 I'm sure you made sure the A/C adapters voltage was the same, so I won't patronise you about that,

The tip says 19v, and the laptop works between 18.5v and 19v, though I have seen them run on all kinds of things between 15v and 19v. Teachers and pupils don't check when putting them into a laptop trolley. 

[Lord Nicoll]

3 minutes ago, Emmien said:

Yeah. It could have been that the universal type power supply was faulty.

 

I have now got a brand new charger (Not original, but intended for that model) for when the laptop works again.

The top of the laptop was incredibly hot. I am surprised that not more melted. I was a little worried the computer part was overheating, and was surprised because all I was doing was copying files. I thought that I had burnt myself when I touched the power jack. Luckily I didn't.

 

 

 

Oh that's nasty. Maybe check for no short circuits or bridges on the solder pads, that is pretty bad. 

[Emmien]