Finding a place to repair my power/hdmi connectors

[Suniver]

So the basic problem is my laptop's power and hdmi connectors are loose due to 4-ish years of plugging/unplugging regularly (I move around a lot). The laptop is still good, runs fine, and the insides are all in pretty much perfect condition thanks to monthly cleaning. It's just that the connection tabs have become loose and disconnect temporarily if bumped/moved.

For the hdmi, this is just an annoyance since it means I have to deal with Windows deciding my second monitor is/is not/is/is not/is/is not connected repeatedly, but it's a massive problem for the power port because the port is overheating due to the loose connection. I can't do anything more intensive than charging the battery and then unplugging it to run it because of that.

 

I've taken the computer apart enough to get a good look at the power port and the thing is in great shape. Some of the plastic near it shows signs of minor thermal damage, but nothing is melted, just stressed. But I can't do it myself. I know how, but I have nerve damage in my hands, so I can't physically do the work.

 

Unfortunately, neither the original manufacturer nor any of my local computer repair services (all two of them) want to even think about touching that kind of repair. The manufacturer wants me to buy a whole new motherboard, but that's outside my budget by a factor of two, so I'd prefer to get it repaired, but the local services don't even want to think about replacing the whole mobo for the laptop.

 

So, where can I send this to get it repaired?

 

It's a simple repair, in all honesty. I've done it back before the nerve damage prevented me from working on things that small and it held up for literally years after the fact just fine. I Know this can be repaired without needing to replace the whole board, but I need a place that wants to do it without replacing the whole board, which I'm having trouble finding.

[Radium_Angel]

19 minutes ago, Suniver said:

which I'm having trouble finding

A TV repair shop, they are used to soldering stuff...

[kb5zue]

If the plastic brackets are just loose, have you considered maybe just putting some hot glue to it to lock it into place?  It will hold it tight and not allow it to move around.  Just an idea and if it works a lot cheaper than taking it to a shop IMHO.

[Suniver]

Just now, kb5zue said:

If the plastic brackets are just loose, have you considered maybe just putting some hot glue to it to lock it into place?  It will hold it tight and not allow it to move around.  Just an idea and if it works a lot cheaper than taking it to a shop IMHO.

The actual tabs that connect together are loose, as well as those brackets.
I'd like for them to be soldered back together, since they were soldered in the first place anyway and it's just those soldered joints that are broken.

Hot glue would work if I could get it in place though, which I'm not sure I can.

[Suniver]

6 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

A TV repair shop, they are used to soldering stuff...

I'd love to... if they existed around here.

Nearest one is 60 miles away. If I have to I'll go that far, but I don't think they'd be willing to do it either. If I can't find any help here that'll be my last resort though.

 

I know what you're thinking: how do I have two computer repair shops and no tv repair shops around here?

I don't know, I just know that's how it ended up.

[Radium_Angel]

39 minutes ago, Suniver said:

I'd love to... if they existed around here.

Nearest one is 60 miles away. If I have to I'll go that far, but I don't think they'd be willing to do it either. If I can't find any help here that'll be my last resort though.

 

I know what you're thinking: how do I have two computer repair shops and no tv repair shops around here?

I don't know, I just know that's how it ended up.

Odd, that's where I took a motherboard to be fixed, they were happy to do it....(the TV repair shop that is)

[Suniver]

1 minute ago, Radium_Angel said:

Odd, that's where I took a motherboard to be fixed, they were happy to do it....(the TV repair shop that is)

If I had one nearby I'd definitely take it there.
As it is, that's a 2 hour round trip that I'd have to take twice.

If I can't find any help here, I'll give them a call and ask if they can/will do it and if they can I'll just have to make the trip, even though it's going to take forever and be expensive as heck.

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, Suniver said:

If I had one nearby I'd definitely take it there.
As it is, that's a 2 hour round trip that I'd have to take twice.

If I can't find any help here, I'll give them a call and ask if they can/will do it and if they can I'll just have to make the trip, even though it's going to take forever and be expensive as heck.

Hit up Craigslist, see if anyone wants to take a stab at it that's a metalworker or something like this. The job isn't hard to do, I used to do stuff like this all the time in the computer shop I worked at, maybe an hour in labour, I am really surprised no one is willing to do it around your area 

[Suniver]

3 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

Hit up Craigslist, see if anyone wants to take a stab at it that's a metalworker or something like this. The job isn't hard to do, I used to do stuff like this all the time in the computer shop I worked at, maybe an hour in labour, I am really surprised no one is willing to do it around your area 

As am I.

It basically went like this:
Me: "Do you do soldering work on laptops?"
Them: "Yeah, what'cha need?"
Me: "Well my power port is-"
Them: "nnnoooooooooooooo. We don't work on power connectors for laptops."

 

I never worked at a computer repair shop, but my last two laptops both ended up having the same problem and back then I could do the work myself, so I just repaired it myself. Half an hour and I was done and it was working.
But I can't do that any more thanks to my hands.

[Suniver]

On 10/3/2018 at 3:08 PM, Radium_Angel said:

A TV repair shop, they are used to soldering stuff...

Alrighty, I ended up doing this.

It's going to be a good 3-ish hour journey on two different days, and cost me 200 dollars, but that's better than the roughly 450 I'd be looking at for a new motherboard though, and it's just a hair inside my budget.

Thank you!

[Radium_Angel]

23 minutes ago, Suniver said:

Alrighty, I ended up doing this.

It's going to be a good 3-ish hour journey on two different days, and cost me 200 dollars, but that's better than the roughly 450 I'd be looking at for a new motherboard though, and it's just a hair inside my budget.

Thank you!

You are welcome, hope they treat you right, post back the results.

[Suniver]

On 10/5/2018 at 10:06 AM, Radium_Angel said:

You are welcome, hope they treat you right, post back the results.

Well, I was scheduled to take it in on Monday (Oct 8) but on the Saturday before that, it shorted itself out. The board had cracked and the solder shorted the leads, killing the board.

I ended up using the money I had as a down payment on a new Acer Nitro 5.

I mean, it's an upgrade, sure. But I'm still sad about this. v.v

[Radium_Angel]

11 hours ago, Suniver said:

Well, I was scheduled to take it in on Monday (Oct but on the Saturday before that, it shorted itself out. The board had cracked and the solder shorted the leads, killing the board.

I ended up using the money I had as a down payment on a new Acer Nitro 5.

I mean, it's an upgrade, sure. But I'm still sad about this. v.v

Probably a blessing in disguise, it would have really sucked if the power leads had been repaired, then it had died...

[Suniver]

On 10/13/2018 at 6:20 AM, Radium_Angel said:

Probably a blessing in disguise, it would have really sucked if the power leads had been repaired, then it had died...

Yeah, true.

Though that's unlikely to have happened, honestly, as it was the crack that allowed it to happen and that crack could have been sealed.