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ikenfixit

Photolobo... The jack can be upgraded to the point of securing it to the systemboard more efficiently as well as adding a second positive lead to help dessipate heat. Heat is the biggest issue and if its not taken care of? Failure will return. If you do end up sending here I'd reccomend Fed-ex as costs are less and customs doesnt seem to hold them as in a postal delivery. UPS is priced out of range.
_________________
Ken LaDere, Owner
www.ikenfixit.com
www.howtofixlaptops.com
postmaster@ikenfixit.com
8750 West Stutsmanville.
Harbor Springs, Michigan.
49740
231.242.1190

Kavb · Member Joined: 08 Dec 2005 Posts: 1

Ken,

I have a HP Pavilion zd7050 with this exact problem. Unfortunately I live in the UK or I'd send it to you for repair as you seem to do an excellent job.

I note you recommend laptopclinic.co.uk (Gary Danielz) for UK users. Do you know if he does the same sort of repair as you do and if not, do you know if it will last? I'd really appreciate an honest answer because I do not have a lot of money to spend on something that won't work for long.

If anyone else (preferrably a customer) has any feedback on laptopclinic.co.uk I'd really like a reponse from you guys too. I can't afford a new laptop or to pay for a fix that won't last so I really need help picking a good repairer. Thanks a lot everyone. Either reply here, PM me or email me at: kavb@mailcity.com

Thanks

bigyeti

Wow!!! What a read... I guess I'm in the right place... Dropped Ken a note today... I've got a ZD7000 with a series of rubber bands holding the plug in a working position (under pressure)... I'll be sending it to Ken when I get home in the spring, but need it daily now... I think that I've come up with a temporary solution but am not real savvy on this stuff yet... Will this work until I fly north in the spring... http://www.getpartsonline.com/dl516a.html Waddya think Ken???
_________________
Remember the Alamo

aor · Member Joined: 11 Dec 2005 Posts: 1

I have this same problem with my HP computer and also tried to fix it with my self but could not even get to top cover off in order to repair the power jack connection. Could you please give me some directions as to how to remove the top of the computer so I can get to this component. thanks

aor · Guest

I have this same problem with my HP computer and also tried to fix it
with my self but could not even get to top cover off in order to
repair the power jack connection. Could you please give me some
directions as to how to remove the top of the computer so I can get
to this component. thanks

rkuhn · Member Joined: 14 Dec 2005 Posts: 1

If anybody could recommend on what to do with my situation that would be great. My power jack on my Pavilion zv5120us notebook had started acting up and I decided to try my hand at some repair work and open it up. I took everything apart acording to the service manual and stripped it down to the motherboard. The power jack soldering connections had come undone and I tried to resolder part of it, but there was one connection I couldn't get to. So I put it back together and I'll be damned if now the screen wasn't turning on. The computer powered up fine, but no screen. The resoldering had somewhat fixed the power problem (not as much tension needed on the adapter), but still not what it should be. I tried connecting to an external monitor and still nothing came up. I talked to a Staples employee and he said that the mother board was probably bad and needed to be replaced. This would cost upwards of $500. Now, I have some skill and was able to disassemble and reassemble my computer and the mother board just looked like an easily exchanged part. Should I find a mother board for cheaper and do it myself or just shell out the $500. Or is the problem something else? Any info would be much appreciated.

rkuhn · Guest

If anybody could recommend on what to do with my situation that would
be great. My power jack on my Pavilion zv5120us notebook had started
acting up and I decided to try my hand at some repair work and open it
up. I took everything apart acording to the service manual and
stripped it down to the motherboard. The power jack soldering
connections had come undone and I tried to resolder part of it, but
there was one connection I couldn't get to. So I put it back
together and I'll be damned if now the screen wasn't turning on. The
computer powered up fine, but no screen. The resoldering had somewhat
fixed the power problem (not as much tension needed on the adapter),
but still not what it should be. I tried connecting to an external
monitor and still nothing came up. I talked to a Staples employee
and he said that the mother board was probably bad and needed to be
replaced. This would cost upwards of $500. Now, I have some skill
and was able to disassemble and reassemble my computer and the mother
board just looked like an easily exchanged part. Should I find a
mother board for cheaper and do it myself or just shell out the $500.
Or is the problem something else? Any info would be much appreciated.

stocks29 · Member Joined: 26 Jan 2006 Posts: 2

For anyone who is interested in trying this themselves, I had great luck doing mine. Here is what I did.

1. Went to radioshack and picked up a soldering iron and the smallest solder I could find.

2. Took apart my laptop so I could see the dc power jack.

3. Touched the soldering iron to the lower metal piece of the dc power jack and place the solder at the contact point of the jack and motherboard.

BE VERY CAREFUL THAT YOU TOUCH NOTHING BUT THE METAL PIECE OF THE JACK AS YOU MAY MELT SOMETHING.

4. Put the laptop back together.

It works as if it were new. Good luck! The materials only cost me $13 and it took about 5-10 minutes. Even if it breaks again, I can repair it over and over and not have to spend any more money.

Guest

stocks29 wrote:

Guest

To all attempting this repair.

Note that the jack has 3 prongs, 2 for negative and 1 for positive.
The circuit board it is soldered into is dual sided with contacts on
each side, thus a total of 6 contact points. I found that on mine the
center (hidden) tab was broken off in the jack. No way to tell unless
one is familiar with this inherent problem. Since part doesn't seem to
be available, only option is pigtail with jack.

I went this route and used a piece of shielded wire from an old power
supply. VERY CAREFULLY desolder and remove jack and clean each of the
3 through hole solder points on the PC board. Prepare new cable by
tinning positive wire and split the outter shielding into two, then
tinning each. Insert the positive wire from top down and solder both
sides. Do the same for each of the negative wires. (after the unit
was assembled and tested I used epoxy putty as a strain relief.)

As for taking the laptop apart to facilitate the repair, this will take
about 10 minutes:

1. Raise LCD and remove 2 screws behind hinge.
2. Above the F1, F8 and Home keys, note small notch on vertical
surface of plastic strip running across laptop. Insert screw driver
and gently pry strip loose. (twist the blade) Then insert it in seam
above power switch to seperate.
3. Lay LCD down and remove 2 or 3 screws holding long narrow PC board.
4. GENTLY pry up from the left to right to lift. (it plugs into board
below) Note notch on right.
5. Unplug monitor from PC board and from motherboard now visible.
6. Remove 4 screws holding LCD hinge in place.
7. Remove 3 or 4 screws holding keyboard in place. Tilt up and pull
out. Disconnect ribbon cable from motherboard by first lifting white
clip surrounding cable. Then gently lift cable.
8. Remove all remaining screws from top of case, back and bottom of
case. (you can leave on the cover for the modem and memory. Remove the
battery.
9. Gently lift top of case, disconnect cables and set aside. (if it
seems tight, use light twisting screwdriver pressure to separate. If
that doesn't work then there are more screws to remove. DONT FORCE
ANYTHING)
10. Remove 4 screws holding hard drive and lift using black strap.
11. Notice metal casting/frame around perimeter of unit. Remove screw
on left and right side. (not back) Remove frame.
12. Remove CD drive then clip with screw at side.
13. Remove screws holding floppy drive and remove it.
14. Remove 4 screws holding fan cooling unit. Pry off springs,
disconnect plug and remove fan.
15. Remove with nut driver the 4 mounting pins (from cooling fan) and
all the hex posts at the back of the laptop.
16. Remove the screws at the small circuit board by the main connector
at back. Gently pry up the board.
17. Remove the screw under this board.
18. That should about do it except for 2 small wires. Gently lift
motherboard tilting it towards the rear connectors. Note the 2 cables.
Disconnect the one on the left, then the other one. As you lift the
board further you will note a small board plugged into the underside.
Unclip the board and leave it in the case.
19. The motherboard can now be removed and repaired.

Good luck and keep in mind, though this worked for me, it is only a
suggestion.

HPGoat · Member Joined: 03 Feb 2006 Posts: 1

Just another Happy HP customer’s story about a Jack.

I read this forum a couple of months back since I have the same problem.
I finally decided to give my two cents on the issue for a couple of reasons: All of the post here are of a cordial manner and although this is a frustrating problem no one has posted in an antagonistic manner. Second, since telling HP anything seems to go nowhere, at the least, I can get a bit of ease by posting my experience with the power jack dilemma.

For the person who suggested this is caused by improper handling of the laptop and created by owner neglect. I also respectively totally disagree. My HP Pavillion Zx5060 was purchased solely for use as a backup system for data files and for use with my HP dig camera and Photo printer. Since HP's driver software cannot be installed without the installation of other unwanted software (mostly their Share to web software which in my opinion is vulnerable to security issues)

I purchased a HP laptop to keep all HP software off my other systems. In addition to several Desktop systems I have I also own two other laptops for travel both of which do not have this issue with the power jack and are not HP laptops. The HP PavZx was bought, plugged in, networked, and given a nice comfortable spot next to the HP photo printer on a clean non cluttered desk. From the time of purchase it was placed there and has not been moved. The only time the power cable was even unplugged was when the desk needed dusting and the laptop was moved in order to clean the area behind it. The laptop was never dropped or handled improperly. Even when unplugged for the weekly cleaning task the power cord ,which was routed thru the desk grommet was left in place and gently plugged back in to the laptop after the dust was removed. If HP considers this to be improper handling of a laptop then I have a major problem with that since I can't think of any use that could have been less destructive then the way in which the PavZx was used by me.

For ten months everything was fine, however this was not to last, without any real evidence of a problem suddenly one morning the laptop would power up just long enough to issue a low battery warning and then power down. Like many others I assumed the battery had failed or lost its memory, since I was not in any real need of the unit at the time I put off worrying about it until a few weeks later. I read thru the owners’ manual and found that the unit should work just fine by the AC power even without a battery. I then incorrectly assumed my power adapter had failed and once again put off dealing with it until I had the time to test the adapter with a meter. A couple of weekends later I delved into the diagnosis. I found the adapter was not malfunctioning and delivering the correct voltage. At my wits end I called a friend who I knew owned a similar HP laptop and asked if he would mind me borrowing it. Again a few weeks went by until my friend came by. The first test was to swap batteries. My battery began to charge immediately in his Zx and my laptop powered up just fine with the fully charged battery of his. We then took both batteries out and tested the adapters, his Zx powered up with my adapter however mine did not power up with his. This is when I realized the problem must be in the jack or somewhere along the power transfer to the motherboard from the adapter.

So of course I called HP's tech support, (yes, my warrantee had just expired due to my procrastination) HP support was a joke, they wanted me to purchase a new motherboard at a price we all know is excessive. I informed tech support that this is absurd since obviously the laptop works fine when I place a charged battery in it, why would the motherboard need to be replaced? Yes, we all know the answer, (they have no repair support and simply replace the motherboard for every issue) for them I understand they have plenty more motherboards then time. For me however given the cost this made no sense. And so I got on the net and found this forum, (it was around 6 or so pages at that point) I thought about using Ken and I thought about the secondary power port or the use of a dock. But being rather handy with electronics and smarter then the average bear I decided to give a go at it myself.

First of all, Ten minutes to tear an HP down is a gross underestimate. Maybe for someone who has torn one down enough to get fast at it, but for the average person who attempts this for the first time be prepared to give up a weekend to this endeavor? Yet I took my time and found all the hidden screws and with great care to not disconnect any mini ribbon cables finally got to the motherboard. And there it was, it all its cheapo part glory: The POWER JACK, Now power jacks in general are a very inexpensive part, even a gold plated heavy duty jack certainly wont break anyone’s bank, For HP who's cost at the amount of units they purchased the jack could not have been more than a dollar each, WHY ON EARTH would they use a jack of such low quality in order to save mere pennies per unit on a laptop they sell for more then two thousand dollars!!!! The greed and incompetence of this is bewildering. To add insult to injury not only do they deny this faulty cheap jack is any cause of a problem they proclaim the customer to be at fault for having the impudence to plug and unplug it more than once and thus handling the unit improperly. The nerve of HP in regards to this is once again astounding. My solution was simple, I simply soldered a glob of solder onto the spring pin, which increased its size and once again made contact with the barrel of the power plug. Of course I knew it would not last, since heat would eventually wear the solder down or cause it to break, but it worked and didn’t cost anything other then my time. (Which isn’t cheap) Since I knew the unit would not be moved I figured it would last for awhile. I was correct the unit continued flawlessly to both power up and charge the battery for quite a while longer then expected. Yesterday, it finally failed. I came here to get Ken’s information since although my solution worked it really is not the ideal way to repair this. I also have no desire to tear the laptop down again since HP seems to enjoy building their laptops to insure great difficulty for the layman to facilitate any self repairs. It seems Ken has a good solution and after reading others report back their satisfaction with the repair and the low cost of his service I too will be sending HP’s mess to Ken.

P.s. Ken, in typical self repair fashion, when I was done putting it back together I found I had a couple of screws left over!! ' paranoid

'
LOL!!!
It doesn’t seem to effect anything but if you find where they went then, what the heck, throw them back in for me. ' sarcastic eye roll

'

Dave D.

ikenfixit

Perhaps good news for you HP laptop owners. A legal firm from New York Contacted us recently regarding a class action suit against HP regarding design flaws in the ZX,ZV, and ZD series notebooks as well as others on jack issues. I dont know that I actually want to be involved as they asked if we could perhaps be a consultant regarding these issues. We have a list of close to 500 consumers in the past year alone and just feel the need to let the public know of this. I guess the more people on board the better for the consumer, HP Is actually jobbing out DC jack repairs through their website and I personally called and spoke to 2 people in their Exec consumer relations dept.. (One called me back in 2 minutes after the initiation of a call by us). I am NOT an attorney, I am not looking for any compensation regarding thes complaints but I do not have a problem letting people know of a faulty product.. (IE: The X1000 video card problems, The ZD,ZX,ZV, ZE, As well as most others for jack issues. The ZD7K series w/GO5700 video issues requiring a board replace@767.00 for the part alone. The list is endless. If you are a prior customer of ours and would like the info to be added to this ordeal we'd be more than happy to forward the info to you. HP Wanted the phone number for this firm, I declined as its not my suit. It belongs to you.
Have a great day!
_________________
Ken LaDere, Owner
www.ikenfixit.com
www.howtofixlaptops.com
postmaster@ikenfixit.com
8750 West Stutsmanville.
Harbor Springs, Michigan.
49740
231.242.1190

drpuritan

Ken,

I am VERY interested in a class action lawsuit or anything else that will hold HP's feet to the fire. About two months after warranty expired, I have been suffering for the past month with a faulty power supply jack. Same old problem that HP claims is "not a known issue." They want me to pay for something they have known about but won't repair. Is your fix something that can radically fix this mess?

David
_________________
I once was an HP fan but now I'm an "ANYBODY BUT HP MAN."

Guest

I had just sold my ZE5270 to my brother a couple of months ago and
apparently it is now suffering these same power problems. I would be
very interested in any info re: class action suit.

Thanks

drock689 · Member Joined: 08 Feb 2006 Posts: 1

hello everyone, i'm new here and going through the same thing with my pavilion zv5000. literally the moment the warranty ended i started having these problems. i've already spent money replacing the battery and adapter and now i'm just going to get a new computer. can anyone tell me any home remedy type fixes i can use to keep the computer going long enough to get the information off of it and keep it charging for a few days until i've gotten a new computer. any help would be appreciated. also if anyone could point me in the direction of a new reliable affordable machine would be great.