HowToFixComputers.com

kimdelee · Member Joined: 12 May 2006 Posts: 2

I see that a lot of you have taken your laptops apart and done some resoddering work etc. I am in the process of trying to take mine apart only to find that the printer and monitor ports in back are keeping me from getting it apart.

Any help or pics would be great!

Kim

xubomber · PRO Joined: 19 Feb 2006 Posts: 59

Get a service manual for your model, I think there's only two or three different service manuals for the entire line of HP notebooks/laptops, but I'm not sure on that.

On most, I believe that the two hexagonal screw things for the printer and monitor ports can, and must, be unscrewed to remove the motherboard from the bottom case.

If you're having trouble separating the case halves, check for screws hidden underneath various things. On the ze5200s, there were three or four screws on the inside, underneath the keyboard and the speaker/OneTouch assembly.

Once again, check the service manuals for your particular laptop, it will have fairly detailed disassembly instructions.

As for the message four posts before mine, that doesn't solve anything at all. All this does is prevent wiggle between the male and female parts (plug and jack), but there is very little there anyway. The main problem is with wiggle of the entire jack and plug relative to the motherboard, that weakens the solder joints and eventually either breaks the joints or breaks the jack itself. The media cable mentioned previously solves the problem by bypassing the entire jack.

kimdelee · Member Joined: 12 May 2006 Posts: 2

Which would be wonderful if it fit eithe rof my models....LOL I am kind of going into laptop withdrawl here! j/k

ALROSE · Member Joined: 24 May 2006 Posts: 1 Location: USA

I initially bought a ze model pavilion in 2003 screen died, sent it back, replaced, then the screen died again so they replaced just about everything in the laptop supposedly (motherboard, mouse pad, RAM, LED, etc...) then the power jack went out. They then replaced that ze with an upgrade to a zx5000 model. Boom jack failed within 2 months, they repaired it, sent it back to me, 2 months later jack scr**ed again! So they then upgraded me to another zx5000 model. I was pissed I wanted my money back so I kept both zx5000 laptops, which was useless because both power jacks were soon useless. I bought a base station and an extra battery. All 3 of my batteries soon were burnt out! UGH!!! So I sold one of the zx5000 (the second laptop I received from HP) and now have one which is constantly getting the fatal blue screen of death for different reasons (hardrive, usb, video, etc... etc...). All i can do with this dumba** laptop is be on websites, cant use watch any videos, play any music, play any online games, etc... I have reformatted a few times trying to fix it, each time it just gets worse and worse.
But that Multi-media cable sounds like a great idea if all that is wrong with your laptop is the power jack. I'd probably buy one if I had a decent running laptop which just would charge through the power jack.
Its not worth repairing the power jack, too costly and it will soon break off again. I tried the foil trick, worked for about a week then was useless.
Highly 100% recommend never buying an HP product. Yeah they stand behind their products 100%!! Then give me my money back. What a useless piece of junk they sell. I will never ever buy HP again.

KansasUser · Forum Regular Joined: 29 Oct 2005 Posts: 14

Alrose,

You might consider giving Ken at Ikenfixit a call at 231-242-1190. He fixed my power jack nine months ago and turned it around promptly and reasonably. I have not had a hint of any problem since. If anyone can fix the blue screen problem, I bet it will be Ken. I had a very good experience with him. (See my posted note on screen-page 8 for details, or use this link to go to the page to find my note: http://www.howtofixcomputers.com/bb/ftopic73146-0-asc-105.html.)

Believe me, Alrose, I know how easy to get angry at HP. You are right. They deserve it. But that only goes so far. The important thing is to get your laptop fixed and working again.

It looks like you have nothing to lose by talking with Ken. Best of luck to you.

KansasUser

markhammill · Member Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 2

Please help, running out of options

My zd7000 packed up over a week ago. I noticed the power jack socket smelt burnt so I went on the internet and found all the posts about the breaking and ordered a replacement socket.

I have now had my new socket and have soldered it on but still no luck.

There are sparks arching from the +ve track of the motherboard just under the socket to the -ve track.

The spark are glowing through the motherboard itself.

I have tried very hard to insulate this area. I have drilled 3/4 of the way around the +ve track to isolate it but then it just arched through mid air.

I have now insulated in with very dense wood glue. The gap is filled perfectly and it is still sparking either side.

I have checked the resistance betwwen each pin of the powerjack and the motherboard in various places and the socket appears to be sodered on prefectly.

I have also checked the resistance of the glued area and it works perfectly and shouldn't let any power through.

Since then I have tried to attatched the power at points further away on the motherboard but it still archs at the socket.

What do I do next.

I happy to remove the jack and solder in a pigtail instead but by the looks of it, it isn't going to help.

Is it likely another component is also fried which is preventing the electricity from flowing in the correct direction or is there some other answer I haven't thought of?

Any ideas of what I should try next?

I've only owned the laptop for six weeks but it has no warantee. I bought this one to replace my Toshiba laptop as the motherboard fried on that as well.

Starting to get very fedup. I would use my wifes computer in the meantime but she knows what my lucks like and has banned me from it.

Last time she lent her old one while I waited for my new laptop. The motherboard packed in the following day.

Quaoar · Guest

markhammill wrote:

vcn3wb05 · Member Joined: 17 Jun 2006 Posts: 1

Ok well I just had this problem that everyone on here is (or has been) describing for the past year and 1/2 or so. Anyway, in my situation, I turned off my hp dv5230us (the dv5000 series) laptop and left it with the power adapter plugged in to the wall (not smart) overnight. I came back to turn it back on this morning - and nothing. I unplugged the power adapter and tried, and again, nothing. At this point, I'm getting pissed. I'm not dumb with computers, but I can't figure this one out. I tried letting it sit without the power adapter plugged in for a few hours, but still nothing. So, now I'm left with no solution. When I plug the power adapter in, the "charge" light on the front of the laptop turns on for about 4 seconds then turns off. If I unplug it and plug it back in, doing so very quickly, the "charge" light still turns on for 4 seconds and then turns off. Anyway, this is rediculous... just thought I would throw my situation out there...

markhammill · Member Joined: 14 Jun 2006 Posts: 2

Fixed it. Sort of.

After a lot of failed atempts I decided the only possible answer was to remove the damaged board.

I used a dremal the cut of the whole piece of motherboard where the socket was mounted.

I then soldered the cables to the two main conections on the board and turned it on.

Amazingly it all works now.

I have ordered the media cable now and as sood as it arrives I will sell my laptop.

No more laptops for me, there just too expensive to fix and mine always break.

Stagger · Member Joined: 07 Jun 2006 Posts: 3

If you have taken computer apart and when you put it back together it fails to boot it may be that your processor isn't seated well. Especially if your processor came out with the heatsink. Here is what I did to fix that:

Took computer back apart and removed the processor from the heatsink. Turned the locking screw on where the processor plugs in and put the processor in and pushed. Yep, it clicked better this time. Even though I had turned the screw and set the processor in before, and it looked like it was in very well, it wasn't. So for those who are doing this be sure and remove the processor from the heatsink and replace the processor, then glue the processor back to the heatsink. The only glue I could find was at Radio Shack for $1.99 for a small tube.

Put it all back together and it fired right up!

Thanks IKenFixit for the processor tip.

stig · Member Joined: 26 Jun 2006 Posts: 1

Is my Pavilion ze4101 laptop having same problem as you all?

I usually use my laptop without battery inserted.

The laptop never failed on me when I was using it. But, if I shut it off, and move to another place and plug in the AC, 3 out of 10 times it will not turn on. NO light on the laptop is lit, not the charging light, not the power light. It sits there doing nothing no matter which button I press, not even after I insert a fully charged battery. How come a bad power jack can stops the battery? So I am not sure whether my problme is same as your power jack problem. When it happends, I usually spend a few minutes taking some screws out from the back, touch the memory, and put the cover back on, then the problem is gone mystically, machine boots normailly, untill next time...

Is anyone experiencing same problem? Is this the same power jack problem? I checked it, the power jack looks fine. It is not loose or anything.

Thanks.

LaptopRepairDude · Guest

I am a Laptop repair person. And to give you all some free info. ALL
laptops have an issue with the power jacks because most user do not try to
prevent this. Users commonly dangle the AC adapter off the side of the
desk or chair putting undo strain on the 3 itty bitty solder joing that
hold the jack to the pcb board inside....or they like to pull the cord
under the laptop so they can push it closer to a wall and thus bending the
ac adapter head and again putting stress on the itty bitty solder joints.
I probably fix at least 15 laptops a week for this problem @ about $125
labor + 15 part + tax. Is this a design flaw absolutely, but they all have
the same flaw...Sony seems to be the only one who has actually made a
floating power jack with aa small ribbon cable making the connection to
the mobo.

Ben Myers · Guest

Okay, then. Sony got it right. Everyone else builds notebook computers with
design flaws. Seems to me it is that simple... Ben Myers

On Mon, 26 Jun 2006 17:15:46 -0400, "LaptopRepairDude"
<sales@xtreme-technologies.net> wrote:

markthomas10 · Member Joined: 29 Jun 2006 Posts: 1

I have a HP Pavilion zv5000. I thought the power jack was faulty, but the power socket on the media connection works fine, so it seems to not be a power supply problem?

Basically, the laptop charges ok, but as soon as the system is switched on, it switches to battery power after maybe 15 seconds if lucky. If I keep unplugging and replugging the power jack then it might stay on, but that is not a satisfactory situation! It strikes me that something like this is more likely to be software/firmware related?

Any ideas?

twc14450 · Member Joined: 29 Jun 2006 Posts: 2

I also, have an HP Pavilion ze4805us notebook...and like others here, have also had problems (MAJOR) with the dc jack...I also got online with HP tech support...They gave me a part number and website where I could purchase the dc jack...well, needless to say the part number that HP tech support gave me was the wrong one....It sits too far back away from the case and the plug will only go in part of the way...

Now, because of the plug not fitting properly, i have cut the back of the case to allow for the plug to be pushed all the way in...but it was a little too late...the solder joints on the dc jack have loosened up and it moves all over the place...I am going to have that fixed, but can anyone tell me or give me a replacement part number for a heavier duty dc jack for this model??

This particular model has a 90w power supply...and again it is a HP Pavilion ze4805us laptop HP model# PF175UA