The DC jacks are the part of your laptop where you connect the power adapter for charging. This is a very common laptop part that gets damaged because it is constantly being pulled and pulled. If you’re traveling and constantly plugging and unplugging your laptop, chances are good that after 2 years, you’ll notice this connector starting to fail.

Some common symptoms of a faulty DC power connector are:

1. Computer is plugged in but not charging

2. If you move the power adapter at the connector location, the computer goes from power to no power.

3. The battery does not charge overnight

4. the actual connector inside the computer is loose

When troubleshooting a bad DC jack, I tell my customers to try a different power adapter first. In rare cases, the power adapter is the root of the problem and the connector is fine. This is usually the cheapest solution because replacing the adapter is not that expensive.

I also suggest replacing the battery if it is older than 2 years. The battery has a useful life and needs to be replaced every 2 years or so. If the battery is good and the adapter is good, your computer’s connector is most likely disconnected from the motherboard or completely broken.

Replacing the DC jack requires taking the entire laptop apart, soldering the jack that’s there, cleaning up the general soldering area, and re-soldering a new jack. Depending on the laptop, the job typically takes up to 2 hours and requires the steady hand of a surgeon. The cost is usually around $150 for a good job and the connector will last the life of the laptop. You can find companies that do it for about $100, but the work is sometimes sloppy, they don’t replace the connector with a new one, and the connector may not last the life of the computer.