Asus G73JH Power Cord/Mainboard Problem? Charging is messed up

Hey guys,

I recently got my new battery and it's working perfectly fine, however the power cord I believe is making it really difficult. It will only let me charge the laptop when it's shut down and when I like move the power cord and twist it on the lit so that it can connect. It were never like that before, but now all of the sudden I can't really charge it. I don't think my Power Adapter is broken I assume it's this poorly created Power Cord or maybe the mainboard ;/ The only way I can get the orange LED light is by moving the cord in some weird positions or holding it. So do you guys know what to do? I don't want to send my laptop in, because I really can't spend that much time without it ;/ I am still thinking that it's the power jack because it looks really poorly made.

thanks in advance for help

 

If you're having to adjust the cord for it to make a connection, it is likely a loose connection on the motherboard. Sometimes, it can be just a loose solder or it could be more serious and require the replacement of the motherboard. Of course, it very well could be the adapter plug as well, but since it works when you readjust it I would lean more towards something loose in the machine iteself. Either way, I would recommend setting up an RMA for the unit with your reseller or with ASUS.

 

Yeah I was afraid of this :/ I really don't want to send it in. Will they delete my complete Hard Drive? This is so ed up :/ Next time I am going for a stationary PC again.

 

Hey so I don't really have the time nor the nerves to go through those stupid RMA processes so can I just replace the Power Jack on my own? I already found one: DC Power Jack Connector for Asus Notebook: G73 series, G73JH, G73JW [PJ015] - $5.99 : DCPowerJacks.net, Laptop Parts, Laptop DC Power Jacks Would this work? Thanks

 

Generally, as far as I am aware, that piece is soldered onto the motherboard, so even if you do a full tear down of the machine I don't think you would be able to change that out.

 

Ok so could I use a hot-air blower and try to remove it and then try to solder the new one onto it?

 

Any chance you could take it to a local repair shop and get them to try it with a universal adaptor, just to rule out an issue with the cord from the power brick (as Brett suggested above)?

 

You can solder it yourself, if youre not shy with a soldering iron. I have fixed many dc jacks on laptops. It's usually just 3 solder joints. Dont use a hot air gun or heat gun, as you will heat up much more than just the area you need, and could damage something. The dc jacks in laptops are attached to the motherboard by the solder joints alone. Sad, cuz I have seen so many with power issues due to that. Cheap design. Your dc jack is probably still good, but I'm guessing that one or more of the solder joints are cracked (which is common, since solder is cheap and soft)- thats why wiggling it works sometimes. Eventually even that wont work. In my experience, more often than not, all you have to do is get to the solder joints and reflow (melt) them with a soldering iron and you will have contact again. Simple, if youre not shy about digging into your laptop. There will be tutorials on the net, if you get lost. If you have to replace the jack, go to radio shack and buy some desoldering wire (its braided copper wire that sucks up the solder when you melt it) and use it to pull the solder off the dc jack contacts, leaving just the contact holes. Then put your new dc jack in place, apply new solder, reassemble. A repair shop will charge you close to $100 for something that is simple and takes about 15 minutes. If you decide to do this and have any questions, pm me or post in this thread and I'd be happy to offer any advice I can. We all gotta start somewhere, right? Good luck.

 

Hmm no not really, but I might have to drive out somewhere, but I am kinda certain that it's not the power brick. Did some troubleshooting and the power brick seemed fine. But yeah I might have to do that first. Thanks

Thanks for this detailed reply, like I said I am not really afraid of the whole soldering process, but more on reassembling the laptop again. Is there like any kinda in particular tutorial for the G73 online? I would really like to get this to work again :/

Your answer really helped, I will see what I can do next. The soldering process you described doesn't seem that hard, though.

 

BTOtech.com | G73Jh & G73Jw & G73Sw Disassembly Take Apart G73 g73jw service manual - YouTube

thanks to BTOTEch

 

Yeah I've seen this video. But I was hoping for like a guide to reassemble I know that you just can go backwards and stuff, but an actual guide would sitll be better

 

bump 10 chars

 

Fallen368

I have a simular problem with my HP ZD7000. I am willing to take it apart but maybe you can direct me on where to find the info on taking the laptop apart. Any assistance would be greatly appriciated. You can contact me at [email protected] Thank you in advance

 

Bumping this thread

 

So should I just go ahead and purchase this power jack? How could I test if this power adapter still works, which I am pretty sure of.

 

The only way to test is open it up and check the solder joints. If they are broken you have your problem. If not, you will need to test continuity with a meter. If they use lead free solder, then that may be why the joints broke in the first place. Heat, cool, heat, cool, heat, cool, RROD.....huh?!?!

Same thing though. Just like the original xboxs.

 

okay thanks for the help i will just try to open it up now, cause it doesn't charge at all now. yeah but the 360 is easier to put together

 

Ok I opened it and those solder joints look ok, but that's how they look like even if they are broken. I found that on this website which sells the powerjacks. So yeah should I buy the new power jack now and try to fix it like that? Or what can I do now? And also while my laptop is open could I upgrade somehting? Thanks

 

Before soldering anything which is a very bad idea and CrappyAlloy will tell you that after trying to solder his Audio Connector back on and it kept shorting out the board, I think you should seriously consider it is just the cable from the brick into the laptop?

The most common thing to cause these symptoms is the cable similiar to cheap headphones you have to keep shifting them to get the sound to come through because constant movement can wear down the wires and stretch them. I cable tie my power cable to my storm cable and make sure there is minimal movement because its only wire within rubber.

Jacks are cheap so you have nothing to lose really, do not consider soldering it yourself, you short the board out its game over.

 

Ok thanks for your answer I will buy both, the power adapter and the power jack and see then what i can do.

 

All you really need is the brick section into the laptop. Sorry I said jack get the adaptor section first and try that before buying the jack.

 

Oh ok will do Since it's already open I might repaste the GPU

 

I just got my G73JH back from its 4th RMA. For the last one I plugged the computer in and smoke came out of it - a lot of smoke, then the circuit breaker tripped and so did my smoke alarm. Asus replaced the following; 2x HDD, Motherboard, Optical drive, video card, display and keyboard. So essentially I got a new computer.

For the OP - I would send it in for RMA if you still can.

 

thanks bud but I am never doing RMA with Asus. I don't have the nerves for their bull

 

I had a similar problem, the replacement power supply I bought off ebay was no solution.... but I cut the tip off the asus supply and spliced the cord off the ebay brick... all problems solved. Original Asus brick new tip.
After doing this I cut the rubber from around the Asud tip, the centre contact was cracked all the way round and the solder connection to the outside was cold and was being held in place by the rubber boot.
try replacing the tip on the asus supply.... it might help.... can't hurt.

 

Thanks will try this out if it doesn't work with my new power supply, which should arrive Saturday (hopefully)

 

So tomorrow I will most likely get my new power adapter, and I also ordered the jack no clue when it will arrive though. But I disassembled the laptop like shown in the BTT video, cause I wanted to see if the power jack was broken. How can I test the new power adapter now? Can I just leave the laptop like that, or what exactly do I have to reassemble again?

 

So I finally got the replacement power adapter. So what exactly do I have to put back together now to test if it works?