Loose Power Connector - Power Problems - Hot Power Connector - Battery won't charge

This is a post on the old averatecforums.com talking about how to fix a broken power jack / plug

it had pictures... but heres a link to some that might help
http://www.flickr.com/photos/iblastoff/sets/72157601966057710/

also heres the whole thread on web.archive.org
http://web.archive.org/web/20070509002047/http://www.averatecforums.com/3200-series/2710-loose-power-connector-power-problems-hot-power-connector-battery-wont-charge.html

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krussell
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Join Date: Sep 2005
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Default Loose Power Connector - Power Problems - Hot Power Connector - Battery won't charge
I have an Averatec 3200. The power connector is loose. I have to pull sideways on the power connector to get my laptop to run or to charge the battery. I looked and looked and looked all over the Internet for how to fix it. I finally figured out the problem and solved it. (This forum was not running over the weekend while I was fixing my Averatec.) I hope this information helps the next poor soul who has the same problem. Please see all the pictures I took while doing this. Please do this at your own risk. I take no responsibility if you mess up your laptop. (Did I really have to say that?)

I found that the DC power connector was loose inside the laptop. I disassembled the laptop to fix it. Disassmbly was really the only difficult part to figure out.

To disassemble I loosened the two screws in the center of the back of the laptop and removed the CD/DVD drive. I set those aside. I then removed all the screws from the back. The secret here is that there is a screw under one of the rubber feet, one inside the RAM area, and under the CPU cover there is a screw that has a grounding wire on it. Anyway, remove all the screws from the back. It still will not come apart. There is a screw in the middle that you cannot seem to get to. You have to remove the keyboard and remove the screw from the top side.

To remove the keyboard you have to first loosen take the top part of the case apart. Let me restate that; The TOP of the case needs to come apart. The top part of the case that has the touchpad, not just the touchpad itself but the bottom 1/3 of the top half of the case comes apart. If you look at the sides you will see that there is a split in the case. Find these little tabs of plastic that click in, just press on them and they will allow the case to separate. See the attached pictures. This took me hours to figure out.

Once you can lift the keyboard you will see that there is a short keyboard cable that you can remove. To remove it, loosen the little white plastic part. It moves away about 1 or 2 mm and the cable part pulls out. Now you can remove the keyboard. Later you will have to reassemble this by pushing the cable back in. Before you disassemble it, look at how far in the cable is seated in the connector.

Once the keyboard is removed you can remove the last screw that is holding the case together. Look carefully for any other screws that you might have missed and remove them. Pry gently apart. If something seems like it is being held together, look for another screw that you missed.

I then had to give the screen a little more cable so that I could pull the 2 halves of the clamshell case apart. I only separated the case enough to slide the DC connector part to the side.

I removed the screw from the DC power connector board and disconnected the 3 wire cable. I removed the DC power connector board.

I removed the DC power connector from its board and cleaned off the metal tabs for a better solder connection. You would not have to remove the connector from the board if you didn't want to. It looks to me like there was VERY LITTLE IF ANY solder on the power connector connections. This is definitely a problem during manufacturing. You can see in the pictures that the loose connection overheated and black smoke had been in there. Look at the rightmost metal tab of the DC connector. The black around it is where there is NOTHING. It is a little hard to see but realize that the black line around the connector is where there is no solder. Notice that the center tab is soldered really well. The left tab has never been soldered. I think that the right tab had a very light touch of solder rather than enough to fill the gap. It actually should be soldered on BOTH sides.

I cleaned the metal tabs and pressed it back into the board and soldered it. I soldered both the top and the bottom of the connector tabs. The extra/unused tab that was not previously soldered, I soldered that too to give it more strength. I used plenty of solder and made sure that I pressed it into the board all the way to give it more strength. I checked that I did not bridge the connections on the circuit board that were not supposed to be bridged. The right tab solders to a small square of circuit board that is separated from the area around it. Be careful.

Reassembly is super easy compared to figuring out how to disassemble it.
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Loose Power Connector - Power Problems - Hot Power Connector - Battery won't charge

Some other disassembly pictures

#4 (permalink)
Old 09-10-2005, 06:08 AM
dnhoshor
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Stow, OH
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Default Some other disassembly pictures
I had the same problem with the hot power cable on my Averatec 3225, and resoldered the power connection tonight. It's working great now. I found Krussell's post with pictures only after finishing the job. I took pictures as I reassembled the computer and then published them in reverse order on my Yahoo Photos page.

Here's a link that will take you to the slide show.

Averatec 3200 Disassembly photos

I hope you will find them useful.
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#5 (permalink)
Old 09-10-2005, 01:53 PM
Chutsman
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Default
Great stuff, both of you .... saved for future use. Perhaps it should be made a sticky as so many of these Averatecs have the power jack problem. In fact, Averatec should fix this problem for free.
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Power problem with 3200 and 3225

#6 (permalink)
Old 09-11-2005, 08:51 PM
krussell
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Default Power problem with 3200 and 3225
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chutsman
Great stuff, both of you .... saved for future use. Perhaps it should be made a sticky as so many of these Averatecs have the power jack problem. In fact, Averatec should fix this problem for free.
Thanks for the kind words. DNHOSHOR really took nice pics. I like that I have pics of the 3200 and he has pics of the 3225. I think it would be helpful if 2 stickies were created from this. One about disassembly of a 3200 or 3225 and another about the power problem. I agree that Averatec should have to fix for free this OBVIOUS MANUFACTURING PROBLEM with the power jack. Thank goodness for the Internet and for forums like this. The power of sharing is incredible!!!
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Call in

#7 (permalink)
Old 09-17-2005, 08:39 PM
anjaru
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Join Date: Sep 2005
Posts: 4
Default Call in
Call into Averatec support center. they are open 24/7. tell them ur problem and they will give u a location to send ur laptop so that it can get fixed. you wont be charged even if the warranty is expired. it is a problem they have with the ac adapter. they will replace it and mail it back to you at no charge.
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Outstanding

#8 (permalink)
Old 09-17-2005, 10:49 PM
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pro2ndusa
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Wink Outstanding
You guys did a really outstanding job documenting the teardown procedures for the 3200. Thanks
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Hi

#9 (permalink)
Old 10-03-2005, 02:05 AM
pilas
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Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 3
Talking Hi
I am having the same exact problem with the averatec laptop. The connector is loose. Battery wont charge. But I am afraid to open the laptop.
I am going to try to fix it myself. Thanks for the help. Wish me luck.
Thanks

Pilas
Last edited by pilas : 10-04-2005 at 03:40 AM. Reason: grammar
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It went all well. Removed the connector

#10 (permalink)
Old 10-03-2005, 03:39 AM
pilas
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Default It went all well. Removed the connector
Thanks to people who helped me to dissasemble my averatec. The power connector is busted.
Last edited by pilas : 10-04-2005 at 03:14 AM.

 

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