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Toshiba Satellite Power Problems dgray22 07-14-2006
Posted by dgray22 on July 14, 2006, 5:56 am
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 Toshiba Satellite Power Plug Problem

PROBLEM
Computer randomly shuts down
.......finally goes dead
...Toshiba says
......"Replace motherboard", $500

The culprit is the power plug
...the positive side
......soldered to the motherboard
..........by an "L" shaped bar
this connects with the positive plane inside the motherboard

Stress from plugging and unplugging
...stress on motherboard from moving screen
......etc...
breaks this connection

SOLUTION
Cut 1/8" section out of the bar
.......or remove it
...........i used a bolt cutter
...no bar
......no stress on the motherboard

then bypass the power plug
....get a similar plug at Radio Shack and some wire
solder the positive end to the remaining bar on motherboard
the other end to a bolt on the serial port
...easy ground connection


Posted by Barry Watzman on July 14, 2006, 11:04 am
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 Better solutions:

-Just resolder the plug (often the problem is not a bad jack, but a bad
solder joint).

-Get a new jack (they are sold on E-Bay)

-Buy an entire old laptop for $5 to $15 on E-Bay and salvage it's jack
(all Toshiba laptops that ran from 15 volts used the same jack)


dgray22@austin.rr.com wrote:

> Toshiba Satellite Power Plug Problem
>
> PROBLEM
> Computer randomly shuts down
> .......finally goes dead
> ...Toshiba says
> ......"Replace motherboard", $500
>
> The culprit is the power plug
> ...the positive side
> ......soldered to the motherboard
> ..........by an "L" shaped bar
> this connects with the positive plane inside the motherboard
>
> Stress from plugging and unplugging
> ...stress on motherboard from moving screen
> ......etc...
> breaks this connection
>
> SOLUTION
> Cut 1/8" section out of the bar
> .......or remove it
> ...........i used a bolt cutter
> ...no bar
> ......no stress on the motherboard
>
> then bypass the power plug
> ....get a similar plug at Radio Shack and some wire
> solder the positive end to the remaining bar on motherboard
> the other end to a bolt on the serial port
> ...easy ground connection
>

Posted by dgray22 on July 14, 2006, 3:55 pm
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> -Just resolder the plug (often the problem is not a bad jack, but a bad
> solder joint).

Maybe I misspoke
...yes the problem is the solder joint
But re-soldering the plug will not solve the problem
...it will only provide a temporary fix

Stress on the plug assembly
...will wiggle the "L" shaped pole
......causing it to break the connection positive plane again

This is just bad design
...Toshiba denies the problem

Does anyone know of any class-action suits against Toshiba????


Posted by Barry Watzman on July 14, 2006, 7:33 pm
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Resoldering it will fix the problem satisfactorily. Yes, you could
break it again, but a properly soldered jack will last the lifetime of
the machine (a decade or more) if the machine is not subject to physical
abuse. A properly soldered contact is quite secure. But they are
machine soldered on the assembly line, and some are not well soldered.
There is nothing wrong with the design (although some models do have a
better design where the jack is not on the PC board at all), but the
quality control misses some of these that go out the door inadequately
soldered. Still, if it's soldered correctly, it won't fail without a
degree of force on the plug that constitutes abuse.


dgray22@austin.rr.com wrote:
>>-Just resolder the plug (often the problem is not a bad jack, but a bad
>>solder joint).
>
>
> Maybe I misspoke
> ...yes the problem is the solder joint
> But re-soldering the plug will not solve the problem
> ...it will only provide a temporary fix
>
> Stress on the plug assembly
> ...will wiggle the "L" shaped pole
> ......causing it to break the connection positive plane again
>
> This is just bad design
> ...Toshiba denies the problem
>
> Does anyone know of any class-action suits against Toshiba????
>

Posted by dgray22 on July 14, 2006, 10:05 pm
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Barry Watzman wrote:
> Resoldering it will fix the problem satisfactorily.
sometimes this works

THE PROBLEM IS A DESIGN PROBLEM
The power plug is soldered directly to the motherboard
The screen is attached to the motherboard nearby
=E2=80=A6when the screen is adjusted/moved
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6the mother board is stressed
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6which wiggles the power plug assembly
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6which in turn will stress/break the con=
nection
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6.with the positive plane in th=
e motherboard

In my case:
I have a Toshiba Satellite P25-s520
=E2=80=A6.its about 3yrs old now
After being told by Toshiba that the power was not a problem
.=2E..that I needed a new motherboard ($500)
I re-soldered the connection
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6it worked for about 2 weeks
.=2E.Re-soldered again
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6the fix lasted for a month
=E2=80=A6Re-soldered again
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6fix lasted for 1 day
After having done this a number of times
I tried bypassing the plug all together
=E2=80=A6this seemed to work
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6but eventually failed
However I noticed a relationship between screen movement
=E2=80=A6and the computer going dead
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6this when I discovered the Flaw above

=EF=83=98        snip=E2=80=A6 some models do have a better design
=EF=83=98        where the jack is not on the PC board at all
Yes, this should fix the problem
=E2=80=A6that is why I was asking
.=2E........ if there is class action suit against Toshiba???
=E2=80=A6=E2=80=A6forcing a recall


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