hello,

I recently replaced the DC jack in my PB laptop.

However as the adapter had become faulty at the same time as the jack so I couldnt check if the laptop was working because i couldnt charge it up.

I tried the adapter from my daughters laptop, as i have used it successfuly on previous occasions, but after only a few seconds smoke started to come from the dc jack hole.
I unplugged the adaptor and that still works fine but i'm still non the wiser.
I presume the board is now fried and will never work again, but it could just have been my 1st time soldering at fault.
Any way if anyone has any words of wisdom on this i'd be very grateful.

nic, January 2010

You are very brave to attempt such a repair as your first soldering job - the common problem most beginners make is too much solder and not enough heat - this leads to dry joints (may look OK but will not conduct electricity) and solder splashes forming an unwanted bridge between tracks - sadly these bridges are nearly always good joints and never dry ones!

Solder wick is a copper braid used to soak up solder when removing components - too long an application of heat may cause the track to "lift" from the base board - little at a time when unsoldering.

You are lucky that the AC adapter still works.

You should carefully inspect your work and if necessary remake it - it's quite possible that your efforts have caused damage but you might get away with it - you seem to have nothing to lose - I doubt you could make things worse.

The smoke will have come from high current flow making something hot - look for the scorching - use a strong light and a magnifyer.

Good luck...

Peccavi, January 2010