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Today I did my first dc-jack replacement on a Gateway laptop without any help . I plugged in the ac adapter without a battery and it fired right up. A big smile on my face, I was feeling confident. I called my client to tell her it was finished. I talked her into upgrading the ram. I powered it down, unplugged the cord, then added ram. I put the power cord back in, but it would not boot anymore. I removed the ram, but still nothing. I am not sure what went wrong. Their is a chance unplugging and plugging it back in caused it to break my solder joint. I disassembled it again, touched up my solder. I am going to reassemble it now. Hopefully it will work.

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Thanks :-) I needed the confidence boost. I always got scared when I would get a call about a broken laptop. Now I will not feel so inexperienced.

It was not to bad. I think as far as laptops go, this one was pretty easy. Their were not all that many parts.

Edited by shanenin
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Thanks :-) I needed the confidence boost. I always got scared when I would get a call about a broken laptop. Now I will not feel so inexperienced.

It was not to bad. I think as far as laptops go, this one was pretty easy. Their were not all that many parts.

Flux is your friend,

If I was you and unpluging made it brake the joint, I would remove the jack, clean all old solder off the spot, add flux and new solder so that you have a clean joint. This may prevent returns

even if your solder has flux in it, always put it on the contacts to create a better spread

Edited by iccaros
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Many years ago, I worked at a circuit board mfg. We never used rosin-core solder, only 63/37 and flux. Another must have tool is a good rheostat controlled soldering iron, with a lot of tips. Besides that, my best friend is a magnified visor

Mark

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I understand the importance of flux, I started soldering copper pipes. Without a clean joint and flux, it would not work. I thought that I read flux is bad for circuit boards, the acid would wreck them. Is flux(not pluming flux) ok to use on all circuit boards?

Edited by shanenin
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At the old plant when they had to touch up plated holes in a board, they used a real small artist paint brush and a liquid flux. When I had to repair a board to a machine, they gave me a tin of paste and said it was the same thing. I still use it today. The brand is Burnley's non-corrosive paste. The ingriedients says it contains zinc chloride. I noticed when the inspectors finished a repaiir they would clean it up with some alcohol, so I do the same thing. The main thing is not to use too much flux, which I always do. using the liquid makes that easier to do.They also used Kester solder and flux

Mark

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I remember when they used a infared reflow machine, the boards would travel through sponge rollers coated with flux then through the lights and into a tub of soapy water where they scrubbed them clean. I also remember replacing the stainless wire conveyor belt that would be eaten away by the flux more tan once

Mark

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  • 3 weeks later...

Yes, regular Flux will cause damage to the board, don't use it!

Being an x-plumbing & heating contractor I know flux paste well, and there are many different types and mixes.

I also agree that you should stay away from flux core solders, they're less than worthless IMO.

I'd go to one of your local Electronics Repair shops and talk with a tech there to see what they use, I don't know off hand what brand name to use for sensitive electronics circuits, but they're made and available.

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