Thanks Spaceman.

In fact it's really strange and I cannot understand how it works. The little black box (connector) is plastic and yet is soldered on to the motherboard just with 3 little dabs of solder. What I don't inderstand is how does it conduct the power into the mother board? It can't be through the solder as it doesn;t conduct through plastic? I think the solder is only there to stick it to the mother board? I can't recall any tracks but perhaps there were?

Do you think I could super glue it on?

Thanks!

Mr Euro, the conductors will be going through holes in the motherboard to end in the blobs of solder.

To be honest I think it may be the socket itself that's misshapen rather than the soldering to the motherboard.

hi Kayak, no I'm sure it's the soldering thats broken, the connector is fine. But how does it conduct through plastic? This is what I don't understand? I am tempted to try and super glue it but will await yours/Spacemans guidance! Else it's a trip to the electrical repair shop!

It can't conduct through plastic. Either the conductors go from the bottom of the socket through holes in the motherboard and are soldered from the other side, or they go out sideways on the same side of the motherboard and are soldered there. You can't solder onto plastic so if you see solder on the socket there must be a bit of metal there.

If you do try to fix it, wipe your soldering iron on a damp sponge to ensure the solder you try to put on is clean and be very very quick or otherwise the heat will conduct to the plastic socket and melt it faster than you can say "I shouldn't mess with things I don't understand." :-)

Mr E,

Have a look at the your contents insurance if its new for old take advantage:-)

Will have a look mega!

Kayak, there are dabs of solder still on the motherboard, do you think if I put the connector onto them and super glue around the connector (to the motherboard), it will still work?

No, you would definitely need to solder the connectors of the socket on.

ok thanks. Here I go for round 2...........

Mr E

If you have to ask these questions then I doubt you are good enough at soldering. Take it to your local repair shop.

Mr Euro, I'm no expert on the innerds of laptops, but the big danger with soldering youself is whether the heat will damage any of the nearby components! Just a thought.

I agree with Optimist & S C. Do not solder this yourself! You can/will do a lot more damage. The secret of soldering is a VERY hot iron and speed of hand plus heat sinks. If this is your first time this is not the item to practice on.

Edit : I also used 'Zap' straps (in my earlier days as a circuit board repairer for BT) to earth myself in case I touched sensative component parts and caused 'tracking'. I wonder if that's still the case nowadays with you young whipper-snappers?

I will take your good advice and not touch it myself.

However, during the interim period (i.e. this morning!) I decided to try and super glue it to the board (as the base is just plastic) and have it try and conduct through the two (should be three) bits of solder that are there. Doesn't seem to be working. Now I need to take it apart again and hope can get the component off the motherboard!

Doh!

Mr E

If the plug is glued and/or half soldered you could damage it more. Take it to your local repair shop.

Quickly!

;-0

All's well that ends well :-)

Took it to my local electrical shop (a tiny place in a village with no more than 5 shops including one bar) but being Monday all the shops are closed in France. You have to remember shops are only open from 10-12, 3-5 here, closed sunday/Monday and shop asssitances do not view it as their position to serve you!

Was driving back home, saw my neighbour collecting eggs from his chickens. Told him the story and he told me he has a soldering iron. Went inside his house, as it was approaching lunch we had to have a pastice before starting. I then proceeded to take things to bits whilst he went for his soldering iron.

I started to become a bit nervous, now a nicer man I have yet to meet, but he's a bit of, well I wouldn't use the word cowboy, but, let's say not as professional as some (one day my swimming pool heating system had a leak in some rubber components, he helped me fix the leak with a blow tourch (I was trying to stuff something in the hole to stop the watering coming out until he came along!) but he then proceeded to make about 10 other leaks as he burnt other parts of the rubber by mistake!).

So anyway, he worked his magic with the iron, the silver stuff (this must be the solder?!) and some copper to link things. All worked fantastically well. By this time we had another pastice and were starting ont he beer.

He started to assemble the computer only to find the plastic casing wouldn't fit around the computer. Afer finishing the beer, he decided to cut a hole in the casing so the connector would fit into the case!

I fired it up, and sure enough it worked! So we had a beer in celebration! I'm half cut now but but at least i'm ready for trading todays US session! Not to mention i'm going into hospital tomorrow for an operation!

This is typical of life in southern france!

sounds more like a sketch from Only Fools & Horses to me :-)glad you got it fixed!!!

My wife once glued back a little plastic bit which had fallen off her autofocus camera. Strangely the camera stopped working. When she married me and showed it to me I was able to advise her that the part in question, although dark rather than clear, was the little window through which the infrared rays of the autofocus mechanism were emitted, and that they were obviously having trouble getting past the heavy layer of glue. Just a tale on the dangers of DIY repairs :-)

You couldn't make it up could you?

Reminds me that I once took a neighbour's electric cooker to bits to find out why it wouldn't work. After 2 or 3 hours probing around all the bits on the kitchen floor with my multi-range meter I discovered it was in 'Auto' mode and not due to come on until the programmed time!

Help:
Im getting a second computer system for my children.
What do I need so we can share the same Broadband Connection and do I need to buy a Printer or is there a way we can share the printer on my Main system