Broken Solder Joint

ShiLLySiT · 07-16-2008, 05:02 PM

Ok so for awhile now a friend of mine has had some audio problems with his Dell Notebook. The headphone jack was shorting out, like what MP3 players end up doing after A LOT of use. (You know, where you have to move the plug around to get it to work in both ears?) But in this case, he dropped his lap top when he had headphones plugged and it landed right on the jack and rammed it in. For awhile, all he had to do was find the "sweet" spot for the plug. Now it doesn't work period. For the longest time i thought the contact points for the plug were jammed in so they were no longer making a connection. He let me take it yesterday and today i opened it up to make sure. After some inspecting, i found that the leads for the audio jack and came off of where it was soldered to the board. I have a somewhat low soldering skill, so i do not want to attempt to fix this expensive laptop by my self. Is there an alternative, safer, way of fixing this? I thought about hot gluing it in place, but I'm not sure if that's best.

**TriggerFinger** · 07-16-2008, 05:15 PM

I have the same issues with soldering so I usually bring mine to a shop that repair... electronic appliances like TVs and DVD player (see your local yellow pages)

. I just ask for their soldering 'service'. I find it cheaper than a computer repair shop.

ShiLLySiT · 07-16-2008, 05:25 PM

Well my friend would prefer not to pay for a fix, but if its the only thing, then so be it. I'll wait around for a few more replies.

ShiLLySiT · 07-24-2008, 06:54 PM

Admins can close this thread.

I fixed with a hot glue gun. =D

I'm serious

**TriggerFinger** · 07-24-2008, 07:19 PM

Good job! It looks temporary but hey if it works, that's good enough (at least for me

).

Just make sure that when computer heats up, the glue won't melt.

~~OMGmissinglink~~ · 07-24-2008, 07:28 PM

lazy glue .. probably out last hot glue. >^<

craigwatanabe · 07-26-2008, 12:35 AM

If that gets a bit to frustrating later when the glue lets go, you may want to try this nifty USB device that gives you both a mic input and audio output in one small USB unit. And no it's not a MagicJack

07-16-2008, 05:02 PM	#1 (permalink)
ShiLLySiT Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 11 OS: Windows XP	Broken Solder Joint Ok so for awhile now a friend of mine has had some audio problems with his Dell Notebook. The headphone jack was shorting out, like what MP3 players end up doing after A LOT of use. (You know, where you have to move the plug around to get it to work in both ears?) But in this case, he dropped his lap top when he had headphones plugged and it landed right on the jack and rammed it in. For awhile, all he had to do was find the "sweet" spot for the plug. Now it doesn't work period. For the longest time i thought the contact points for the plug were jammed in so they were no longer making a connection. He let me take it yesterday and today i opened it up to make sure. After some inspecting, i found that the leads for the audio jack and came off of where it was soldered to the board. I have a somewhat low soldering skill, so i do not want to attempt to fix this expensive laptop by my self. Is there an alternative, safer, way of fixing this? I thought about hot gluing it in place, but I'm not sure if that's best.

07-16-2008, 05:15 PM	#2 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,802 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: Broken Solder Joint I have the same issues with soldering so I usually bring mine to a shop that repair... electronic appliances like TVs and DVD player (see your local yellow pages) . I just ask for their soldering 'service'. I find it cheaper than a computer repair shop. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE

07-16-2008, 05:25 PM	#3 (permalink)
ShiLLySiT Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 11 OS: Windows XP	Re: Broken Solder Joint Well my friend would prefer not to pay for a fix, but if its the only thing, then so be it. I'll wait around for a few more replies.

07-24-2008, 06:54 PM	#4 (permalink)
ShiLLySiT Registered User Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 11 OS: Windows XP	Re: Broken Solder Joint Admins can close this thread. I fixed with a hot glue gun. =D I'm serious

07-24-2008, 07:19 PM	#5 (permalink)
TriggerFinger Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: USA Posts: 11,802 OS: Vista SP1, XP SP3, PCLinuxOS2007	Re: Broken Solder Joint Good job! It looks temporary but hey if it works, that's good enough (at least for me ). Just make sure that when computer heats up, the glue won't melt. __________________ DBAN - Memtest86+ - BartPE - Linux LiveCD - ImgBurn - HDD Diags - Disk Copy HOW TO BURN AN ISO FILE

07-24-2008, 07:28 PM	#6 (permalink)
~~OMGmissinglink~~ Troubled Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 1,535 OS: XP Pro sp2 My System	Re: Broken Solder Joint lazy glue .. probably out last hot glue. >^<