What should I do with the old charger?

Broken Charger Laptop Port?

• The charging port on my laptop is broken. I recently bought a new charger due to a problem with my old one so it's not necessarily that. The plug is just worn out, you have to hold the charger in a certain position in order for it to charge. I originally had a little trick to do this, but now it's getting worse and my trick no longer works. So I'm going to solder the wires. I have soldering experience, I'm just not entirely sure how the charger connects so I know what to solder to what. It is a sony vaio laptop (vgn-fe770g). About 3 years old. The port on the laptop looks like __________ ------------ ------------ _________ With the dotted lines being two little prongs. The charger on the plug is the same but with 1 prong in the middle. I just need to know what connects to what part for when I solder. My guess is that the 2 prongs in my laptop connect the 1 prong in the middle and the outside edge connects to the outside edge of the plug....

• Answer:

  I did a little bit of research on your laptop, and it looks like the power jack is attached to some wires that run back to the motherboard (which is good news, replacing a jack that's directly soldered to the board can be tricky). That also means that it's probably not a cold/broken solder issue, so you'll have to get a new jack (found this http://cgi.ebay.com/OEM-REPLACEMENT-DC-POWER-JACK-SONY-VAIO-VGN-FE770G_W0QQitemZ280258560920QQcmdZViewItem on ebay, that's a really decent price for a power jack). The trickiest part will be taking the laptop apart, to get to the jack. My boss hates Sony laptops for their intricate and compact design, so you'll have to be cautious (I haven't worked on one of the newer Vaios, I have replaced a jack on a pentium 4 one, though). Tips for disassembly: 1. Use a GOOD precision screwdriver set! The screws on Sony are covered with loc-tite, and strip easily. My favorite set is made by Stanley, contains 6 screwdrivers, is yellow, and under $10 at Home Depot or Lowe's. The set I have has been with me for 3 years, surviving over 200 laptops, and a few thousand screws. 2. Label your screws! If you have a sectionalized container, drop the screws in there, along with a little note as to where they belong. If not, use Dixie cups or something, or draw up a diagram of the laptop and tape them in the appropriate spots. 3. Be careful- If something isn't coming apart, find out what's still holding it together, and work around it gently. 4. Remember how many wires you have to plug in (for the audio jacks, buttons, keyboard, etc.) for re-assembly. Nothing is more annoying than looking at your work with pride, and realizing you forgot to plug in the touchpad. 5. Finally, ground yourself somehow. Computer components are resilient nowadays, but it's good to be safe. After the laptop is apart to the point where you can see the jack, unplug the cable leading from it to the motherboard (if it's removable). Match up the wires from the old jack to the new jack, un-solder, and re-solder them. Make sure you don't accidentally solder two of the leads together- Shorting out your power brick is never fun. And, that should be it! Put it back together, plug it in, and fire it up! I did a quick search for a service manual for you, and found this: http://home.comcast.net/~nw_systems/vgnFE.pdf It may or may not help, and you won't need to disassemble the screen to get the motherboard out. If you need any additional help, feel free to IM me (minieeps on yahoo). If you live near central Pennsylvania, I'd be glad to do it for you. Good luck!