Soldering

My Toshiba M35X has a common problem of it's model... the power socket has a loose connection with the motherboard. Apparently the solution (if you don't have a warranty) is a "quick and easy soldering job."

But I've never soldered and I don't have any tools.

Any of you up for helping me? :)

i'm not in georgia, so .. i'll just offer some advice :)

get a cheapo soldering iron with a fine tip from radioshack (or whatever store you guys have there in GA), some solder (rosin-core is nice and convenient) (both of those would run you somewhere in the neighborhood of $20). search the web for some soldering howtos and read (a google search for "solder" will return a wealth of materials). practice soldering some random useless wires and stuff together to get the hang of it. once you are comfortable with how matter reacts to soldering, then give your power socket a good soldering.

of course, if you can get someone to come and help, that doesn't hurt either :)

Where in Georgia are you? We have at least one soldering iron at the house, we need more solder though.

If you do do it yourself I might suggest getting some flux too.

Good luck!

Practice on an old radio first.

Let the tip of the iron heat up sufficiently before doing anything.

Don't over do it. apply just enough heat to what you want to solder to melt solder, then back off. Apply the very tip of the iron to the spot where the component passes through the motherboard. There should be solder already there, so the instant it starts to melt, touch your new (very thin) solder wire to that exact spot (it should immediately melt) then pull away quickly.

DO already have the computer unplugged from the wall, and DO unplug the power supply from the motherboard.

Uh Oh. This is a lap top isn't it?

Back up.

Gather many chickens, get some garlic, and wolfbane. Get an old dried out goard, and paint celtic runes of digital empowerment on it. Get a badger skull and eagle feathers and make a high priest's head dress out of them. Face Stonehenge, and offer the chickens up for sacrifice. De-feather the chickens, wash them, make some batter, heat some oil, then fry them babies up. (call me when they're ready) Have a gallon of sweet tea handy, too. :)

Oh great... that sounds encouraging. :(

What if I ran the power down all the way?

I'm in Marietta/ Kennesaw.

daynah said: Oh great... that sounds encouraging. :(

What if I ran the power down all the way?

.

just take out the battery :)

nanotube said: just take out the battery :)

That sounds more moral than killing chickens. :)

If you don't do as BLTicklemonster says, you will get a 'cold' solder, which means 'crappy job, not good for conductivity. Heat part-->apply solder-->stand back and admire your work!

(stand back in case it blows up!) :)

I didn't make myself clear. Sorry. DO apply heat just to the parts that need to join. Periodically touch your solder wire to this area to see if it's hot enough for the solder to "flow" like liquid. Use just enough to make a nice clean ... well, look at the other solder joints, you'll see what you need to have it look like.

So yeah, make sure you get the metal you're wanting to solder hot enough that IT is what melts the solder, not the solder iron.

Forgot to mention the 'flow' part, thanks ticklemonster!

Geez, this takes me back to my first job in electronics/computers - I was a "bench assembly technician" for a company that manufactured video surveillance systems. Once upon a time, I got to be a pretty fair hand at it, before SMT (surface-mount technology) and wave-soldering became practical.

"God help me, I *do* love the smell of solder/flux in the morning..."<g>

yeah, make sure you heat up the wire that your soldering to, this take practice to get it just right. If you dont the solder will stay on the tip and be verry annoying.