For the DIY-ers --T61 take-apart question (AC jack)

First of all, to those who haven't seen me in awhile, it's good to see you again. Life is keeping me relatively busy, so I haven't been around.

A staff member recently asked if I could help with her 14" widescreen T61, it's a 7663-1TU she got in college. It won't power on. They've been using a third-party AC adapter for a bit (I should have bought an OEM for them, but instead, recommended an OEM one and they must have made a mistake in the purchasing process somewhere), which could be the issue, but it also could be a family member's use of the system. The unit won't turn on or charge with the OEM adapter from my T400 either. It could be the AC jack, or it could be a system board.

Does anyone know if the AC jack for the T61 is soldered to the system board, or if it's a separate assembly? The system is out of warranty, and I have no worries about taking it apart (since I've repaired a fair number of laptops), but knowing this before even checking would save me time. I'd be willing to get an AC jack for cheap if it is a separate part, but if it's surface-mounted, I'll probably tell her it could easily be the system board and isn't worth repairing and I should just pull her data from the hard drive and put it on a new machine.

Thanks for the help!

 

UPDATE: I did a little more research, and it appears the AC jack is a plug-in part that I can get for about $10. I'll offer this up to my colleague as an option before declaring the system dead, as a new mainboard looks to be $200-300, and either way, I'd be getting her a new AC adapter as well.

 

Lenovo Support & downloads - Post-warranty annual maintenance agreement (MA) - Mobile Products

check whether your friend's T61 is included in the list, if it is then you should call Lenovo and purchase the post warranty warranty, this maybe a cheaper option than purchasing the motherboard.

 

Good call! I'll check that out.