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Why would the dc-in get very hot and melt a solder joint

The dc-in got very hot and stop working. I pulled the plug out of the laptop right away. But the laptop kept running on the battery no problem. I then shut it off right away then later on. I pulled it all apart and found out that. On the dc-in sound board. Where the dc-in is attached to the board. One of the solder joints was melted. Also one of the first things i check was. The dc plug with my ohm volt meter its find. Plus i have two Powerbooks both the same model A1095. The dc plug been working fine for my second powerbook for over two weeks. The only thing that has been done to this laptop. Was the hard drive went bad and replaced it. With a used hard drive but with a up dated OS x 10.4.11 to OS X 10.5.8 As to the hard drive before it went it bad. It made the normal clicking sounds of a hard drive going bad.

Answer this question I have this problem too

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Tell us a bit more about this new AC adapter you bought. Also, like fryarludwig already pointed out, post some images and lets see the damage.

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Maybe I don't know as much about soldering as I thought I did, but unless the solder melted and ran off of the connection, shouldn't the solder just reform as good as new once it cools back down? Did anything else melt?

To answer your question, it sounds like there's a short somewhere. Have you checked your board for damage, shorts, or anything else? If you were to post a picture as well that'd help me identify exactly what you're talking about.

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On the dc-in sound board , where the dc connects to the board. One of the dc prongs got hot and loosen the solder joint. causing it to loose connection. But the laptop still worked fine running on the battery. What i was wondering if anyone had any ideas. What could cause this to happen since it worked fine. The only thing different was two weeks before this happen. I changed the hard drive in it but it worked fine for over two weeks. But the hard drive was a used one and also i brought. A New Ac power adapter and was using it for those two weeks also. But like i said i been using that New AC power adapter with my other powerbook G4, Its been working fine.

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I'm not completely sure, but the only thing I can think of to cause that would be a short. Maybe something was loose already, or maybe you had some liquid or metal or something in your port/power cable and when you plugged it in it created a short. Maybe that's completely wrong. If it wasn't a short then I can't think of what it would be.

On a side note, have you been able to fix the loosened solder joint?

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I am going to re solder the joint, then check it with my ohm meter. From the dc-in point to the cable led to the board to make sure it works. To also see if anything else happen to get burnt in the board. but i also want to check the fans to make sure they are working before i close it up. if you know of any way to check them while they are pulled out.To make sure they are running would be greatly appreciated.

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Best of luck. As for the fans, this might be the wrong answer but I'd unplug the cable for the fan, and get a couple wires hooked up to a 9V battery and see if that powers it. I think that's the easiest solution. Also, please post your findings. It may help someone else down the road.

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