In news Christopher Muto typed on Mon, 04 Jan 2010 22:36:53 -0500:
to repair a jack problem means entirely removing the system board from
the laptop, removing the old jack, soldering in a new one, and then
reassembling the laptop. not particularly hard but not a job for a
complete novice either. bad soldering skills can ruin the board...
but a board with this problem is pretty much useless anyway. if you
can remove the board (visit support.dell.com and under documentation
look for the service manual for you model for details) then you can
send off the board for repair. look on ebay for some people that do
the job for a flat rate, and that might even include removal of the
board (ship them your whole computer less memory, hard disk, optical
drive, etc). Of course there is also a chance that the problem is less
dire than
this... well traveled and roughly handeled ac adapters can have a
issue with the wire where it enters the laptop plug, or the wire
could be cut or frayed, or the removable power cord may simply not be
fully inserted into the adapter... but those conditions are no so
common, but worth considering. in other words, make sure you have a
good ac adapter before you proceed with a motherboard power jack
repair. here is a example of the work involved...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjOVOLOW1Hc

I always wondered why some genius hasn't made fake batteries with a jack
on them. For those that use their laptops on AC alone, I figure this
would be a gold mine for somebody. Even adding a power regulator inside
(since the AC adapter voltage is higher than the battery) shouldn't be
too costly. After all, you can buy AC adapters for 10 bucks or less on
eBay.

Another solution is if your laptop can handle a docking station. Well
there you go. No power jack required. grin

--
Bill
Gateway M465e ('06 era) - Windows XP SP2