Need help with a Inspiron 9300

You mean like it is being soldered to the board? I would just get a replacement part and solder it in.

cheers ...

I have seen the repalcement jacks on Ebay for under $ 10.00, but you need to be comfortable with removeing and installing the jack.

It is a mulitplayer board so you need to be careful not to over heat the board.

And a good solder sucker or solder wick for removing the old solder joints is a must.

There maybe places around that would do the work, others may have feedback on that here.

Also I know others have done this here, try searching the "Dell" forums

I am running into the same issue. and no its not the female part of the jack(DC connection notebook side) its the male side or DC Power adapter side. If you compare a new one to an old one you will note 1 Very small difference. the inside of the male end is heating up a lot (due to high elecrical resistance) and causing the metal to expand or deform when its pressed up against the center part of the female DC connection(inside notebook). Eventually after I have rotated the Male side so it stops flickering it forms a circular ring on the inside of the Male DC connection. This has happened on my computer at least twice, and on my mothers older inspiron at least once. A new male connection is completely smooth inside (no circular ring of deformed metal) Very small but significant defformation.

I dont think its the female DC connection port on the computer because when I replace the AC adapter with a new one, it works perfectly for at least a few months to a year.

Hammering the circular Male end of the DC connection to make it more oval shaped seems to work for a short time as a temporary solution. This works because it leaves 2 points where the internal diameter gets smaller and the outer diameter gets larger, letting it properly connect to the computer's female port.

Anyone else notice this?

Its a reoccuring problem. And if other people are experiencing the same issue, Id like to see dell replace this configuration or at least making a connection that wont have this issue.

^^ Interesting and informative find here. Duct taping the AC adapter then, maybe?

cheers ...

I am planning on replacing my inspiron 9300's DC power Jack myself (not for everyone). At current my laptop wont charge the battery(now dead) so I have to use an alternate computer for now. Cant get much work done this way, but the part is on its way. I will tell you people how it went when I get back.
My previous post, is just one of the things I noticed about the plug. It may or may not be the true culperate as the small change shouldnt be enough to cause it to be disconnected. I say this because the same plug is currently powering a different laptop (same needs) just fine.

This is what tells me it's a problem within my laptop.
I did take it apart and took a look at the motherboard to see if I could determine if the jack was loose inside. I tested this by plugging the computer in while the motherboard was accessible to see if the jack moved around. It doesnt. I didn't look close enough to see if there were any burn marks/cold soder joints which could cause the power to be interupted, but since it is loose inside the jack, there must be a problem with the jack itself. I figure that the inside of the jack, it has a shaft that sticks out in the center that contains metal contacts on the outside, that are the culperate. More specifically I think they have weakened and dont stick out enough to hold onto the inside of the plug let alone keep electrical contact with the plug.

I will add more as I learn more.

99% of the time it is a bad DC socket on the motherboard - it needs replacing.. If you are not good at soldering, pay someone who is competent to do it, it is worth the expense if you want an older laptop to run..