www.itowler.com - Ian's Home on the web

About 18 months ago I got a great little laptop that has seen pretty heavy use.  Its an Acer Aspire 3680.  The laptop is small, and light, and goes on the road with me all the time.  I take it to genealogy research libraries, SAR meetings, when I travel for work, vacation, etc.  The laptop "roams" the house as well, and can be found in any room depending on the day.  Because the laptop gets lots of action, it was bound for an accident.  Well the first big accident happened and almost sent the laptop to the graveyard (or recycling stack). 

The computer was on the coffee table, with the power cord plugged into, and hanging down.  Someone (not sure who) stepped on the power cord,j erking it down, and breaking the power jack (DC Jack) on the inside of the laptop (see the picture to the left).  The broken power jack caused the laptop to not work.  The laptop is out of warranty, and Acer wanted $3.00 a min to talk to me on the phone.  So I searched the internet and found the service manual and figured out that I needed to replace the DC power board.