I'll bet you any shop will charge $200 just to look at it.

Okay, I have another way to ask the question.

Suppose I man up and take the darned thing apart. It's been on my list of projects for a while, but it's been low on the list because of the obvious frustration factor. I hate plumbing but at least I can cut a hole in the wall and replace drywall later if I really have to.

And suppose it doesn't work. I get it all back together, but something's fried in the AC power circuit in the process

It would be nice to have a backup plan, run some DC in through the battery connector. It's my daughter's old school laptop, and I seem to remember the battery wasn't holding much charge anyway.

It probably isn't as simple as just putting jolts on V and Gnd, right? The laptop probably has some circuitry to check battery state before turning on?

I've done a bunch of googling and not found anyone who's succeeded at powering the laptop through the battery port. (but also a bunch of people who tried repairing the jack and couldn't get it out without ruining the board)