A stubborn laptop in Tacoma taught me to check the simple things twice

I was working on a gaming laptop last month, a real high-end model that wouldn't power on at all. The owner was sure it was a fried motherboard. I spent over an hour with my multimeter, tracing power from the wall adapter through the board, convinced I'd find a complex short. I was about to call it a lost cause when my mentor's voice popped into my head, 'Check the connector, Susan.' I pulled the DC power jack and, sure enough, one of the tiny solder joints on the board side had a hairline crack you could barely see. A quick reflow with my soldering iron and it booted right up. I felt a bit silly for overlooking it, but it was a good reminder. Has anyone else been saved by going back to check the most basic connection first?