Date: Sun, 03 Mar 2002 08:33:54 +0800 From: Raymond <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Re: [LIB] Fitting 9.5mm drives in L50-50 (was: Best VFM drive ...)
At 10:30 AM 2/03/2002 -0800, you wrote: >Date: Sat, 2 Mar 2002 14:19:52 -0500 (EST) >From: Michael Miller <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Fitting 9.5mm drives in L50-50 (was: Best VFM drive ...) > >> [careful phrasing alert] I cannot comment on the way in which other people >> may have fitted the harddrives :) but I have never seen the main memory >> failed on a machine which has had the original drive never changed. I have >> had three machines which are working well all of which have had at least one >> - and for my current machine, probably one per week - hard disk change. > >May I advance another hypothesis? The "usual" instructions say "open up >the Lib so you're sure to remove all the spacers ..." Having done that, I >recall that the process of separating the case was rougher than I would >have liked. Could it be that *this* part of the procedure can result in >enough flexing of the motherboard to cause damage? Well I can't speak for the L70 (which I hear has a slightly different motherboard shape) but once you remove the screws from the L50 and proceed to separate the case halves, the motherboard is practically 'floating' ... very little stress on it at all. As for the L100, the motherboard stuck to the top half ... again very little stress I could see. Having said THAT, I've separated a number of Toshiba and Compaq laptops before so I know pretty much how much pressure I should put on the clips and in what direction I should push in order to just spring the case ... I do recall the first time I took apart a laptop and pulling it so hard that when the clips gave way, the case halves flew apart and the motherboard dropped onto my desk! (It was an old 386 laptop that survived though!). For those about to attempt it (but who haven't done so before), I suggest using a piece of soft plastic to help. Those thin plastic wedges/scrapers one uses to help defrost one's freezer seem to do the trick ... the idea being that the plastic is softer than the case so it won't mark. Of course, don't use the ones with blades 10cm wide, use one with a blade perhasp 5cm wide and cut it so it tapers to about 2-3cm. The external disk drive plastic blanking panels from a desktop case also tend to work well although you may need to file the edge down a little. Believe it or not, Compaq repair technicians actually have a standard issue tool for doing this along with its own part number! Without that part number and Compaq badging you could think it came from the homewares section of your local department store ... When you take apart the libby, remove all the screws on the bottom and the screws holding the thin heat shield (under the keyboard) off. Also remove the hard disk drive, the memory upgrade if you have one and disconnect the screen cable (the ribbon on the right hand side in the L50, the circuit board on the right with the pile of wires in the L100). Then start at the battery well ... the clips on the 'arms' that come out either side of the battery are the easiest to take apart as you can push one part one way and the other part the other way (don't push TOO hard though, it is metal and it will deform). Use the wedge to help pry the halves open by twisting it in the battery cavity, positioning it so that even if the wedge snaps around, it'll only just wedge the case open (as opposed to using your fingers where if the clip gives way suddenly you'd pull the case right apart). Once thats done, use the wedge to gently twist open the clips down the side until you can move the top half up and down. At this point you'll need to use the wedge at the very back on the L100/110 because there's a clip right at the back that seems a lot stiffer than on the L50. Then separate the case halves by lifting the top half STRAIGHT up ... you do NOT want to put any twisting or bending force on the motherboard. Let the motherboard follow whichever half it feels like following ... you can pull it out once the halves are separated. As for putting things back together, I guess the hardest bit is making sure the backup battery goes back where its supposed to go ... other than that, its just a matter of seating the motherboard into the bottom half nicely, positioning the top half right above it and giving a firm push where the clips are (put light pencil marks on the outside of the case whilst its open if you're likely to forget). Concise enough for you and your admirer, Matt? ;-) - Raymond --- /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~\ | | "Does fuzzy logic tickle?" | | ___ | "My HDD has no reverse. How do I backup?" | | /__/ +-------------------------------------------| | / \ a y b o t | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | | | HTTP://www.raybot.net | | ICQ: 31756092 | Need help? Visit #Windows98 on DALNet! | \~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/ ************************************************************** http://libretto.basiclink.com - Libretto mailing list http://libretto.basiclink.com/archive - Archives http://www.picante.com/~gtaylor/portable/faq.html - FAQ -------TO UNSUBSCRIBE------- Reply to any of the list messages. 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