Laptop repair question

[tintin]

SO I bought a used lappy today but the USB port is broken, AKA the plastic part that is inside it is missing and there are the wires bent all to hell in there.

How hard is this to fix? Is there anyone on the boards who could do this for beer?

[stefan]

Re: Laptop repair question

you'd have to replace the connector which will be soldered to the main board. the usb connectors that I have seen so far are fairly generic, usually produced be foxcomm, but not easy to find unless you buy them in the hundreds. your best bet is to find a little computer shop that will have scrap stuff everywhere, and a guy thats handy with a soldering gun. Its not super tricky soldering, the points for a usb connection are relativley large.

**actually.. you get PCMCIA cards that support USB. maybe search that and forget about repairing the broken one.
Ebay has tons, here is one... im sure you could pick one up locally for cheap.

[Stonewall]

Re: Laptop repair question

How hard is this to fix? Is there anyone on the boards who could do this for beer?

Yup would have to see the board so I know which usb connector to buy and it maybe price to get one from digikey.

[Kor]

Re: Laptop repair question

Yup would have to see the board so I know which usb connector to buy and it maybe price to get one from digikey.

I would just steal a connector off an old motherboard or motherboard bracket or something and make it fit

[Stonewall]

Re: Laptop repair question

I would just steal a connector off an old motherboard or motherboard bracket or something and make it fit

Only problem with that is with repeated usage the solder joints will break if the right connector is not used. All usb board mount connectors have tabs that mount to the pcb for repetative strain.

[Tuna]

Re: Laptop repair question

If you bought a sub 300 dollar computer and don't really care, you could easilly just find a female usb connector and pigtail it.

[Vulcan]

Re: Laptop repair question

That sounds strangely errotic!!!

[tintin]

Re: Laptop repair question

I went ahead and bought one of those PCMCIA adaptors. Hopefully it will arrive in the mail before the computer is totally obsolete!

[stefan]

Re: Laptop repair question

cool, hope it works out for ya.

[tintin]

Re: Laptop repair question

UPDATE: So I got a USB cardbus PCMCIA card and my lappy crashes when I try to install the drivers....

Help?

[Gone Hunting]

Re: Laptop repair question

Does it crash when loading it or when installing the card?

Is an older laptop that was USB1 and now the card is USB2?

[Gone Hunting]

Re: Laptop repair question

I would PM Kuhli. He is one of the better IT kind of guys I know. Been seeing him do it for almost 5 years now. If you can't help, he will point you the right way.

[Bora_4_Me]

Re: Laptop repair question

That sounds strangely errotic!!!

He said "female USB" not female sub