Heeeyeeelp...

[Digger]

...repairing my laptop. Ok not that dramatic really, but I would rather not spend £500 if I can get it repaired.

My USB socket on my Dell Latitude C400 is broke and seems have become very slightly disconnected from its plastic moorings and connector inside the casing. The thing is these laptops can be a right pain to get into.

I was wondering whether some kind laptop tinkerer would be kind enough to help delve inside and have a gander to see if it is ,gluable, solderable, repairable, as I have just bought a USB skype phone and want to use it with my lappy! I have other PC's but it is much more practical.

I am based in South London, in Camberwell

PS. A kindly Indian Dell rep told me in a long winded way, having explained all that I would get for the price, that the repair costs would amount to over £400. It was still in warranty (3yr) but did not cover "wear & tear" which this was deemed as!

Thanks for looking
Dave

[The Dude]

C400's are notoriously bad to repair.... all the Dell engineer's I've known hate them with a real passion.
Suffice to say, the last place I worked where we had C400's, if they broke, they got replaced..

Why not just get yourself a USB PCMCIA card instead?

[Digger]

Aah, would be a great idea, but the PCMCIA is permanently taken up by my wireless card. Although if you know where I can get the mini pci wireless card from then that would free it up for USB. Again Dell want £75 to provide me with one of them. Hardly worth it

[loonatic]

If you fancy a trip to Hayes, Middlesex I'd have a look for ya mate...though a PCMCIA adapter might be the simpler option.

Cheers, Lee

[Digger]

Might take you up on that Loonatic as my folks live in Northwood.

Do you think I can get away with a Skype phone and USB wireless adapter running together through the PCMCIA

[loonatic]

If the PCMCIA slot supports 32bit Cardbus devices and you get a Cardbus USB adapter then it should be fine IMHO.

Cheers, Lee

[Digger]

Yep, it says cardbus controller in Device Manager, so should be okay. I will have a look on ebay for a mini pci wireless daughter card. Not sure what the model no is though.

Lee, have you been inside one of these before. They do seem a right pain to get into?...

[loonatic]

Not been inside that model no...have seen inside a few other Dell's, Tosh's and Sony's but my main game is with desktop PC TBH...notebooks are not normally easily fixable but it sounds like the USB port just needs re-solder in place...but am always happy to open things up and have a look.

Normally you have a few screws underneath the machine and then a strip above the keyboard has to be removed carefully to allow the keyboard to be removed...it should then just split apart with a bit of gentle help...you might have to disconnect the screen first though.

Cheers, Lee

[JagoPlasma]

is it just the plastic bit thats broke? if so get a mini usb extender and plug that in, that way you will have less ware and tare on it

[Digger]

Jago. Contacts are broken too, so that wouldn't work. Just done a deal with an ebayer, going to pick up a mini pci wireless card (only £10... ) from him now, and then probably pick up a pcmcia usb card from somewhere. I will put an ad in classifieds now.

[Digger]

Ok. Managed to install internal wireless card from Ebay, so now I have the pcmcia freed up. I have put an ad in the Wanted section for a pcmcia USB card, although to be honest they seem so cheap new. I might go that route. When installing the card I could see that the USB socket had broken most of its contacts with the motherboard so I imagine some of the plastics have cracked too, so probably not worth trying to repair that (might be wrong though). Are all pcmcia usb hubs much the same? Might even risk PC World tomorrow

Thanks for your input guys.
Dave

[Digger]

Do most of these cards need a usb to power jack lead, as almost all the ones on ebay seem to have a socket for it. Or does it depend on the devices used. So if I use a mouse and a skype phone will that require extra power (from my non-existant usb socket) from somewhere?