Help needed to fix old laptop.

Usel

Usel

Usel

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14 Jan 2003
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I have an Acer travelmate 212te which is about 7 years old spec is: http://www.acersupport.com/notebook/html/tm212te_specs.html but originally came with a 20gb hard drive.

Problem is it was given to a relative to use but came back without a hard drive and the cd-rom is no longer connected.

Have pulled out the cd-rom and there is no cable connecting it to the motherboard. The connectors do not line up as the cd-rom has it on the left hand side and laptop connector is in the middle. What cable do I need?

Also what spec would the hard drive be? ATA 100? and would I need a cable to connect that up with or is it just a slot fit.

The laptop powers up fine but obviously you can't do much with it.

Thanks!
 
First off, what an unpleasant surprise. I would expect someone to take great care with my laptop, especially relatives.

Regarding the Hard Drive: It looks like a P-ATA to me, so older 2.5" Drives will work (not sure about maximum capacity though).
Usually, the hard drive originally in the laptop has a connector between the hard drive and the interface (a little black converter, can't remember the exact name). They can be found almost anywhere that sells laptop parts. However, I can't confirm you need one, without seeing the interface in the laptop.

Regarding the Disk Drive: My guess would be it just needs a ATA cable for it to be able to connect to the laptop's interface.
 
You should be able to fit any 2.5" IDE laptop into this model . I've done up loads of second hand laptops up recently : Toshiba S1800 , Packard Bell EasyNote , Advent 8109 ,Compaq Presario 1200 to name a few and many needed HDD's . Just using the standard IDE ones they went in no problems .Two had the HDD caddys to attach to first .Look inside the laptop to find out if they are the standard pins or if they need the little plastic adapter.
Most of the CD drives I've seen just had 1 screw to remove on the bottom of the case and the drive slid out from it's socket . Again , look inside and see if there is a socket .
Lots of S/H drives to be had on that well known auction site .We have a few Travelmates at work , I can check on the fittings on Monday .
 
Hi, thankyou to both of you for your replies so far. I have taken some photos of the connectors.

Firstly the HDD connector looks like a 44pin connector but photo is blurry :(



And the Cd-rom drive connector which I think is 50 pin:

[URL=http://imageshack.us][/URL]

Rickty if you could look at the travelmate laptops at work that would be a great help.

Thanks again!
 
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It uses a small PCB to route the CD socket and the HD looks like it needs a connector on the end of it also. You'll need a HD and CD drive bracket also to properly secure them. I would try the bay for spares but these are very old an can be a pain to find.

found a cd drive here CD
 
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beermonster said:
This one looks more like it 44Pin HD

Ah right you have the CD caddy, well you can see the little PCB on the back of that caddy on the link thats the kinda thing you need to make it connect.
Click to expand...

I understand what you mean about the caddys now and yes on the back of the cd-rom there are 4 small screw holes waiting for the pcb to screw into.

Looks like I don't need one for the HDD either as I still have the piece of plastic that clips on the front of the laptop and then you put in a screw.

Will email the seller about the HDD connector to see if it's compatible.

Also have found this cd-rom which may be cheaper hopefully http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=160309853260

but do you think this drive may be compatible as it's ATAPI but obviously from a different laptop http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Pioneer-Laptop-Slim-DVD-writer-from-Acer-Travelmate-800_W0QQitemZ120363038967QQihZ002QQcategoryZ131543QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
 
It seems to have the connector in the right place, but those pioneer drives can be quite flaky and with it being quite old I would ask the seller if its tested working with CD and DVDs
 
Hi, sorry not been around for a few days to help . I've just taken a picture [rather bad one ] of the Dell caddys and HDD connectors I have .I think you have the caddy , so, you need a device similar to the ones in the picture to link the HDD to the laptop fitting .I forgot to look at work this week ,pity as there has been a one under my desk for months that used to belong to a worker thats now retired .I will make a note on Monday to look at the CD fittings
dellcaddys.jpg
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