Acer Extensa 502DX

[shamus]

HDD is dying so I want to copy as much as I can before it does. Prob is I can't find anything on Acers site as to how to get it out. Have I got to crack open the case to get at it??

[Damned Angel]

Originally Posted by shamus

HDD is dying so I want to copy as much as I can before it does. Prob is I can't find anything on Acers site as to how to get it out. Have I got to crack open the case to get at it??

there is usually a panel that opens on the bottom of the unit or on one of the sides. In some rare instances I have had to remove the keyboard in order to get at the hard drive. Never have I had to tear apart a notebook to get the drive out.

[shamus]

Originally Posted by Damned Angel

there is usually a panel that opens on the bottom of the unit or on one of the sides. In some rare instances I have had to remove the keyboard in order to get at the hard drive. Never have I had to tear apart a notebook to get the drive out.

Gotta love those 'rare instances'. I'll remove the keyboard tommorrow..
Thanks DA.

[robinsonra2]

I've been trying to figure out how to disassemble my daughter's Extensa case for more time than I care to admit. Acer refuses to sell me a maintenance manual (which basically means that I will never purchase any Acer product again), and I have been unable to locate the manual on the Internet anywhere after repeated searches. Quite frankly, the machine is probably not worth the cost it would require to have it repaired, but if I could get the case open, I would be able to replace the power connector, which sheared internal to the case within a year of purchase.

Bob Robinson

[shamus]

Welcome to Windrivers robinsonra2:

Originally Posted by robinsonra2

Quite frankly, the machine is probably not worth the cost it would require to have it repaired
Bob Robinson

Sorry to answer your first post this way... but your right. The Acer I posted about is gathering dust...just wasn't worth the strife.

[TripleRLtd]

I don't know Shamus. I have a customer who is also an electriician who had the same problem. He managed to fix the problem power connector with one from a really old lappie I had which was no good and not worth anything except for parts. To him it was worth it.
Listen robin, just pm Damned Angel. He may have exactly what you need. He's the laptop guru around here. And good luck.

[shamus]

Originally Posted by TripleRLtd

Listen robin, just pm Damned Angel. He may have exactly what you need. He's the laptop guru around here. And good luck.

Good call Trip
DA is DA Man....

[robinsonra2]

Thanks for the quick response (frankly, I'm a little amazed). I agree about the general value of the Acer, but my daughter has a quirky emotional attachment to it (one of those inherited geek tendencies; I still have my first Apple II+ and it is entirely functional, jacked up to an amazing 128KB of RAM and running Apple Pascal), probably because she never expected such a gift, especially while she was in one of those teenage states that only a parent could see light beyond. Her current machine is a Dell desktop (dude!), which has a few other unique problems (but for which I did recently upgrade video/memory/hard drive/wireless LAN/etc. and dual partitioned for RH9 in addition to XP Pro).

Even if I fix the power connector, no upgrades likely on the Acer, she'll have to stick with Win98 on that antique (unless she wants to make that box a Linux toaster).

Again, thanks for the response.

[Damned Angel]

Let me know which model number it is, I may be able to dig up a manual for it.

[robinsonra2]

[color=Navy][size=4]May have to dig pretty deep, since it's pretty ancient by computer standards, a Acer Extensa 368D. I suspect that other Acer laptops may have similar disassembly requirements, though. The last time I worked on it, I removed the keyboard and all the stuff underneath accessible by removing visible screws, but there appeared to be some a prior tribal knowledge required to get to the power supply area immediately under the display hinge. Maybe a secret incarnation while you poke a long screwdriver into the special hinge release would do the trick...

[Damned Angel]

Ill have to check on monday for a manual as I don't have the paswords for Acer's ASP site at home. They may not have the manual online any more as it is quite old.

You should not have to poke anything to get it to open. If you have already gotten the keyboard off, then usually you are already 1/3 done with older notebooks. Check to see if the palm rest comes off as a seperate piece, if it does, it may be hiding the other screws necessary to remove the top hald of the cover to gain access to the internals.

Most notebooks are just a series of screws that you remove from the bottom. Check to make sure there are no screws hidden under cd-rom's or floppy drives that are easily removed. There may also be some in the battery compartment. Nothing should take too much force to remove, if it feels like it may break if you apply anymore force, it probably will. Double check that there are no more screws, top or bottom, that can be removed.

[robinsonra2]

Thanks! I'll give that a shot next week, since I left the laptop in a storage box at work (reassembled all the components after last try, but will break it down again).

Bob R.

[robinsonra2]

An incantation might work better than an incarnation, but who knows??!?

Originally Posted by robinsonra2

Thanks! I'll give that a shot next week, since I left the laptop in a storage box at work (reassembled all the components after last try, but will break it down again).

Bob R.

[Damned Angel]

Well, I just checked and the manual is no longer online. Hopefully you can still get it apart with the hints I gave you.

[robinsonra2]

Thanks, I'll see if I can locate the right tools and the laptop (been in a "temporary" office for almost a year, still not unpacked)...

Bob

Originally Posted by Damned Angel

Well, I just checked and the manual is no longer online. Hopefully you can still get it apart with the hints I gave you.