Acer laptop spares supplier wanted.

[Tim Downie]

I recently repaired on of our laptops and was feeling pretty chuffed at managing it. Unfortunately, the laptop (an Acer Travelmate 202T) has decided to stop working again. The original problem was that the PCMCIA socket had stopped working and I found two loose screws floating around in my laptop that should have been securing the sockets to the motherboard. I replaced them and it worked fine for a week.

I pulled it apart again and discovered the root cause of the problem (which I had missed last time) is that an overheating card has damaged the plastic around the pins at the back of the socket. Fixing the existing card doesn't look possible and ACER don't sell spares for laptops of this age (made in

2001).

Short of buying a used 202T for spares from e-Bay, has anyone any suggestions where I might get a replacement?

TIA

TIm

[derek]

Seaching Google for acer laptop spares yields 12,900 hits from the UK.

DG

[Tim Downie]

Thank you. That would never have occured to me.

Having started with Acer themselves and working down to the people who now do the repairs for Acer, I've drawn a blank as far as this particular spare part is concerned. I was hoping to hear from someone who actually *knew* something helpful (rather than from bored smug gits).

Tim

[peak man]

Not a very helpful reply. Laptop spares are available but it's a closed market with little third party interest (it's nothing like the desktop PC marketplace). A small number of companies offer to repair laptops around the UK - that would certainly be a better Google search. However, they mostly offer to fix "standard" problems like damaged screens or the notebook refusing to power-up. However, they might offer you some advice if you phoned.

So, in other words, yes, getting a used model from eBay is probably the quickest and cheapest option.

ps Using Google properly and searching for "acer laptop spares" (surrounded in quotes) brings up eight results, one of which you might find interesting:

[Max]

Have you spoken to ICR - Independant Computer Repairs?

[Tim Downie]

Yes. They were the first company that Acer suggested. No joy.

Tim

[Tim Downie]

I think that's what it's going to have to be. :-(

They don't list the appropriate part and nor do many of the others I've looked at.

I must admit, I was hoping (foolishly I now realise) that a PCMCIA card socket might be a fairly generic sort of part but of course, because it's for a laptop, the manufacturers *have* to make it irrepairable as quickly as possible.

Tim

[Lee]

Digikey carry a couple of bare cardbus sockets, but I guess the chances of them physically fitting may be somewhat remote, not to mention the SMD rework gear you'd need access to...

Lee

[Ian Stirling]

<snip><

They are. But there are many, many variants. You may be able to chase down the part number for the one you need, but then you'd need to hire someone to fit it onto the board.

Remember, that you may well be able to resell the bits of the laptop if you get one from ebay. For example I'm currently looking for 'plastics' for a toshiba 3110CT, so that I can play with doing custom mods to it. I don't care about any of the insides.

(I want to add illumination on the keyboard.) I've already picked up a couple of spare motherboards, just in case (I've got two of these laptops, and love them, one bought just for spares, but got working) and also to use as low-power servers.

[It's me]

If you find a supplier for Acer parts, can you please pass the details on Acer?

I've waited 2 weeks now to get my laptop back because they're waiting for spares :-(

[John Rumm]

Have you tried:-

[Tim Downie]

?? As the part in question plugs into the motherboard and is secured with screws, I don't quite follow your logic here. Any suggestions on how to find the part number?

Hadn't really thought of that.

Cheers.

Tim

[Ian Stirling]

This will be a custom part, almost certainly unique to one Acer line, possibly even just one model.

The socket soldered/screwed to this board may well be a generic one, from AMP/molex/...

[Tim Downie]

Hmm... similar but but not close enough I fear. What's SMD rework gear?

Tim

[Tim Downie]

Ooo... the Molex site looks promising.

The double doodad job on

looks like what I'm after. (or if the above is too long)

Not sure if they take private orders though. I suspect I'll have to still play "hunt the stockist".

Thanks for your help.

Tim

[Tim Downie]

Yes thanks. No help I'm afraid.

Tim

[John Laird]

Is the "absence" of this card slot stopping the whole laptop from functioning ? It shouldn't really.

[Tim Downie]

No but once you've got used to wireless broadband, you don't want to go back to wires again. Also stops me boring guests with my digital photographs etc. ;-)

Tim

[Ian Stirling]

<snip>

Soldering this on is going to be a serious problem, even for most electronics hobbiests.

Is it the actual socket that has failed, or is it the guides. On some, you can replace the guides without needing to resolder. Alternatively, USB wireless adaptors are not that expensive.

[Ian Stirling]

It's what you need to attatch it. Do you know how to work a soldering iron?

Look at the connectors pins where it attaches to the board. You have to solder all of the wires, without shorting any/... This is quite tricky.