Re: [NTLK] PC slot on 2x00 no longer working

From: Ed Kummel (tech_ed_at_yahoo.com)
Date: Thu Sep 04 2003 - 22:22:07 PDT


Thanks Frank. Sometimes pointing out the obvious is
needed. Unfortunatly, not in this case.
Thanks for the disassembly pages. It had been several
months since I got into my Newt...and quite a bit
longer since I've removed the entire motherboard (it's
like performing surgery on your own child <although, I
don't have children, I can only imagine>)
Well,
Take a look at what I see when I examine the connector
part of the PC cards.
http://newton.tek-ed.com/newt-slot/index.html.htm

In these images, the right slot is the working bottom
slot.
What bothered me is that both slots exhibitted the
pushed in PC card pin...the exact same pin! Yet the
bottom slot worked and the upper slot didn't!
Troubling.
But I think that these two pictures are quite telling.
Note this picture:
http://newton.tek-ed.com/newt-slot/img0002.htm
of the bottom slot pushed in pin? Note the pad this
pin is touching? I *think* that this pad leads to the
same place (?ground?) as the pin went originally.
Now, note this picture:
http://newton.tek-ed.com/newt-slot/img0003.htm
See where this pushed in pin is touching? I think that
this pad somehow shorts out the entire circuit to the
Newton. I theorize that ground it probably contacted
on multiple pins so as long as the pin isn't touching
anything, or touching ground, the loss of a single pin
doesn't cause any problems. But since the card has a
ground from some other pin, this ground travels to
this pushed in pin an this pushed in pin is in contact
with something that shorts out (shunting to ground) a
critical circuit for the upper slot.

Well, that's my theory and I'm sticking to it...unless
someone has a better one.
Although I think Miss Anne Elke's theory on dinosaurs
is far better...<Monty Python reference to add levity
to a rather serious subject>

Can someone with an already opened Newt verify or
correct me on this? I hesitate to go through "fixing"
both slots only to find that I broke my bottom slot
even further.

Now, I have to clean up...I have Newton guts all over
my operating gown.

Ed
web/gadget guru
come and see my Newt on the web (well, not now...it's
been called into Active Duty) at: http://65.84.243.167

--- Frank Gruendel <fg2_at_pda-soft.de> wrote:
> <snip>
>
> > Today, with no concerns, I perform the same
> routine I
> > perform every day. I pop out the blank and put in
> the
> > card. Unfortunatly, I never got a slip for
> inserting
> > the card and Simplemail won't acknowledge a
> network
> > connection.
>
> Ed,
>
> of course it would be embarrassing to suggest a hard
> reset or pointing out
>
> http://www.pda-soft.de/2x00_disassemble.html
>
> to someone who has been on this list as long as
> you have, so I am not going to do this...
>
> This being said, from what you describe I'd think
> that
> the card recognition switch is damaged or the
> contacts
> are dirty or bent. This
> fellow is kind of fragile and part of the card
> insert/eject mechanism, hence it is way more often
> damaged than the pins of the PCMCIA card connector.
> You might want to open your Newton and look for two
> very tiny gold contacts arranged somewhat like that:
>
> O
> |
> | O
> | |
> | |
>
> These are moved by the card eject button, while it
> is
> pushed in, they are connected to two contacts
> on the motherboard.
>
> If you want me to have a look at it, or if you need
> a spare part, let me know.
>
> Good luck
>
> Frank
>
> -- Newton Software and Hardware at
> http://www.pda-soft.de
>
> --
> This is the NewtonTalk list -
> http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
> List FAQ/Etiquette/Terms:
> http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html
> Official Newton FAQ:
> http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/
>

=====
"When any government, or church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, 'This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know', the end result is tyranny and oppression , no matter how holy the motives"
     -Robert Heinlein, Revolt in 2100

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software
http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com

-- 
This is the NewtonTalk list - http://www.newtontalk.net/ for all inquiries
List FAQ/Etiquette/Terms: http://www.newtontalk.net/faq.html
Official Newton FAQ: http://www.chuma.org/newton/faq/


This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Sep 05 2003 - 08:00:00 PDT