what is this and where does it go?

[fred]

The little power socket thingy on the inside of my laptop broke away so I can't plug it in so I can't use it.. and not wanting to splash out on repairs, I tried to look at it myself.

 

I've now taken it apart and re-attached the power socket but theres a little piece of plastic that I haven't a clue what to do with. It came from the bottom of the case:

 

And it came from:

 

1) Does it matter if I leave it out?

2) What is it?

3) Where does it go?

 

Any ideas would be much appreciated..

[Kaj.]

1. I'm not too sure. When I took my notebook apart to fix my power socket (the contacts on the inside of it wiggled loose. Just took a little nudge to get it working again), I never ran into an apparatus even remotely similar to that (Mind you, my notebook is a Toshiba Satellite 1400, and it was made waaaaay back in '02).

 

2. Looks like some kind of wire bracket (wires go under finger-esque) things), or a bracket to hold a long piece of hardware.

 

3. I haven't a f*cking clue where it would go. I've gone over the photos you posted, and I can't find two proper-looking screw holes for the ends of that thing to fasten to. Sorry bro.

[fred]

Thanks for the help. This thing is 3 years old and wasn't top of the range when I bought it. I've got that piece back in sortof the right place maybe alongside the dvd drive slot but hit another, slightly bigger problem. I have two wires which I can't for the life of me work out what to do with. I've been examining every inch of every for the last two hours but no luck.

 

There's two wires (black and grey with tiny copper contacts on the end) coming out from the bottom of the screen. They pass through a hole below the keyboard, through the motherboard and attach somewhere below. I've marked where they went through when I took it apart. I kinda just pulled gently and they came loose - being underneath I have no idea where from.

 

They come through the hole there and should attach somewhere on that pic. They aren't even that long so it can't be far from the hole but where? And presumably if its on the board anyway, why not fix them to the top rather than drilling a hole and running them underneath?

 

UPDATE: I guess they go nowhere.. I didn't plug them in anywhere but started it up and it's running fine.

[TwoZero]

They might have been ground wires, they usually connect to some metal part of the casing.

Shouldn't matter too much if you leave them out, though the chance of actual hardware damage when a short occurs might be bigger if things aren't grounded (I think so anyway). I wouldn't worry about it if the laptop works fine and you don't plan to throw some coffee in it.

[~andy]

I actually work for Fujitsu Siemens, if you let me know the model or 10 digit serial number I might be able to find some exploded parts diagrams that would show where that plastic piece goes. I'm guessing it would fit somewhere around the CD/DVD drive as it looks about the right size.

 

Those 2 wires are going to be wireless lan / bluetooth aerial cables, they would connect to your bluetooth module (sometimes next to the modem on the motherboard) or more likely the mini PCI wireless card, which seems to be missing in your 2nd pic (the slot to the right of your 2 RAM slots), and usually wrap right around the case or go up and wrap around the screen.