I need some help with replacing a zif-connector hard drive in my Dell Latitude DF430 notebook computer. I removed the ailing 80GB Samsung HS082HB drive. The drive is found under the battery. I removed the battery and found the drive held in place by a metal bracket. The drive was protected by a black rubber “glove” with the word Toshiba on the glove. Here’s my problem. I tackled this project late at night while tired and didn’t pay enough attention to how the hard drive and the copper-colored ribbon cable were oriented within the glove. Member RWS70 in this forum posted a useful photo which explains how the cable is held in place by a black zif gate which has to be flopped up to release the cable.
Before I saw that photo and explanation I didn’t realize there was a zif gate and I simply pulled the cable from the drive. In doing so I may have damaged the cable. I had intended to replace the drive then and there but found that Dell sent me the wrong drive. So I tried to put everything back together. By now I knew about the zif gate and flicked it up with my fingernail and pushed the end of the ribbon cable in and closed the gate. I put the drive with the cable folded beneath it back into the rubber glove and tried to boot the computer (the drive did work. But Windows 7 told me it had a problem. That’s why I was replacing it). When I turned on the computer I got an error message saying something to the effect that no bootable device was found. It wasn’t finding the hard drive. That’s why I think I may have damaged the cable forcibly removing it without opening the gate (the one I didn’t know existed).
I’ve ordered the correct drive and ribbon cable from Dell. But before I try to install the drive I want to make sure I have the cable oriented correctly within the rubber glove.
Can anyone provide a picture of what the drive looks like when properly residing within the rubber glove?
I was more than disappointed in Dell when their service manual for the computer, in the section on removing and replacing the hard drive, didn’t provide better documentation, including mentioning that microscopic zif gate and maybe a photo or two.
I’d really appreciate some help with this from someone familiar with the D430 and the zif-connected tiny hard drive.
Thanks.
Before I saw that photo and explanation I didn’t realize there was a zif gate and I simply pulled the cable from the drive. In doing so I may have damaged the cable. I had intended to replace the drive then and there but found that Dell sent me the wrong drive. So I tried to put everything back together. By now I knew about the zif gate and flicked it up with my fingernail and pushed the end of the ribbon cable in and closed the gate. I put the drive with the cable folded beneath it back into the rubber glove and tried to boot the computer (the drive did work. But Windows 7 told me it had a problem. That’s why I was replacing it). When I turned on the computer I got an error message saying something to the effect that no bootable device was found. It wasn’t finding the hard drive. That’s why I think I may have damaged the cable forcibly removing it without opening the gate (the one I didn’t know existed).
I’ve ordered the correct drive and ribbon cable from Dell. But before I try to install the drive I want to make sure I have the cable oriented correctly within the rubber glove.
Can anyone provide a picture of what the drive looks like when properly residing within the rubber glove?
I was more than disappointed in Dell when their service manual for the computer, in the section on removing and replacing the hard drive, didn’t provide better documentation, including mentioning that microscopic zif gate and maybe a photo or two.
I’d really appreciate some help with this from someone familiar with the D430 and the zif-connected tiny hard drive.
Thanks.
