Russell, I am not sure how hard they are to find, but it was me, given they're not too old, I'd try to find a replacement drive and be done with it. Otherwise you will have to find a working drive and compare and contrast yours to the other one to get a feel for exactly where the point of failure is. When there are missing screws that's the sign of a failed attempt to repair. It could be someone put a replacement drive in there already but it was not an exact match and thus does not eject and then gave up. Another option - Can you find a PCMCIA external 3.5 drive, or even USB dongle or CD of some sort to bypass the need for the 3.5 drive altogether? Just thinking as I type how to approach. Bill Degnan On Mon, Oct 18, 2021 at 9:52 PM Russell LeChard via vcf-midatlantic < vcf-midatlantic@lists.vcfed.org> wrote:
Good Evening VCF East,
I'm new to this group(but not to IT in general [30 years experience ]) I love vintage computers. I'm also in the process of restoring several vintage notebooks. Two in particular are Compaq LTE 5280 and 5300 models. Both have moderate problems. The 5280 is the better model. I'm trying to salvage parts from both to make one good system. I need to replace the Multifunction bay(Floppy/CD-ROM), hard drive bay, and battery bay from the 5280 with the floppy, hard drive, and battery from the 5300.
Here is my problem, I'm unable to eject these components from the bays in the 5280. The release buttons seem to be locked and won't slide all the way forward. There are supposedly locking screw holes on the bottom of the unit, but there are no screws in them( they were already missing when I obtained them second hand.) I'm very much stuck! LOL
I also have Cerebral Palsy with mobility and dexterity issues (I have one good arm/hand to work with. This makes the disassembly of this notebook even more problematic.
This system will be for myself for early/mid 90's DOS games BTW.
I spoke to another VCF East member and they suggested I send a message out to the group with this request. I'm in the Toms River, NJ area and I'd even be willing to discuss reasonable compensation(or a trade for other vintage systems( I have others and vintage spare parts)) for someone with the expertise in the Compaq LTE 5000 series for their time and effort. Let me know. Thank you in advance.
Take Care, Russell LeChard