Caddy Connector
Can anyone help with COMPAQ C500 Laptop with AC power connector issues?
I have a 5 year old Compaq C500 laptop (low-end) system that won’t power on. I’ve tried two power supply units and both won’t work. Before it died I could jiggle the cord at the connector on the PC and it would stay on AC power intermittently. The DC battery died a long time ago. Could this be the jack on the motherboard is loose? Is it worth opening up? If I replaced the DC battery would that make any difference? Related issue: If the PC is dead, how can I get my data off the hard drive? The HDD connectors are not standard SATA or IDE for neither power nor data. Is there a HDD caddy or USB adapter device I can get (type/model#)?
More than likely the DC jack (power jack) is damaged since you mentioned wiggling it. Unless the charger’s connector tip was damaged, its really though to say which is the problem. Look into that.
As for the hard drive, you can use a device known as an IDE/SATA to USB Adapter (google “BT-300 topmicrousa”). This device works great. It works with all hard drives and it connects via USB. It transfers files at an incredibly fast rate and its also quite durable.
The option that is up to you is either repair the jack or get your files and leave it. Either case it would cost something. Its just taking the files and going is cheaper.
Best of luck.
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