Broken ide pin on Nec 3550

[TahoCliffhucker]

Hi, It was 4 am when I went to put my computer back together after taking out my mobo, removing my IHS, lapping my heatsink etc. I was tired. Yep, I tried to put the ide cable on my NEC upside down. Needles to say I broke that pin ~in half (the one that is opposite the blank spot). Not all the way off. Why can't they just have 2 solid rows of pins instaed of one dead solid pinless spot! ?1) Is there a way to know what this particular wire is for? ?2) Do you think that since it is only half broke, it is still making contact in the ide cable? ?3) If I can make it through DVD Shrink and then burn a movie without any errors, do you think the burnt movie will be allright? I ask this cuz I don't want to sit thru this movie to find out. ?4)Is there any diagnostic program I can run to test the drive? Is it repairable? I am handy with a solder iron etc. Thanks for any input.

EDIT--- I just found thisin the key it looks as though I broke the ground??

Can I just stick a piece of paperclip in the ide cable receptacle (or some foil) to make contact?
Do I even need a ground?

Thanks

[katzdvd]

Can I just stick a piece of paperclip in the ide cable receptacle (or some foil) to make contact?
Do I even need a ground?

I would say that if they put the ground there, it is there for a reason. I had a similar situation with a a monitor cable & an expensive video card; A pin broke off flush in the monitor cable plug, & stuck in the video card.

I cut a pin off an old mainboard that I had lying around & inserted the end into the monitor cable plug, reconnected it & all is well. I guess a paper clip would work too, although it may tend to bend, as I think it is a softer metal. The pins on the mainboard are copper, stronger.

Good Luck!

[Chewy]

Do I even need a ground?

yes, but I would try a few short pieces of copper wire, fine strands untwisted from some scrap electrical lamp cord inserted into the cable end, good luck

[TahoCliffhucker]

Broken ide pin

katzdvd & Chewy,

Thanks for the ideas. I was reading in that link I sited where the old 40 pin ides had 40 wires and the new 40 pin plugs have 80 wires and that the extra wires are mostly grounds?


Anyway I'll put some stranded copper in there.

Cheers