I have an IBM Thinkpad A20m laptop, with an internal RJ-45 ethernet jack. Recently the ethernet cable was snagged when somebody tripped over it. Due to RJ-45's ingenious "save the cable!" design, the cable stayed firmly in the laptop and ruined the jack. The way these laptops are put together is the jack is attached to a ribbon cable that wraps around to the under-side of the laptop. Under there, in a user-serviceable area, the ribbon cable plugs into the mini-PCI ethernet adapter. I have ordered a replacement RJ-45 jack/cable from IBM. I plugged it into the ethernet adapter and indeed that fixes it. Problem is, I need to actually get the thing *inside* the computer.
I have printed out the IBM service manual for these things, and it looks like I have to pretty much remove everything (system board included) to get the cable replaced. Has anyone ever done surgery on a laptop? Is it doable, or is it just a terrifying experience in which I will break something? To put this in context, I am completely comfortable working on/building desktops, but have never had the nerve or need to mess with a laptop. I really don't want to pay $200 or whatever for somebody to do it for me, so I'm trying to weigh the risk. Thanks for any responses, especially from anyone who's tried something like this before.
I have printed out the IBM service manual for these things, and it looks like I have to pretty much remove everything (system board included) to get the cable replaced. Has anyone ever done surgery on a laptop? Is it doable, or is it just a terrifying experience in which I will break something? To put this in context, I am completely comfortable working on/building desktops, but have never had the nerve or need to mess with a laptop. I really don't want to pay $200 or whatever for somebody to do it for me, so I'm trying to weigh the risk. Thanks for any responses, especially from anyone who's tried something like this before.