Replacing the rear USB port on an R40e

[Pookster]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if anyone had tried to change the USB port on the system board on the rear of their thinkpad. I have an R40e which I love dearly but it's annoying the hell out of me only having one usb port. The port itself is beyond repair as one of the pins hase been snapped off so I can only presume that my next step is to chang the port over.

I take it all I have to do is get the same type of port assembly and then just unsolder the original port and solder in a new one, then secure it into the clips on the acutal system board, it sounds easy enough but im just nervious because I dont want to fry the system board. So any tips on this procedure would be great,

Thanks for your time,

Pookster

[hoplite]

If you do go ahead and replace it any tips you can offer woudl be great. I have to replace the USB port on my R40 as well.

[Terrahawk]

I replaced the port on my R40 when I got it as someone had ripped it out. Thankfully the motherboard was intact.

You will need to obtain a short USB socket as most of the USB sockets you can get from electronics suppliers are too long and will stick too far out the back of the Thinkpad when mounted. I couldn't get any of the right length from any of the electronics suppliers here in New Zealand so I stole a USB port off a card slot bracket from an Abit NV7-133R motherboard. That only stuck out about 1 mm from the back of the Thinkpad, which I though was good enough.

You will have to disassemble the Thinkpad completely to fit the port - have a good hot soldering iron and a good solder sucker to remove the solder in the pin holes. I had to file the port opening too to allow the Abit USB socket to poke out - it was slightly too big.

Of course, you do all this at your own risk - I did, and it paid off for me