Swapping HD's??

[steeeler58]

Ok, I have 2 dell d505 laptops. One won't take a charge because the adapter is busted so the mobo needs to be replaced. Anyways, the other one works fine. Can I take the HD from one and simply put it in the other one and expect it to boot fine??

I work at a small private school and I'm the only one there with any tech know how and it's limited!

I was hoping this woudl work since the laptop that won't charge is one of the bigwigs at school adn he doesn't want to wait for it to be replaced by dell (I htink it's still under warranty).

I appreciate your help!

 

[Pain]

Are they both the same type of machine, exactly? If they are, then yes, it will work fine. Even if they are different in some ways, as long as the MB is the same then it should work OK.

What do you mean, the adapter is broken so you need to change the MB? What adapter?

 

[michaelahess]

Yeah they'll work, I once was in a bind and swapped an hd from a Inspiron 4100 to a Inspiron 610m and it worked, completely different architecture even. Granted the vid driver was wrong so it was 640x480. XP is pretty good about updating drivers for chipset swaps, not recommended of course but it works in a pinch.

 

[steeeler58]

WHen you plug in the ac adapter to the computer, it won't charge. I've tried other adapters and batteries. I've had this problem with other computers at work. I haven't looked at his computer yet but I think the problem is the connection/port on the laptop. He's pretty hard on his computer. Anyways, thanks for the advice. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

 

[michaelahess]

Probably just pulled the charge plug from the pcb, an easily fixed issue if you know how to use a soldering iron.

 

[steeeler58]

That's what I was thinking. It's still under warranty so Dell can do it for me! The user doesn't want to be with out a comp for a week or so and we have a spare. So, I'll try swapping the HD's tomorrow. Thanks!