thinkpad 385XD - loose spring

[Jefferson]

hi guys

just got 385XD from ebay here.

I removed keyboard to make a minor repair and when I flipped the whole thing,

this spring fell out. For the life of me, i cannot figure out where to put it back.

I followed the disassembly procedure strictly using HMM carefully noted all the parts.

but this loose spring is not mentioned in HMM. I read the whole thing from beginning to end twice

to look for the mention of the part but to no avail...

can anyone help? this spring looks like a hinge of sort, possible goes into power slide plastic that

triggers power switch. but the power switch itself is already spring-loaded...


any help would be greatly appreciated!


ps. I'm surprised that HMM neglected the mention of this crucial part!

[Harryc]

Welcome to the thinkpads.com forum. If you can provide a picture that might help someone identify it.

[zekt]

I acquired a 380Z the other day, which had a mystery loose spring inside as well. I have included an image of it here, (sorry for the blur but my phone's camera is not functioning well):



Is this the same one you had found in yours? Hopefully someone can shed some light on where it goes... I could not find a reference to it in the maintenance manual for the model.

Thanks

[RealBlackStuff]

Looking at the 380XD/385XD HMM, it could be from its part #7 Diskette Drive Bezel or #21 Battery Pack Lock Assembly.
Looking at the 380 in tpvol3.pdf HMM, it could be from part #16 FDD bezel.

[zekt]

Looking at the 380XD/385XD HMM, it could be from its part #7 Diskette Drive Bezel or #21 Battery Pack Lock Assembly.
Looking at the 380 in tpvol3.pdf HMM, it could be from part #16 FDD bezel.

Thanks, I will check out those places. The battery pack lock mechanism doesn't seem to have any tension of any kind when being engaged/disengaged, if it normally has some spring resistance while being used (or if the lock “stick” is supposed to pop up by itself), it could very well be that.

[PiZzA EnGiNeEr]

It is from the battery latch. I've seen at least 4 or 5 380 series systems all with the broken spring floating around inside. Battery seems to still latch and hold without the spring.