510M PC card slot

Question

I have a rather silly problem with the PC card slot on my 510M Inspiron laptop. This slot is not being used but contains a plastic dummy card to cover the slot. In a fit of curiosity I activated the little latch at the side of the slot and removed the plastic dummy card. Now I cannot get it back in properly with the latch set again. The latch is spring loaded and sticks out about a centimetre.   Dell technical support have not been able to provide a solution and have come to the conclusion that the slot is faulty (in spite of the fact that the machine was delivered with the cover and latch in place) and that this requires a replacement of the motherboard!   If you have a 510M with a plastic dummy card covering the PC card slot please DO NOT experiment with it otherwise you could be in the same predicament as myself.   On the other hand if you have used the PC card slot with a real PC board or the plastic cover I would very much like to hear if you had any problems with it and, if so, how you overcame them.

bacillus · Answer

hmm, replacing the motherboard does seem a drastic measure!

Rollie_R · Answer

SevenoaksUK,   Thank you for using the Dell Community Forum.   Try it this way.  First, remove the card blank from your system.  Next, push the button in until it locks.  Then push the card blank back in.   To remove a card, or the card blank, push the button in to release it, and then push the button a second time to push out the card.

SevenoaksUK · Answer

Thanks DELL-Rollie. Your instructions were just a bit more specific than those I got from European Technical Support. I wasn't pushing in the latch far enough to get it to click. I didn't realise how far in I had to push the latch to get it to click. All is well again thanks.

rfarmer · Answer

Thanks Dell-Rollie, I had exactly the same problem on my brand new Inspiron 2200 and your advice was accurate and helpful. Thanks again !!

And, of course, it would be nice if there were some instructions somewhere on how these things work for those of us who have never done it before !!!

But thanks again !!

Locked Topics – Laptops General

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