Unable to reinsert the internal cable in the older laptop.
Unable to reinsert the internal cable in the older laptop.
Hey there, I discovered an old (~10 years) Asus laptop hidden away in a drawer. When I turned it on, the thermal sensors showed it would keep throttling even without any workload—just like when idle. So I went ahead and repasted the CPU and GPU, which worked perfectly. The reassembly part was tricky; I lost the locking piece of a flat-cable connector and can’t find the cable either. Check out the attached photo (cable floating, beige connector on the left near the power button). Any idea how to fix this? Thanks for all the suggestions! After several attempts to get it running, I gave up and plan to recycle it. Wish me luck! Edit: Conclusion added.
If you're not concerned about the laptop, you might consider using hot glue to secure it in position. This method hasn't been tried before, and you have no idea whether it would be effective.
I agree with this; it might function but it would be temporary and difficult to reverse if it fails.
It really helps with these kinds of issues. You just need a few pliers and some plastic to secure the cable firmly without letting hot glue slip into the contacts. If something goes wrong, a quick pause for 30 seconds followed by a bit more should work—hot glue will release easily.
Hot glue is simple to soften. The glue gun can also warm the glue gently, allowing you to carefully pull the cable back if necessary.