Plastic sata cable clamp broke.

When I was putting my SSD in, I was disconnecting the drive caddy and drives from the satacable. I noticed there was never any resistance when I gently removed the caddy from its bay. I moved the drives a little to see if it was connected and sure enought , the plastic clamp where the sata cable plugs to the mobo was pretty open. I tried to adjust it and one side of it was broken but the other side is still in. I tried running the computer anyway and it works fine, except it is noticeably slow, even to where Windows Index gives my SSD a 5.0 lol. What do I do? I don't know what those clamps are called, been Googling to no avail. Not shipping back for clip replacement....

 

That's really unfortunate. I'm pretty sure that you wont be able to get a "replacement" for the securing clip for the ribbon connector - chances are that if it was causing total failure of the connection, the only fix would be a new mobo.

The only thing I can suggest you try is to come up with something that will firmly hold the ribbon cable in the port and make sure its seated 100% correctly....bit of DIY required. Something like this:

Laptop Repair Help » How to fix broken keyboard connector on laptop motherboard

 

Yeah, I was trying to think of something. I'm pretty uncomfortable putting something against it like a paper clip, if I could get something non-conductive that won't ruin my day if it gets loose and slides somewhere special lol. When I was trying to figure out how to put it back together, I tried super glue on the leg of the clamp that was broken. It wasn't firm enough for me to risk putting pressure to clip the thing back into its slot. Its 100% exactly what that link is, except its super tiny, and the biggest problem is I am not an elf, and the sata connection is in the hardest to reach spot without taking the notebook apart even more. I spent about an hour with tweezers trying to figure out how I could get it clamped (which I did) and then get the side thats broken to keep it firm but I can't come up with anything.

I remember back when I had an Asus notebook, they didn't come with caddys for the HDDs cause Asus is ran by a bunch of trolls. So I ended up finding out a DIY where you compress foam ear plugs to hold it in place instead, which was really creative and worked perfectly. Like 2 dollars instead of $50 for something that should have already been there. If anybody knows of something I could do like that in this case, that would be wonderful. I don't even think I could tape around there its so compact right there :/.

 

I had this same problem. Almost all those "clamps" were broke in my system (i ordered my computer as a refurb). On top of that i got bad performance from my SSD.

I got almost all my parts replaced by dell (that is Another story) and now the ssds are reporting correct speeds.

Bottom line is that i do belive that small thing can affect performance, that or maybe i had a bad mobo to begin with .

I know exactly what you mean. What you can do is to get a thin plastic that you cut to fit perfectly with the sata ribbon in the slot. Just to "stuff" the slot with junk along with the ribbon and make perfect Connection.

 

Thanks, any tips on what I could do to better reach the mount I'm putting it on? I can't even fit my fingers (one on each side) to place it. What I've been trying is a tweezer holding one side, lining up that one side, and then putting pressure at the top put it in place. Which the whole time I'm like D: D: D: cause I have to apply the pressure with a screw driver or something and I'm paranoid about it slipping off and tapping the mobo lol.

 

With most of glues or even thermal paste, there is a small plastic (very flexible) spoon. You could try to cut the beginning of that spoon and try to fit it in between the inside of the port and the ribbon to hold it sturdy... Maybe that will help...

 

OP - Maybe cut up a credit card or similar type card to size (blockbuster membership or something like it...) and try that. Nice and slim bit of placcy is what's needed as mentioned above.