DC7800/DC7900 Hard Drive Screws

[Michael Wing]

Does anyone know where I can get some spare "silver and blue 6-32 isolation mounting guide screws" for installing a hard drive in a DC7800/DC7900?

Or has anyone come up with a workable replacement for them?

[mosslack]

On Nov 13, 2012, at 4:12 PM, Michael Wing wrote:

Does anyone know where I can get some spare "silver and blue 6-32 isolation mounting guide screws" for installing a hard drive in a DC7800/DC7900?

Or has anyone come up with a workable replacement for them?

Unless they have been removed, a spare set is supplied under the cover on the front frame near the USB/audio ports. If they are gone, the ones which hold the motherboard are the same and you can use normal screws to replace those. HTH

From the main system of mosslack...

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[Michael Wing]

On Tue, Nov 13, 2012 at 3:25 PM, mosslack <hackin...@gmail.com> wrote:

On Nov 13, 2012, at 4:12 PM, Michael Wing wrote:

Does anyone know where I can get some spare "silver and blue 6-32 isolation mounting guide screws" for installing a hard drive in a DC7800/DC7900?

Or has anyone come up with a workable replacement for them?

Unless they have been removed, a spare set is supplied under the cover on the front frame near the USB/audio ports. If they are gone, the ones which hold the motherboard are the same and you can use normal screws to replace those. HTH

Sorry.  I'm looking for the ones with the blue plastic, and silver ring that are used in the primary hard drive location (under the power supply) on the DC7800/DC7900 SFF

 

[mosslack]

It's been awhile since I had mine apart, but it seems like those just had washers on mine. Maybe Peter can shed some more light on the subject.

[pete...@cruzio.com]

>>> Does anyone know where I can get some spare "silver and blue 6-32
>>> isolation mounting guide screws" for installing a hard drive in a
>>> DC7800/DC7900?

>> I'm looking for the ones with the blue plastic, and silver ring
>> that are used in the primary hard drive location (under the power
>> supply) on the DC7800/DC7900 SFF
>
> It's been awhile since I had mine apart, but it seems like those just had
> washers on mine. Maybe Peter can shed some more light on the subject.

Every machine comes with extra screws.

The extras for the SFF are found inside the front bezel.

Four (4) M3-0.5 screws, black in color, with special heads (combo Torx T15
and standard blade) are there for installation of a floppy drive.

Alas, the only unused drive bay is the floppy drive bay, and it WILL hold
a 3.5" hard drive, but these must be the #6-32 UNC silver in color screws.

However, all is not lost. The motherboard is retained using the very same
screws which are required for mounting a hard drive, so you may remove
four of the motherboard retaining screws as substitute generic #6-32 x
1/4" machine screws for those.

The extras for the CMT are found inside the right cover.

Eight (8) black screws are provided, intended for mounting an optical
drive or possibly a floppy drive.

Four (4) blue plastic with washer screws are provided, too, and these are
located on the right side of the hard drive bay, and are intended for
mounting a second hard drive.

A number of eBay sellers also sell screws as, these days, a lot of DC7800
and DC7900 machines are being reclaimed from machines discarded by Chase
Bank and Costco, which have a great many locations around the U.S.

[faithie999]

i'm on the road, so i can't look at my 7900, but how about trying this:

the special screws perform 2 functions--keeping the drive aligned in the rails, and locking the drive into place.

i think only one or two of the four screws engage the locking mechanism.  if that's the case, use 2 of the special screws in the proper holes in both of your drives so that the locking mechanism is engaged, then use some of the "oversize head" screws that compaq/hp use in their normal removable drives in other computers.  the heads in those screws are smaller in diameter than the special screws, but i think they might do the trick for you.  they are the ones that have a torx head as well as a slot for a flat blade.  you may have to use a washer or two so that the head of those screws project far enough from the drive body so the screw heads engage the mounting rails.  sorry for the clumsy description, but hopefully you get the gist.

ken

[pete...@cruzio.com]

> Sorry. I'm looking for the ones with the blue plastic, and silver ring
> that are used in the primary hard drive location (under the power supply)
> on the DC7800/DC7900 SFF

You may move the hard drive from the original under-the-PSU location to
the alternate under-the-optical location.

For this you do not need the special blue plastic with washer screws, but
you DO need the special #6-32 UNC silver screws.

Simply remove four (4) from the motherboard and substitute four (4)
generic #6-32 UNC x 1/4" machine screws in the motherboard.

[Michael Wing]

Once I got beyond the idea that I absolutely HAD to install the hard drive under the power supply, this trick worked great.  Thank you!