[aussie123]

I have a tiny computerand I want to change the A drive(floppy) with a new one
however the front case of the computer has 6 hexagonal screws which I have tried to remove but the metal is so soft it will not turn using a hexagonal key, and the metal just rounds so you no longer have a hexagonal shape just soft gooey cheese like metal hole
I am no expert on computers, but looking inside all the drives are stacked one on top of the other held in place by screwed cradles, which is easy to get at from one side, but you cannot get at the other, due to a protective shield or somesuch whch I cannot figure out how to remove, TINY its a right pain in the posterior passage
any advice would be appreciated. short of tossing it out the window...

[mrdaveyk]

hhhmm i could be wrong but on my old old computer i also wanted to do the same.

are the screws on the sides holding the drive

i think i fell for that also and it turned out they weren't so it just slid out, this could be different of course

however with your now round screws, get a pliers to them?

other than that if you cant get the to sides of the screw my idea would be to drill the screw out, but thats up to you i wouldn't recommended that to anyone

you got a local repair shop?

[philthomas]

If you dont mind spending somw money, you could always grab a screw extration tool, such as this :

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Micro-Drill-Ou...sid=p1638.m118

[mcbee]

If you want to remove the damaged screws and you have a low powered drill try this. Use a drill size that is just slightly smaller than the head of the screw and drill carefully until the head comes off the screw. when all are done and you remove the cover you may have enough screw left to use a small pair of vice grips to remove the screw. Care is needed to not drill through the cover. The ideal way to do this is with a left hand thread drill bit in a reversible drill. This way you may get lucky and the drill will screw out the screw.

[aussie123]

Mrdaveyk thanks, yes, the screws inside hold together what could be described as a meccano looking set-up of boxes with the various drives sitting in their little compartments, so its structured like top to bottom, cd drive(1) cd drive (2) floppy drive A (3) main hard drive (4) I would have to drop the main drive (c) to get at the floppy drive A hich wouldnt be bad if I could get at the opposite side, which I cannot,
then I take out the cradle to drive screws on the floppy and slide it out (probably) but again cannot get at the opposite side screws, so it looks like I'm screwed. no wonder "tiny" went bankrupt building contraptions like this. Seems if Im going to spend £24, on screw bits, I'd probably be better buying a decent case, and stripping the whole thing down and putting it back in a new more user friendly case
thanks anyway gentleman.
In answer to the other gentleman, repair people charge £40 ph and spend a minimum of 2 hours, I prefer a bit of value for money. Thank you anyway gentlemen