Who Knows About Laptops?

Factual Questions
1
      • I was given/basically traded something for an old third-hand laptop that had stopped working, a Dell Latitude CPi, exact year unknown but the HD sticker says 1999. There’s a few things that can be checked externally, but I am through all those. I took out all the case screws but still can’t get the case open.
  • There is one jack/hole I don’t know the purpose of, and the case appears to be held shut by -something- right about where this mystery hole is. The hole is the largest/rightmost one shown here, with silver metal in it:
    http://www.norcom2000.com/users/dcimper/assorted/laptop_what/laptop_wtf.html
    -What is this hole for? Does it have anything to do with the case being unopenable? The jacks from left to right are mic, headphone, line in (?), AC adaptor and -->?
    ~
2

The link didn’t work for me, but Dell has detailed instructions for replacing all the parts on that system in the form of a PDF file. Go to support.dell.com, login (you may need to create an account) and follow the link for System Documentation.

3
      • Ahh yes! Thanks so much! The Dell site has instructions on how to take the case apart! -->I was quite surprised at that. They give instructions on the procedure where one edge of the keyboard has to be pried up specifically during a certain step to be removed.
        ~
4

According to Dell’s specs for a Latitude CPi, it’s the cooling air intake. More info about the CPi can be found here.

As it happens, someone just asked me to have a look at their CPi, so I have one right on front of me. The only thing that’s holding the screen shut is a simple, tiny catch that is released by pushing the latch button in, rather than pushing it sideways. It’s hard to see how the latch might be prevented from opening given the construction; I’m not even sure it’s possible to break such that it couldn’t open, unless something is blocking the space in which the catch needs to move.

Wish I could offer some more constructive advice.