NEC VERSA DOCK - SERVICE User manual

NEC Versa LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack 1
NEC Versa®LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock
Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack
Congratulations on purchasing the NEC Versa LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock Hard Disk Drive
Cradle Pack.
If you upgrade to a larger internal disk drive, you can
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use the cradle pack to hold your original internal hard disk drive as a second drive in the
system’s VersaBay III after upgrading to a larger internal drive.

install a new hard disk drive into the cradle pack in the VersaBay III as a second hard
disk drive for the system.
Note
Before attempting to use a new hard disk drive, you must first define the fileformat for
the system (run fdisk) and format your new hard disk. For details, see the section, "Preparing
Your Hard Disk Drive" later in this document.
This document describes how to remove the system’s internal hard disk drive and install it into
the cradle pack as well as how to prepare a new hard disk drive using fdisk and format.
The cradle pack is designed to support the NEC Versa LX systems with
user-removable hard disk drives only. To be sure that you own a unit with a
user-replaceable hard disk drive, check the following.

Turn over your system. Note the label on the back of the unit, which contains the Doc
ID (model name), Model Number, and NEC Serial Number for the unit.

Look at the 14-alphanumeric characters in the model number. A unit with a user-
replaceable hard disk drive has the letter “A” in the next to last position of the model
number. An example of a model number for a unit with a user-replaceable hard disk
drive is VL210010-0000A0.
NEC Versa Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack
Removing the Internal Hard Disk Drive
If you already upgraded the internal drive, this procedure is not necessary. This information is
also found in the documentation that came with your hard disk drive upgrade.

2NEC Versa LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack
The hard disk drive is located under the battery bay in your NEC Versa notebook computer. You
must remove the system’s main battery before removing the hard disk drive. Remove the hard
disk drive as follows.
1. Make sure the system is powered off and the AC adapter is disconnected.
2. Close the LCD and turn over the system.
3. Slide the battery release latch toward the back of the system and hold firmly.
A— Battery Release Latch
4. Continue to hold the battery release latch as you slide the battery out of the system.
Removing the battery

NEC Versa LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack 3
5. Remove the disk drive as follows:
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Remove the screw that secures the hard disk drive.
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Place your finger in the center notch of the hard drive lever and pull up the lever. Be
sure that both sides of the lever are raised.
Hard disk drive in the drive bay
A–Screw B–Hard Disk Drive Lever C–Hard Disk Drive
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With the lever raised, place your fingers on the inside edge of the lever and on each
side of the center notch. Pull the drive toward the open side of the battery bay. Do not
apply pressure to the drive surface as you pull.
Use care when handling the hard disk drive. Hold it from the sides, do
not squeeze the drive by the top and bottom.
Disconnecting the drive
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Once the drive is disconnected, use the lever to lift the drive out of the system. Once
removed, only handle the drive by its sides.

4NEC Versa LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack
Use care when handling the hard disk drive. Hold it from the sides, do
not squeeze the drive by the top and bottom. Do not push on the top and bottom of the drive.
To eliminate static discharge, touch a grounded metal object while handling the hard disk drive.
Lifting the drive out of the bay
Reverse the procedure to install your new hard disk drive in the system’s internal bay. Use
the screw you removed at the beginning of this procedure to secure your new hard disk
drive.
Installing the Drive in the Cradle Pack
Use the following steps to install the hard disk drive in the cradle pack.
1. Place the cradle pack as shown in the figure in step 2. The side with the screw that secures
the hard disk drive is facing up.
2. Remove the screw.
Removing the screw
A—Screw

NEC Versa LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack 5
3. Position the drive with the securing tab on the top. Keeping the lever raised, lower the hard
disk drive into the cradle pack. Align the drive connector with the cradle pack connector.
Lowering the drive into the cradle
A–Hard Disk Drive Lever B–Cradle Pack Connector
4. Slide the drive connector back into the cradle pack connector. Press down on both sides of
the lever to lock the drive into place. Secure the drive to the cradle with the screw.
Securing the drive
A—Hard Disk Drive Lever B—Screw
5. The cradle with the hard disk drive is ready to be inserted into the system’s VersaBay III
slot or into the NEC Versa Dock’s VersaBay III adapter bay.

6NEC Versa LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack
Using the NEC Versa and NEC Versa Dock
When booting the NEC Versa in the NEC Versa Dock, one of the following messages may
appear:
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NVRAM bad checksum, NVRAM cleared not detected.
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Resource conflict IDE hard disk not detected.
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Resource conflict ATAI CD-ROM.
No action is required in response to this message. The message is cleared and the system boots
normally.
Preparing Your Hard Disk Drive
On a new hard drive, you must define your system’s file format (FAT32 for Windows 95 and
Windows 98; FAT 16 or NTFS format for Windows NT 4.0) and format the hard disk drive
before attempting to use it.
In addition, if you upgrade to a new larger hard disk drive as your primary hard disk, you need
to also load the operating system. This can be done in one of two ways as follows.
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To load the operating system that originally shipped with your NEC Versa notebook
computer, use the Product Recovery CD to install the operating system. To use the
Product Recovery CD, see the section, “Using the Product Recovery CD,”in Chapter 7
of your NEC Versa user’s guide.

To load any other operating system, do so after running fdisk and format.
Follow the appropriate instructions provided here for the operating system installed on your
NEC Versa.
Note
fdisk and format must be accessed either from another hard disk or from a MS-DOS
boot diskette.
Windows 95 or Windows 98
Partition the drive as follows.
Note
Be sure to have an MS-DOS boot diskette priorto beginning these instructions. See the
Microsoft Windows documentation for details on creating this diskette.
1. Run the fdisk program.
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If the new disk drive will be the primary drive for your system, you must run fdisk
from a MS-DOS boot diskette. Go to step 2.

If the new disk drive will not be used as your primary drive for your system, you can
run fdisk from the primary drive. In Windows, go to Start, Programs, and MS-DOS.
Go to step 3.
2. With the system power turned off, insert the MS-DOS boot diskette into the diskette drive,
then power on your NEC Versa notebook.
3. At the DOS prompt, type the command fdisk and press Enter.
A message appears, asking “Do you wish to enable large disk support?”

NEC Versa LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack 7
4. Type Yand press Enter.
The FDISK Options Menu appears.
5. Select option 5, “Change current fixed disk drive,”and press Enter.
The Change Current Fixed Disk Drive Menu appears.
6. Enter 1if the drive being partitioned is the primary hard drive or enter 2as the Fixed Disk
Drive Number if the VersaBay III hard drive is being partitioned. Press Enter.
The FDISK Options Menu appears.
7. Select option 4, “Display Partition Information,”and press Enter.
8. Verify that “Current fixed disk drive: 1 or 2”(depending on which drive to be partitioned)
appears under the Display Partition Information Menu.
9. Press Esc to continue.
10. Select option 1, “Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS drive,”and press Enter.
The Create DOS Partition or Logical DOS Drive screen appears.
11. Select option 1, “Create Primary DOS Partition,”and press Enter.
FDISK verifies the drive integrity. A message appears asking “Do you wish to use the
maximum available size for a Primary DOS Partition (Y/N)?”
12. Enter Yand press Enter to confirm that you want to use the maximum available partition
size.
FDISK verifies the drive integrity.
13. Press Esc to display the FDISK Options Menu.
14. Press Esc twice to exit to the DOS prompt.
15. Reboot the system.
Now that your drive has been partitioned, it must be formatted before use. If the drive is the
primary hard drive, boot with an MS-DOS boot diskette and format drive c (format c:). If
the drive is in the VersaBay III, follow steps 16 through 20.
16. Double click the My Computer icon to display its contents. Verify that drive D represents
your newly installed VersaBay III hard disk drive.
17. Right click the drive D icon and click Format.
18. Select Full, optionally enter a volume name in the Label field using up to11 characters, and
then click Start.
19. Verify the information given by the warning message and click OK to format the hard disk
drive.
The formatting process takes several minutes.
20. When the formatting process is complete, click Close, click OK, then click Close again.
A Windows Help screen displays giving you the option to run ScanDisk. When running
ScanDisk be sure to select drive D, the newly installed hard disk drive.
Note
Some disk compression and defragmentation programs may not work with a drive
formatted using FAT 32. Some older DOS applications and utilities may also be incompatible with
FAT 32.

8NEC Versa LX, LXi, and NEC Versa Dock Hard Disk Drive Cradle Pack
Windows NT 4.0
Windows NT®4.0 uses either the FAT 16 or NTFS format. FAT 16 can be partitioned using an
MS-DOS boot diskette with fdisk and format. NTFS must be partitioned and formatted using
Windows NT 4.0.
See the documentation supplied with your operating system for details on hard disk drive
formatting under Windows NT 4.0.
819-200611-001
12/99
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