"Jay West" <jwest at classiccmp.org> wrote: to answer questions like: does this bracket do this way or that way? also was that placed like that on purpose? Some machines (esp old ones) have been modified and you may want to bring it back to its nominal state (esp if you are investigating some strange behaviour). Another example is the 9825A where a flat cable does not follow the convention that the red stripe should be near side of the connector with the little triangle. On a machine with voltages ranging from -20 to +20 you'd better plug in stuff the right way. Having said that, I usually take pictures of the machine as I take it apart to make sure I can go back and check things. In the case of the 9825A I assumed that having the service manual (original with readable photos) would be sufficient. False! I had to check the location of the ground connections to be sure that the connector was going in the "wrong" way (red stripe away from the triangle). In fact the same flat cable plugs in the other way round (red stripe near the triangle) to the I/O connector, which leads me to believe that HP people at the time either ignored or were unaware of this convention. **vp