I have a laptop and an external cd-rom drive that isn't the usb type. I can't find any place to plug it in. Anyone have any ideas?

What type of connector does it have? Can you post a pic?

Life is more painless for those who are brainless.

Yes, I can send a picture but I don't know how to on this site. This is the first time I've used it.

You may have a CD drive that connected to aPCMCIA port. That port type is now called a PC port. There are many devices that could connect using that port but not all Laptops had the port. Additionally there were more than one type and I am not sure if they were compatible. Look at the link to see if the ends on the pictured device match what you have. If so, I believe the port had a cover to protect it. Should be on the side or possibly the rear.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PC_card

Unfortunately for me that site didn't help. I think I have whats called a "dock"....the whole thing is really big. The front of it looks like the front of a pc with the button you push to turn it on and the green light that probably goes on when it's turned on and it says "compact disc". When I got this laptop, used of course, the guy said it was ready to be used and I can get it going but can't figure out where to put this. It's supposed to have a high speed lan card and 56 K modem. Nobody seems to be able to figure it out.

Laptop docks are devices that the laptop slip into that have all the things you would normally have connected to a desktop PC. KBoard, mouse, Monitor, printer, etc.

Are there any names or model numbers on this dock?

What model is the laptop?

It's an old laptop Compaq LTE 5400 and the dock says cd-rom drive model no ujdcd6740 power supply class 1 laser product replace with compaq spare 6x cd-rom drive and some numbers. I hope that helps!

Are there any cables hanging off the unit? That number appears to be a driver number as well as a model number. Drivers are the necessary software to allow the hardware to work with Windows.

OK after some research I discovered what type of docking unit you have. It was designed to accept floppy drives, or CD drives, or zip drives. Do you have any of those drives?
The manufacturer was Matsushita - model UJDCD6740 The last verified operating system I found drivers for was Win95 so you may not get this thing to work for lack of a compatible driver. Can't find a picture of one or specs to fin out how it connected to the laptop. I am guessing either Serial port or parallel port.
Still looking for you, will post back if I find more. In the meantime answer my questions.

There are no cables hanging off the unit. It does have a floppy drive device in it already but no cd. It has Win 98 and it works. I loaded computserve on it but it says there is no modem. Since the guy I got it from said I would be able to use it as soon as I got it home. I tried to call him but he's on vacation, figures.

Well the floppy drive is not of much use to you. How about a network interface connection? Looks like a phone jack but slightly wider. Or the PC slot I referred to above?

Instead of guessing why not just read the manuals ???

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/s...

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bc/docs/s...

Walter Mitty...I looked everywhere on the net and couldn't find it but you seem to have come up with it! I'm going to check it out now. Thanks for your help!

Walter
Good find.

180secs on broadband surfing, saves two days on CN !!!

I tried the HP site but evidently you used better search parameters. I didn't get into the specs of this docking station but I still don't know how the laptop interfaces with the docking station. Couldn't find a picture of one. OP states there are no cables hanging from the unit. There has to be at least a AC power cord, although it could be a removable pigtail like a PSU has.

I'm waiting for a friend to come over to help me and I'm hoping that one of the little "doors" in the front that I can't get open is the place where the dock goes. In the laptop diagram it says HD Door so I have my fingers crossed!

Does your Laptop have a removable Hdrive?

ONH try http://h18000.www1.hp.com in future !

Thanks for all of your help everyone. The manual is especially helpful. My friend has taken the laptop home to his son who works in the field and he will figure it out for me. We're thinking that the pc card is old and not working for some reason because everything else seems to be. Thanks again to all who helped and gave me links.