Can you send a pic of the pads that are damaged?I have one that I was using when I was a noob. The ports are removed from it (so you would have to wire up the disc drive/disc drive replacement) and I tore up some of the test pads by the header where the controller port board connects to (so you would have to relocate in a different spot, not a problem). I would let it go for $10 shipped. Let me know if you're interested. If you're not able to get it working I'll refund you so that it's just the cost of shipping.
There are definitely other components you can solder to on the bottom of the board. I just use the continuity function on the multimeter and follow tracesI guess I'd just have to follow the traces and solder to them?
Gotcha. I'll wait a couple days to see if anyone else has one that doesn't have messed up pads, but if not then I'll take that off your handsThere are definitely other components you can solder to on the bottom of the board. I just use the continuity function on the multimeter and follow traces