Replacing A Motherboard On A Laptop

Replacing a motherboard on a laptop, the reason could be that you want to upgrade the motherboard of your laptop to a better and more efficient one or that it is bad and cannot be fixed. The process of replacing the motherboard may take up to two or three hours depending on your expertise and experience with how to disassemble electronics devices. 

Before starting the process, it is necessary you ensure that the new motherboard is compatible with your laptop and that you have the right tools to carry out the process. If you have doubt about the compatibility  your laptop with a particular type of motherboard, please refer to the motherboard manual or go to the manufacturer's website. Things that you need to carry out the process are a set of screwdriver and a compatible motherboard.

Step 1

Turn off your laptop, unplug it from power supply and turn the laptop upside down. Unlock the battery and slide it out from the laptop.

Step 2      

Remove screws securing the heat sink and CPU cover, and then remove the cover. Now remove the screws securing a metal bracket that is over the CPU heat sink. Remove the bracket holding the heat sink and lift up the heat sink from the CPU. If you desire to replace or change the CPU, you can do it right away. Just unlock the CPU socket by turning the screw into an open position and carefully lift up the CPU from the socket on the motherboard

Step 3

Remove the screws holding the memory modules cover and then remove the cover. To remove the memory module, spread the latches on both sides of the module until it pops up at a angle of about 35 degrees. After releasing the memory module hold the memory module from its sides and pull out from the socket. Repeat the same process for the second stick, if there are two memory modules.

Step 4

Remove the screws securing the modem card. Carefully lift up the modem and disconnect the cable connected to it.

Step 5

Remove the screw holding the DVD drive and pull the DVD drive from the laptop.

Step 6

Remove the screws securing the hard drive cover and pull the hard drive to disconnect it from the motherboard before removing it from the laptop.

Step 7

Now remove all the screws at the back of the laptop, ensure that no screw is left.

Step 8

Turn the laptop over and start removing the keyboard. You can use a flat head screwdriver for this process. After you have successfully disengaged all the plastic latches, lift up the keyboard and remove the keyboard bezel. Then turn the keyboard over and place it so that you can access the connector on the motherboard. Before you pull the cable and remove the keyboard, unlock the connector by moving the lock away from the base, after the connector is open, pull the cable and remove the keyboard.

Step 9

Disconnect the cables connecting the laptop speakers to the motherboard. Remove the screws securing the laptop speakers and remove the speakers.

Step 10

Remove the laptop palm rest with the touch pad. Start by removing the screws securing the palm rest, disconnect the touch pad cable from the motherboard.

Step 11

Remove the screws holding the laptop front or top cover to the laptop base, with some care pull the video cable connector out from the motherboard. Lift up the laptop cover or display assembly and remove it from the laptop base.

Step 12

Remove the screws securing the laptop fan and unplug the fan cable from the motherboard. Lift up the laptop power jack from the base. Disconnect the laptop CMOS battery cable.

Step 13

After all these steps have been done, carefully lift up the motherboard and remove the motherboard from the laptop base. Now you can replace the motherboard and assemble it back.