How To Take Apart A Laptop

How to take apart a laptop, circumstances might demand that you open up your laptop to carry out some repairs. It is possible that you spilled something on it and you want to dry it or it may not be functioning properly and you want to take a look. Whatever the reason may be, this is a simple guide on how to completely take apart your laptop.

Step 1

Start the process by disconnecting the laptop from power supply, unlock the battery and slide it out from the laptop. Remove all the screws at the bottom of the laptop.  

Step 2

Remove the four screws securing the hard drive, pull the hard drive and disconnect it from the motherboard.

Step 3

Remove one or two screw holding the DVD drive. Push the DVD drive out from the laptop with a screwdriver and remove the DVD drive.

Step 4

With all the screws at the bottom of the laptop already removed, now use a small screwdriver to remove both hinge covers of the laptop screen.

Step 5

Now you can start removing the LCD screen. For a step by step guide on how to remove an LCD screen, click here

   

Step 6

Carefully release the LCD panel cables and remove the LCD panel.

   

Step 7

The LCD screen has been removed, lets move on to the keyboard. Press on the latches securing the keyboard with a sharp object, release the keyboard, lift it up and place upside down on the palm rest.

   

Step 8

Before you pull the keyboard cable from the connector on the motherboard, you will have to open up the connector. Unlock the cable by moving the connector lock , after the connector is unlocked you can pull the cable. Be very careful with the connector, if you accidentally damage the connector, you will have to replace the motherboard. Unlock the keyboard cable connector on the motherboard, pull the keyboard cable from the connector and remove the keyboard.

Step 9  

There are two antenna wires connected to the wireless card.White wire connects to the main connector on the card, while the Black wire connects to the auxiliary connector on the card. The colours of the wire might be different on other laptops. To disconnect the antenna wire from the wireless card, grasp or hold the connector with your fingers and unhook it from the card. The wireless card will pop up at an angle of about 35 degrees. Pull out the wireless card from the slot by holding the edges. 

Step 10
Normally the dial-up modem card is secured to the motherboard by two screws. Remove the two screws securing the dial-up modem card, to disconnect the modem from the motherboard lift it up from the motherboard and unplug the cable from the modem. The connector is located under the modem and you cannot see it until the modem is removed. After the modem is removed, disconnect the cable.

Step 11
To remove both memory modules, carefully release the latches on both sides of the memory slot with your fingers, the memory module will pop up at an angle of about 35 degrees, carefully pull the memory module out from the slot by holding the edges. Repeat the same process for the second memory module, if they are two.

   

Step 12

The CPU is locked in the socket, before you can remove the CPU, you will have to unlock the socket. Use a Flathead screwdriver and turn the socket screw to "Open" position. Lift up the CPU by the edges and remove from the motherboard, be careful there are a lot of fragile pins on the opposite side of the CPU.   

Step 13                                                                                                                                     Disconnect the cables connecting the laptop speakers to the motherboard. Remove the screws securing the laptop speakers and remove the speakers.

Step 14       

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 15                                                                                                                           

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 16                                                                                                                                

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 17                                                                                                                        

After all these steps have been done, carefully lift up the motherboard and remove the motherboard from the laptop base. 

Step 18         

At this stage now, your laptop is completely taken apart.