In this guide I explain how to disassemble an HP Pavilion dv7 notebook.

To be precise, I’m taking apart an HP Pavilion dv7t-1000 notebook but you should be able to use these instructions for all models in the Pavilion dv7 line.

The guide will show how to access both memory modules and hard drives if you are upgrading the notebook, remove most internal components, access and clean the cooling fan.

Before you start, turn off the notebook and remove the battery.

If you need spare part for your HP Pavilion dv7 notebook, you can search here.

STEP 1.

Remove (loosen) four screws securing the hard drive and memory cover. Remove the cover.

STEP 2.

Remove four screws securing hard drives (two screws per hard drive).

Slide the hard drive 1 to the left until it’s disconnected from the motherboard. Remove the hard drive 1.

Slide the hard drive 2 to the right until it’s disconnected from the motherboard. Remove the hard drive 2.

STEP 3.

Remove both memory (RAM) modules.

Disconnect two antenna cables from the wireless card. These laptop has three antenna cables but only two are used.

One of the antenna cables connected to the main contact on the wireless card and the second one is connected to the auxiliary contact. All three antenna cables are labeled.

Remove two screws securing the wireless card. Remove the card.

STEP 4.

Remove one screw securing the CD/DVD drive.

Slide the CD/DVD drive to the left to disconnect it from the motherboard.

Remove the CD/DVD drive.

STEP 5.

Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the notebook.

The green circled screw secures the keyboard.

Don’t forget to remove two screws hidden in the CD/DVD drive bay.

STEP 6.

Start separating the speaker cover from the notebook base.

You can use a guitar pick as a case cracker. Insert the guitar pick between the speaker cover and case and slowly move along the side.

STEP 7.

Lift up the speaker cover. Be careful, it’s still connected to the motherboard.

In order to remove the cable, you’ll have to unlock the connector first.

Move the brown clip about 2 millimeters in the direction shown by two arrows. The clip must stay attached to the connector base.

On the picture below the connector is shown in the unlocked position.

STEP 8.

Now you can remove the speaker cover.

STEP 9.

Remove four screw securing the keyboard.

STEP 10.

Lift up the keyboard from the base and access the cable connector underneath.

STEP 11.

Carefully unlock the keyboard cable connector.

Move the brown clip about 2 millimeters in the direction shown by two arrows. The brown clip must stay attached to the connector base.

If you damage the connector, the keyboard will not work when you assemble the notebook back together.

Well… I broke the connector. I removed thousands of laptop keyboards before but I broke this connector!

As you see, the left pin on the brown clip is missing.

No panic! I still can use this clip to lock the connector.

You’ll find more info here: Fixing damaged keyboard connector on a laptop motherboard.

STEP 12.

Pull Wi-Fi antenna cables though the opening in the cover.

Remove three screws securing the speaker assembly.

Disconnect the speaker cable (green arrow) from the motherboard.

STEP 13.

Remove the speaker assembly.

STEP 14.

Disconnect the video cable from the connector on the motherboard.

Remove six screws securing display hinges (three screws per hinge).

STEP 15.

Separate the display assembly from the notebook base.

In the next post I will explain how to take apart the display panel assembly and remove the LCD screen with inverter board.

By the way, it’s not necessary to separate the display panel assemble from the base in order to take it apart.

STEP 16.

Disconnect and remove the CMOS battery.

Remove all marked screws from the bottom. The green circled screw is hidden in the CD/DVD drive bay.

STEP 17.

Remove all screws securing the top cover assembly.

Disconnect the touch pad cable from the motherboard.

STEP 18.

Start separating the top cover assemble from the notebook base.

You can use same trick with the guitar pick shown in the step 6.

STEP 19.

Remove the top cover assembly.

Here’s the back side of the top cover assembly.

STEP 20.

Disconnect the USB and audio board cables from the motherboard (green arrows).

Disconnect the cooling fan cable from the motherboard (yellow arrow).

Remove four screws securing the motherboard.

STEP 21.

Lift up the right side of the motherboard as it shown on the picture below and disconnect the DC-IN jack cable.

STEP 22.

Remove the motherboard from the notebook base.

On the opposite side of the motherboard you can access the processor (CPU) when the heat sink is removed.

The motherboard is dead? Check out these motherboard repair offers.

Here’s the notebook base without motherboard.

The USB board, audio board, cooling fan and DC-IN jack are mounted on the base.

In order to remove the cooling fan, simply remove two screws securing the fan.

As you see, the cooling fan is dusty and has to be cleaned.

In the following guide I explain how to disassemble HP Pavilion dv6500, dv6600, dv6700, dv6800 notebooks. In this particular case I’m taking apart an HP Pavilion dv6700 notebook.

I believe this guide will work for some other models in the Pavilion dv6000 line.

You can use these instructions for removing and replacing all main notebook components.

If you need spare parts for HP Pavilion dv6500/dv6600/dv6700/dv6800 notebooks, you can search here.

Turn off the notebook and unplug the AC adapter.

STEP 1.

Remove the battery.

Remove four screws securing the hard drive and memory (RAM) covers. Remove both covers.

STEP 2.

Lift up the right side of the hard drive assembly to disconnect it from the motherboard.

Remove the hard drive assembly.

STEP 3.

Remove both memory (RAM) modules.

Disconnect two antenna cables (black and gray) from the wireless card. Remove two screws securing the wireless card to the motherboard. Remove the wireless card.

By the way, in this step you can access the CMOS (RTC) battery.

STEP 4.

Remove one screw securing the CD/DVD drive to the laptop base.

Pull the CD/DVD drive from the notebook and remove it.

STEP 5.

Remove all screws from the bottom of the notebook.

Do not forget:
- three screws in the CD/DVD drive bay (yellow).
- one screw in the hard drive bay (green).
- two hex studs under memory slots (orange).

Mark all removed screws somehow so you don’t forget their location when assemble the notebook back together.

STEP 6.

Carefully lift up the right side of the power button board cover.

There are two cables connected to the motherboard. We’ll disconnect these cables after removing the keyboard in the STEP 8.

STEP 7.

Now, when the power button board cover separated from the laptop case, you can remove the keyboard as it shown on the picture below.

STEP 8.

Carefully disconnect the keyboard cable from the motherboard.

For more detailed keyboard removal instructions please follow this guide for HP Pavilion dv6000 laptop.

These instructions should be identical for HP Pavilion dv6500, dv6600, dv6700, dv6800 notebooks.

STEP 9.

Disconnect two cables running from the power button boar cover.

There are no locks on these connectors. Simply pull both cables from connectors.

STEP 10.

Turn the cover upside down and disconnect one cable from the power button board.

STEP 11.

Remove the cover.

STEP 12.

Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard.

This connector is located close to the left display hinge.

STEP 13.

Pull both wireless card antenna cables through the opening in the top cover. Unroute both antenna cables.

Remove two screws securing the display assembly hinges.

STEP 14.

Lift up and separate the display assembly from the notebook base.

In one of the previous posts I explain how to disassemble the display assemble and remove the LCD screen from an HP Pavilion dv6000.

These instructions should be identical for HP Pavilion dv6500, dv6600, dv6700, dv6800 notebooks.

STEP 15.

Remove five screws securing the top cover assembly.

Disconnect the touch pad cable from the motherboard.

STEP 16.

Start separating the plastic cover from the notebook base. You can use a piece of soft plastic (I’m using a guitar pick) to separate the cover from the base.

The cover has been removed.

STEP 17.

Separate the top cover assembly from the notebook base.

Again, as a case cracker I’m using the same guitar pick.

STEP 18.

Remove the top cover assembly.

The top cover assembly has been removed.

STEP 19.

Disconnect the Bluetooth module cable from the motherboard.

Remove two screws securing the Bluetooth module.

Remove the module.

STEP 20.

Remove four screws securing the express card slot.

Slide the slot board to the right and disconnect it from the motherboard.

STEP 21.

There is only one screws securing the motherboard to the notebook base.

Remove these screw.

STEP 22.

Start removing the motherboard as it shown on the picture below.

When the motherboard is lifted up, disconnect one cable from the audio board.

There are two more cables connected to the motherboard and we’ll remove them in the next step.

STEP 23.

Turn the motherboard upside down and disconnect two more cables.

STEP 24.

The motherboard has been removed.

The audio board and power connector board are still connected to the notebook base.

STEP 25.

Loosen four screws securing the cooling assembly (heat sink and fan) to the motherboard.

STEP 26.

Lift up and remove the cooling assembly.

Now you can access the processor (CPU).

In this model the power connector (DC power jack) is not soldered directly to the motherboard.

The power connector is mounted on a separate board.

If the power connector fails, you can desolder it from the board and replace with a new one or replace the entire power connector board.

In this guide I explain how to clean the cooling fan in a Toshiba Satellite P305D laptop. Also this guide should work for the following Toshiba laptops: Satellite P300, Satellite P300D, Satellite P305.

My customer complained that his laptop overheats and shuts off while running a game. Apparently, the heat sink got clogged with dust and needed a good cleaning.

There is no easy access to the cooling fan in a Satellite P305D laptop. You can see the air intake on the bottom of the laptop, but the fan is covered with a perforated metal sheet, so blowing air into the air intake will not be enough for cleaning the fan.

You can get better access to the fan under the keyboard. Let’s remove the keyboard.

Remove three screws securing the keyboard bezel. These screws located under the battery.

Carefully lift up and remove the keyboard bezel.

Remove two screws securing the keyboard.

Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest. It’s not necessary to disconnect keyboard cable from the motherboard.

The cooling fan is still covered  but at least now you can blow compressed air into the fan and remove all dust from the heat sink.

For cleaning laptop fans I use compressed air duster.

First. Blow compressed air into the cooling fan through two holes on the top cover.
Second. Change the direction and blow air into the fan grill on the side. Also, blow air into the air intake on the bottom.

Change air direction two-three times until there is no dust coming out of the laptop.

In this guide I explain how to access the memory module installed into the internal slot on a Dell Latitude D520 laptop. You can use this guide for removing/replacing the keyboard or replacing/upgrading laptop memory.

Dell Latitude D520 laptop has two memory slots. One of them can be easily accessed through the door on the bottom of the laptop. The second memory slot is hidden under the keyboard.

Before you start, don’t forget to turn off the laptop and remove the battery.

On the following picture you can see the memory module installed into the external slot located on the bottom of the laptop.

We’ll start removing the keyboard with removing the bezel.

Insert a flat head screwdriver under the right side of the bezel and carefully lift it up.

Continue removing the keyboard bezel with your fingers.

Now you can remove two screws securing the keyboard.

Carefully lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest.

Under the keyboard you get access to the cooling fan.

If the cooling fan looks dirty, you can remove dust with compressed air. I usually use “Dust off” computer compressed air.

By the way, if the laptop shuts down on its own while running multiple applications, most likely it happens because of CPU overheating. In this case cleaning the cooling fan and heat sink will fix the problem.

In order to access the memory module installed in the internal slot, you’ll have to turn the keyboard as it shown on the picture below.

It’s not necessary to disconnect the keyboard from the motherboard. Leave it connected.

To remove the memory module simply spread latches on both sides until the module pops up at a 30 degree angle.

Now you can pull the memory module from the internal slot and replace it with a new one if needed.

Dell Latitude D520 can take up to 4GB memory total. You can install up to 2GB memory sticks into each slot.

Dell recommends using PC2-5300 DDR2-667 200pin SDRAM SODIMM modules.

It’s possible to use faster memory modules, for example PC2-6400 DDR2-800 should work fine, but they will clock down and run at PC2-5300 speed.

It’s not necessary to change any settings after upgrading laptop memory. The laptop will detect and configure new memory on the first start up.

In the following guide I remove the motherboard from a Compaq Presario CQ50 laptop. Also this guide should work for Compaq Presario CQ 60/CQ70 and HP G50/G60/G70 laptops.

If you need replacement parts, you can find them here. Just search by the part name and laptop model.

Start laptop disassembly with removing the battery.

STEP 1.

Remove memory, hard drive and wireless card covers.

STEP 2.

Remove three screws securing the hard drive assembly.

Slide the hard drive assembly to the right, disconnect it from the motherboard and remove from the laptop.

STEP 3.

Remove both memory modules.

Disconnect two antenna cables from the wireless card. Remove two screws and remove the wireless card from the laptop.

STEP 4.

Remove one screw securing the DVD drive.

Pull the DVD drive from the laptop.

STEP 5.

Remove all screws from the bottom of the laptop.

Disconnect the CMOS battery cable from the motherboard.

STEP 6.

Carefully lift up the keyboard as it shown on the picture below.

STEP 7.

Access the keyboard cable connector underneath the keyboard.

Unlock the connector before removing the keyboard.

In order to unlock the connector you’ll have to move the locking clip (white) about 2-3 millimeters towards the LCD screen.

The locking clip must stat attached to the connector base (dark brown) as it shown on the picture below.

Now you can release the cable and remove the keyboard.

STEP 8.

Unlock the power button cable connector.

On the following picture you can see the connector in the unlocked state.

Now you can remove the power button board cable from the connector.

STEP 9.

Remove the plastic cover.

STEP 10.

Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard.

Disconnect the webcam cable.

Pull the wireless card antenna cable through the opening in the top cover.

STEP 11.

Remove screws securing the display hinges.

STEP 12.

Remove the display assembly from the laptop.

In the next post I explain how to remove the LCD screen, inverter board and hinges from the display assembly in HP G50/G60/G70 laptops. It’s similar for Compaq Presario CQ50/CQ60/CQ70 laptops.

STEP 13.

Disconnect the touch pad cable from the motherboard.

Remove screws securing the top cover assembly.

STEP 14.

Start separating the top cover assembly from the laptop base.

You can use a guitar pick in order to split the laptop case.

STEP 15.

The top cover assembly has been removed.

STEP 16.

Remove one screw securing the left speaker.

Remove the left speaker from the base.

STEP 17.

Remove four screws securing the motherboard.

Disconnect four cables from the motherboard.

STEP 18.

Remove the motherboard from the laptop base.

The motherboard is dead? Check out these motherboard repair offers.

STEP 19.

Disconnect the cooling fan cable from the motherboard.

STEP 20.

Loosen four screws securing the cooling fan assembly.

STEP 21.

Remove the cooling fan assembly from the laptop.

STEP 22.

In this model the power jack is not soldered to the motherboard.

You can unplug the power jack cable from the motherboard and replace it with a new one if needed.l

In this guide I explain how to clean or replace the cooling fan assembly in a Dell XPS M1530 laptop. The cooling fan can be accessed from the door on the bottom of the laptop and replacing/cleaning procedure takes only about 10 minutes.

I’m taking this XPS M1530 laptop apart because the cooling fan started making noise and laptop shuts off on its own when hot. I will replace the fan, clean the heat sink and apply fresh thermal grease on the CPU and video chip.

If you need a new cooling fan, you can find it here. You can buy just the fan or entire heat sink assembly.

STEP 1.

Turn off the laptop, unplug the power adapter and remove the battery.

Unscrew five screws securing the memory/fan cover and remove the cover.

STEP 2.

Remove six screws securing the heat sink assembly to the motherboard.

Disconnect the cooling fan cable from the motherboard.

By the way, here’s how you can upgrade memory modules in this laptop.

STEP 3.

Remove the heat sink assembly.

STEP 4.

Remove four screws securing the cooling fan to the heat sink.

STEP 5.

Lift up and remove the cooling fan.

STEP 6.

The heat sink is clogged with dust and has to be cleaned. You can use canned air to blow off dust from the heat sink and fan.

STEP 7.

Before installing the heat sink assembly back into the laptop take a look at thermal grease on the processor and video chip.

If thermal grease dried out, it has to be replaced.

Remove old grease from the heat sink using a piece of paper towel soaked in 99% alcohol.

Do not remove thermal pad. It can be reused.

STEP 8.

Using same paper towel remove old thermal grease from the processor and video chip.

As you see, I cleaned only the top side of the NVIDIA chip. There are many very small chips buried under thermal grease and I was afraid to damage them.

STEP 9.

Apply a small drop of fresh thermal grease on the processor and NVIDIA chip before installing the heat sink assembly.

I’m using Shin-Etsu gray thermal grease.

In the next post I explain how to remove the LCD sceen and inverter board from a Dell XPS M1530 laptop.

In the following guide I explain how to disassemble a Sony Vaio VGN-BX series laptop. In my case, I’m working with a Sony Vaio VGN-BX760 laptop.

You can use this guide for one of the following projects:
1. Removing and replacing the keyboard.
2. Removing and replacing the cooling fan.
3. Removing and replacing the CMOS battery.
4. Removing, replacing or upgrading memory modules in the internal or external slots.
4. Removing and replacing the hard drive and CD/DVD optical drive.

Need spare parts for your Sony Vaio VGN-BX laptop? Find spare parts here. Search by the laptop model number and part name.

STEP 1.

Turn off the laptop, unplug the AC power adapter and remove the battery.

Remove two screws found in the battery compartment. These screws securing the keyboard cover.

STEP 2.

Remove two rubber screw seals. You’ll find two screws hidden under those seals.

You can remove the screw seal with a sharp object. The bottom part of the seal is sticky. Glue the seal somewhere on the laptop so it doesn’t get lost.

STEP 3.

Start removing the keyboard/hinge cover from the laptop.

Be careful because the power button board and finger scan device are attached to the cover and connected to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable.

STEP 4.

Remove the keyboard/hinge cover.

Now you can access the ribbon cable and disconnect it from the motherboard.

It might be not necessary to disconnect this cable, simply move the cover aside and secure it somehow. I’m showing how to disconnect the cable just for your convenience.

In order to disconnect the connector you’ll have to lift up the locking clip about 2 millimeters. After that you can pull the cable from the connector.

The locking clip (dark brown) must stat attached to the connector base (white).

STEP 5.

Remove three screws securing the keyboard.

There are two ribbon cables connecting the keyboard to the motherboard:
1. The pointing stick cable.
2. The keyboard cable.

STEP 6.

Move the keyboard towards the LCD screen so you can access the pointing stick cable.

STEP 7.

Unlock the connector and release the cable.

STEP 8.

Carefully turn the keyboard upside down and access the cable connector underneath. The locking clip must stat attached to the connector base.

STEP 9.

Unlock the connector and release the cable. The locking clip must stat attached to the connector base.

STEP 10.

Remove all screws securing the aluminum cover.

STEP 11.

Remove the cover.

Under the cover you get access to the cooling fan, memory module in the internal slot, CMOS battery.

STEP 12.

Remove/loosen five screws securing the heat sink and cooling fan assembly.

Disconnect the cooling fan cable from the power board.

You’ll have to disconnect the video cable from the motherboard because the fan cable routed under the video cable harness.

STEP 13.

Remove the heat sink and cooling fan assembly.

STEP 14.

Remove the memory module from the internal slot.

Another memory module, hard drive and optical CD/DVD drive can be access and removed from the bottom of the laptop.

In this guide I explain how to remove the keyboard and clean the cooling fan in an HP Compaq 6515b laptop. Most likely this guide will work for some other HP Compaq model. If it works for you, please mention the laptop model number in the comments below.

Also, you can use this guide for accessing and replacing the memory module installed in the hidden slot under the keyboard.

STEP 1.

Turn off the laptop and remove the battery.
Remove one screw securing the memory cover. Remove the cover.

STEP 2.

Loosen three screws securing the keyboard on the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 3.

There are four latches in the top row.

Unlock the latch by moving it towards the touch pad.

STEP 4.

Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest. It is not necessary to disconnect the keyboard from the motherboard.

You disconnect the keyboard only if you want to replace it with a new keyboard.

STEP 5.

The cooling fan is located in the top left corner.

If the cooling fan and heat sink are dusty, you can clean them using canned air or air compressor. Blow air inside the fan until all dust is gone.

Also, under the keyboard you can access the hidden memory slot and CMOS battery.

In the following guide I will remove and replace the power board in an Acer TravelMate 3260 series laptop. Most likely my guide will work for some other Acer TravelMate laptops but I don’t know all models. If this guide fits your laptop, please mention the model number in comments after the post.

In Acer TravelMate 3260 laptop power from AC adapter goes to the motherboard through the power board. When the power board goes bad, the laptop stops working at all and appears to be dead. In order to get access and replace the power board we’ll have to disassemble the entire laptop.

STEP 1.

If you need spare parts for your Acer TravelMate 3260, you can find them here.

First of all, turn off the laptop and remove the battery.

Remove two screws securing the switch cover on the back of the laptop.

STEP 2.

Start removing the switch cover and lift it up by the hinge cover.
Continue removing the cover with your hinges.

STEP 3.

Remove the switch cover.

STEP 4.

Remove two screws securing the keyboard.

STEP 5.

Carefully lift up the keyboard from the laptop base and place it upside down on the palm rest so you can access the cable connector underneath.

STEP 6.

You have to unlock the connector before you can pull the cable and remove the keyboard.

On the picture below you see connector in the unlocked position.
Pull the cable and remove the keyboard.

The keyboard has been removed.

STEP 7.

Remove the hard drive and memory/Wi-Fi covers.

STEP 8.

Remove one screw securing the hard drive assembly.

STEP 9.

Pull the hard drive to the left and disconnect it from the motherboard.
Remove the hard drive from the laptop.

STEP 10.

Remove one screw securing the optical CD/DVD drive to the base.
Push the drive from the laptop with your finger.
Remove optical drive from the laptop.

It is not necessary to disconnect memory modules, wireless card, modem card and CMOS (RTC) battery for the purpose of my guide . You can leave them connected to the motherboard.

STEP 11.

Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the laptop.
Disconnect cables I pointed with yellow arrows.
Disconnect two antenna cables from the wireless card (green arrows).

STEP 12.

Remove one screw from the back side of the laptop.

STEP 13.

Disconnect the video cable connector.
Unroute both Wi-Fi antenna cables and pull them through the opening in the motherboard.
Remove four screws securing LCD panel hinges.

STEP 14.

Remove the LCD panel.

STEP 15.

Remove five screws securing the top cover assembly.
Disconnect the touchpad cable.

STEP 16.

Start separating the top cover assembly from the laptop base.

STEP 17.

Remove the top cover assembly.

STEP 18.

Remove two screws securing the motherboard.

STEP 19.

Start removing the motherboard from the top left corner.

Release and lift up the top right corner of the board.

Carefully pull the motherboard from the base assembly.

STEP 20.

On the picture below you see the power board attached to the motherboard.

The DC power jack and power switch are located on the power board. If the DC power jack is broken, you can repair it using this technique.

Remove two screws securing the power board.

Disconnect the power board from the motherboard.

The power board part number is printed right in the middle. It’s DA0ZR1PB6D1 (REV:D). You can find a replacement power board here.

STEP 21.

While the motherboard is removed from the base, you can clean the cooling module.
Loosen six screws securing the heat sink assembly.
Disconnect fan cable from the motherboard.

Remove the heat sink assembly and blow off dust using compressed air.

In this guide I remove the motherboard and repair the DC power jack in a Dell Inspiron B130 laptop. You can use same instructions for Dell Inspiron 1300 and Inspiron B120 laptops. All three models have same type of body.

In my case the power jack started failing intermittently. The laptop started switching from AC to battery power on its own. In order to switch it back to the AC power I had to fiddle with the adapter plug and find the right position. I tested the laptop with another adapter and it failed exactly the same way. I came to a conclusion that the DC power jack is not making good contact with the motherboard and has to be repaired.

In Dell Inspiron 1300/B120/B130 laptop the DC power jack is soldered to the motherboard. If the jack is broken, you’ll have to unsolder it and replace with a new jack.

Let’s start removing the motherboard.

STEP 1.

Check out spare parts for Dell Inspiron 1300/B120/B130.

Before you start taking the laptop apart, do not forget to turn off the power and remove the battery.

Lift up the right side of the keyboard cover with a small screwdriver and continue removing the cover with your fingers.

STEP 2.

After the cover is removed you can access two screws securing the keyboard. Remove both screws.

STEP 3.

Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest.

STEP 4.

Now you can access the cable connector and release the cable.

STEP 5.

Unlock the connector, pull the cable and remove the keyboard.

On the following picture the connector is displayed in the unlocked position.

STEP 6.

Remove two screws securing display hinges on the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 7.

Remove two screws securing display hinges on the back side of the laptop.

STEP 8.

Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard.
Disconnect the wireless card antenna cable.

STEP 9.

Remove the display panel assembly.

Here’s an example of removing the LCD screen from a Dell display panel.

STEP 10.

From the bottom of the laptop you can access the hard drive, memory modules, wireless card, optical CD/DVD drive and heat sink.

STEP 11.

Remove the hard drive cover.
Pull the hard drive assembly to the left and remove it from the laptop.

STEP 12.

Remove one screw securing the optical CD/DVD drive to the laptop base.
Pull the drive from the laptop and remove it.

STEP 13.

It’s not necessary to remove both memory modules and wireless card for the purpose of this guide but you have to disconnect the Wi-Fi antenna cable.

STEP 14.

Loosen four silver screws securing the heat sink.

STEP 15.

Pull the heat sink up and disconnect it from the processor.
As you see, in my laptop the heat sink is clogged with dust and needs a good cleaning.

STEP 16.

Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 17.

Remove eight screws securing the top cover.
Disconnect the touch pad cable.
Disconnect the lid close switch cable.
Disconnect the CMOS (RTC) battery.

In this model the lid close switch is discrete module and mounted under the fight hinge.
If the lid close switch failed, you can remove it and replace with a new one or simply unplug the faulty switch from the motherboard and use the laptop without it.

STEP 18.

Separate the top cover assembly from the laptop base and remove the cover.

STEP 19.

Remove five screws securing the motherboard.
Disconnect the speaker cable from the motherboard.

STEP 20.

Start removing the motherboard from the right side as it shown on the picture below.

STEP 21.

Remove motherboard from the laptop base.

The DC power jack is soldered directly to the motherboard.

I assumed that the power jack is not making good contact with the motherboard and I was correct.

As you see, there is a crack in the solder joint around the “+” pin.
The “+” pin got oxidized and not making good contact with the motherboard.

If you resolder the jack without cleaning the “+” pin, your repair will not last.

It is necessary to unsloder the power jack, clean all contacts and solder it back to the motherboard.

You’ll find more detailed instructing in this guide for fixing failed DC power jack in a laptop.

On the following picture you see the same jack soldered back to the motherboard.
You can find a new power jack for Dell Inspiron 1300/B120/B130 here for less than $8.