In this guide I will be taking apart a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ series laptop. In my case I’m working with a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ330p laptop but the guide should work for the entire VGN-SZ line.

In you need replacement parts, search here.

STEP 1.

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

Remove one screw securing the keyboard.

STEP 2.

There are two latches securing the keyboard. They are located above the F2 and Insert keys.

STEP 3.

Using a small screwdriver press on the locking latch above the Insert key and lift up the right side of the keyboard.

STEP 4.

Do the same with the second latch and lift up the keyboard from the laptop base.

STEP 5.

Place the keyboard upside down on the palm rest so you can access the cable connector underneath.

STEP 5.

In order to unlock the cable connector move the black clip about 2 millimeters towards the touch pad. The clip must stay attached to the connector base.

If you break the connector, you’ll have to remove the motherboard. Work very carefully.

STEP 6.

Release the keyboard cable. Remove the keyboard and replace it with a new one if needed.

STEP 7.

Remove four screw securing the heat sink cover. Remove the cover.
Remove two screws securing the memory cover. Remove the cover.

STEP 8.

Remove two screw securing the CPU heat sink.

STEP 9.

Remove heat sink from the laptop.

Now you can clean the cooling fan and heat sink with compressed air.
Also, you get an access to the CPU.

STEP 10.

Both memory modules could be access through the door on the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 11.

Remove four red screws securing the switch cover.
Remove three yellow screws securing the palm rest.

STEP 12.

Carefully lift up and remove the switch cover.

STEP 13.

Remove three screw securing the palm rest.
Unlock the touch pad cable connector and release the cable.

In order to unlock the connector simply lift up the right side of the locking clip with your finger nail.

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

STEP 14.

Release the touch pad cable and remove the palm rest assembly.

When the palm rest assembly is removed you get an access to the hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card and CMOS battery.

STEP 15.

Remove three screws securing the hard drive assembly.

Disconnect the hard drive cable connector from the motherboard.

STEP 16.

Remove the hard drive assembly from the laptop.

If you are replacing or upgrading the hard drive you’ll have to transfer the mounting bracket and cable from the old drive to a new one.

STEP 17.

Remove one screw securing the DVD drive.

STEP 18.

Slid the DVD drive to the right to disconnect it from the motherboard.

There is an adapter between the DVD drive and motherboard. This adapter has to stay attached to the motherboard.

STEP 19.

Remove DVD drive from the laptop.

STEP 20.

In order to remove the wireless card, disconnect two antenna cable from the card, remove two screws securing the card and pull the card from the slot on the motherboard.

If you would like to replace the CMOS battery, simply unplug it from the motherboard and replace with a new one.

In one of the previous guides I explain how to remove the LCD screen and inverter board from a Sony Vaio VGN-SZ series laptop.

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 will help you to remove and replace the cooling fan in a Dell Latitude D600 laptop. The cooling fan in this model is buried deep inside the laptop under the top cover. Also you can use this guide for cleaning the cooling module and removing dust from the heat sink and fan.

If your laptops shuts down on its own without any warning, most likely it happens because of overheating. Make sure the cooling fan works and the heat sink is not clogged with dust. Replace the fan if it failed or clean the heat sink if it’s clogged.

Before you start, turn off the laptop, unplug the AC adapter and remove the battery.

When you are replacing the cooling fan, it is not necessary to remove memory, hard drive, wireless card or optical drive. I did that only because I was upgrading the laptop.

STEP 1.

Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 2.

Lift up the switch cover with a small screwdriver. Continue removing the cover with your fingers.

STEP 3.

When the switch cover is removed you can access two screws securing the keyboard. Remove these screws.

STEP 4.

Lift up the keyboard and access the cable. Disconnect the keyboard cable from the motherboard.
Search for new keyboards here.

STEP 5.

Remove three (red) screws securing display hinges.
Remove one (yellow) screw securing the video cable ground.
Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard.

STEP 6.

Remove and replace the LCD assembly.
Take a look at this guide for the LCD screen removal instructions.

STEP 7.

Remove three screws securing the top cover.
Disconnect the touchpad cable from the motherboard.

STEP 8.

Start separating the top cover from the base with your fingers.

STEP 9.

Remove the top cover assembly.

STEP 10.

Now you can clean the cooling module (fan and heat sink) using compressed air. In order to replace the fan, continue laptop disassembly.

Loosen four screws securing the heat sink.
Lift up and remove the heat sink.

STEP 11.

Remove two screws securing the cooling fan.
Disconnect fan cable from the motherboard.

STEP 12.

Remove and replace the cooling fan with a new one. You can find a new replacement fan for Dell Latitude D600 laptop here.

In this guide I explain how to disassemble Sony Vaio TZ series laptops in order to remove and replace the hard drive. As an example I took a Sony Vaio TZ130N laptop (Model: PCG-4L3L). In this little laptop the hard drive is buried deep inside the case and we’ll have to disassemble the whole thing apart.

I assume that my guide will work for the entire Sony Vaio TZ line of laptops. If it works for you, please mention the model number in the comments below.

Do not forget to turn off the laptop and remove the battery. Work in static-free environment.

STEP 1.

Remove the memory cover from the bottom.

Pull the memory module from the slot.

You don’t have to remove the memory module in order to access and replace the hard drive. I’m doing that just to show where you can find the memory module.

STEP 2.

Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the laptop.

There are three more screws hidden under three rubber seals.

You can remove these rubber seals with a sharp object. Remove all three screws found under the seals.

Remove one more screw found under the square rubber seal located close to the hinge.

STEP 3.

Very carefully remove the plastic cover from the left hinge. It’s not easy. I spent about 5 minutes trying to figure out how to remove the cover. It has a couple of plastic latches inside and you can remove it using a small flat head screwdriver.

The cover has been removed.

Fortunately, you have to remove only one cover from the left hinge. This cover protects the power jack.

STEP 4.

If you have any SD card or cover inside the slot on the front of the laptop, remove both of them.

Start separating the top cover (keyboard) assembly as it shown on the picture below.

Work with your fingers until the top cover separated from the base.

Place the top cover (keyboard) assembly upside down on the palm rest and disconnect the cable from the motherboard.

Remove the top cover (keyboard) assembly.

STEP 5.

You cannot access the hard drive until you remove the SD slot/USB board.

Remove two screws securing the board and unplug the cable from the motherboard.

Lift up and remove the SD slot/USB board.

STEP 6.

The hard drive is mounted under the metal bracket. Remove one screw securing the hard drive bracket.

Remove the hard drive bracket.

Lift up the hard drive and disconnect the hard drive cable.

In order to release the cable you’ll have to unlock the connector first. Very carefully lift up the black piece on the connector. Pull the cable from the connector.

The hard drive has been removed. If you are replacing the hard drive, you’ll have to transfer four rubber corners to a new drive.

My Sony Vaio TZ130N laptop had a Toshiba 1.8″ 100GB hard drive (MK1011GAH) installed. It’s same type of hard drives found in iPods. These 1.8″ hard drives are not cheap but you can find them relatively inexpensive here.

In the following guide I will take apart a Dell Vostro 1510 notebook. You can use this guide for removing almost all internal parts from the notebook base. I think these instructions might work for some other Dell Vostro notebooks, not just a Vostro 1510. If it fits your laptop, please mention the model in the comments below.

If you need spare parts for your Vostro 1510 laptop, you can search for used and new parts here.

Before you start the disassembly process do not forget to unplug the  power adapter and battery.

STEP 1.

Remove hard drive and memory covers.

STEP 2.

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

Remove the hard drive. As you see it’s a SATA hard drive. If you are replacing the hard drive, any large 2.5″ SATA hard drive should work just fine.

STEP 3.

Remove both memory modules. In a Dell Vostro 1510 you can install up to 4GB RAM (2GB module into each slot). You should use DDR2-667 modules.

STEP 4.

Remove three screws securing the cooling fan. Unplug the cooling fan cable from the motherboard.

Remove and lift up the cooling fan.

STEP 5.

Loosen four screws securing the heat sink.

Carefully lift up and remove the heat sink.

STEP 6.

Disconnect two antenna cables from the wireless card. Grab the golden connector on the end of the antenna cables with your fingers and pull it up.
Remove one screw securing the wireless card and remove the card.

STEP 7.
Lift up the keyboard cover with a small screwdriver or another sharp object.

Remove the keyboard cover.

STEP 8.

Remove two screws securing the keyboard.

Lift up the keyboard so you can access the keyboard cable connector underneath.

Very carefully unlock the connector and release the keyboard cable.

Now you can remove the keyboard.

If you are replacing the keyboard, you don’t have to through steps 1-6. Simply remove and replace the keyboard as it shown in steps 7 and 8.

STEP 9.

In the following three steps I’ll remove the display panel assembly.

Remove one screw securing the right hinge.

STEP 10.

Disconnect the video cable from the motherboard.
Pull both wireless antenna cables through the opening.
Remove five screws securing both display hinges.

STEP 11.

Remove the display assembly.
If you would like to know how to take apart the display panel and remove the LCD with inverter, check out other disassembly guides in the Dell category. The LCD screen removal instructions will be similar for most Dell (and other ) laptops.

STEP 12.

Disconnect three cables and remove three screws from the top cover assembly.

STEP 13.

Remove all screws from the bottom of the notebook.

STEP 14.

Start separating the top cover assembly from the base assembly. You can use a small flathead screwdriver.

Continue separating the top cover assembly with your fingers.

Remove the top cover.

STEP 15.

The CD/DVD drive is mounted inside the base and can be removed only after you remove the top cover.
Disconnect the CD/DVD drive cable from the connector on the motherboard.

Lift up and remove the CD/DVD drive.

STEP 16.

Remove three screws securing the motherboard.
Unplug the USB board cable from the motherboard.

Lift up the motherboard as it shown on the picture below.

Remove the motherboard.

The processor (CPU) is locked in the socket. In order to remove the processor, you’ll have to unlock the socket first. There is a small screw on the side of the socket. This screw locks/unlocks the socket.

In this notebook the CMOS (RTC) battery is replaciable. You can unlug the old CMOS battery from the motherboard and replace it with a new one.

In this guide I explain how to disassemble a Compaq Presario F700 notebook. The guide might work for some other Compaq and HP models. I think the disassembly steps will be very similar for Compaq Presario F500 and HP G6000 notebook PC. If this guide works for your notebook, please mention the model name in the comments below.

You’ll find tons of spare parts for Compaq Presario F700, F500 notebooks here. As an example I took a Presario F730US notebook.

Before you start, turn off the laptop, unplug the power adapter and remove the battery.

COMPAQ PRESARIO F700 DISASSEMBLY GUIDE.

STEP 1.

Remove three screws securing the memory cover and two screws securing the hard drive cover. Remove both covers.

STEP 2.

Lift up the right side of the hard drive by the plastic tab to disconnect it from the motherboard. Remove the hard drive.

STEP 3.

Remove both memory modules.

STEP 4.

Disconnect both antenna cables from the wireless card. Remove two screws securing the wireless card in the top left and right corners. Pull the wireless card from the slot and remove it.

STEP 5.

Remove one screw securing the CD/DVD drive and pull the drive from the notebook. Remove the drive.

STEP 6.

Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the notebook.

Yellow screws securing the switch cover (keyboard cover).
Green screws securing the keyboard.

STEP 7.

Start lifting up the switch cover as it shown on the picture below. You’ll have to work with your fingers to disengage small plastic latches holding the switch cover.

Be careful, there is a thin ribbon cable running from the switch cover to the motherboard.

STEP 8.
Now you can lift up the top side of the keyboard and access the connector underneath the keyboard.

The keyboard cable connector is located above the touch pad. Before you pull the cable and remove the keyboard you have to unlock the connector.

Move both sides of the locking tab about 1-2 millimeter up and release the keyboard cable. Now you can pull the cable and remove the keyboard.

STEP 9.

Disconnect the switch cover cable from the motherboard.

Remove the cover.

STEP 10.

Unplug the LCD cable from the motherboard.
Release the wireless card antenna cables. Pull them through a hole in the motherboard.
Remove four screws securing the display panel.

STEP 11.

Lift up and remove the display panel assembly.
In the next guide I will explain how to access and remove the LCD screen with inverter board.

STEP 12.

Remove four screws securing the top cover assembly.
Disconnect the power button board cable.
Disconnect the touch pad cable.

STEP 13.

Remove all screws securing the top cover assembly from the bottom of the notebook. Do not forget three (green) screws in the CD/DVD drive bay.
Remove two hex studs located close to the memory slots.

By the way, the RTC (CMOS) battery can be accessed when you remove the memory cover.

STEP 14.

Start separating the top cover assembly from the bottom assembly. You’ll have to work with your fingers to disengage plastic latches securing the top cover.

Carefully lift up and remove the top cover assembly.

STEP 15.

Now I’m going to remove the motherboard.

Remove one screw securing the motherboard. In other Compaq/HP models there could be more then one screw securing the motherboard.

STEP 16.

Lift up the right side of the motherboard as it shown on the picture below.

Before you remove the motherboard from the base assembly you have to disconnect the audio board cable.

STEP 17.

Remove the motherboard and turn it upside down. There are two more cables to disconnect.

These cables connect the motherboard to the USB/Power connector board.

Finally, the motherboard is removed. As you see on the picture below, the audio board and USB/power connector board are secured to the base assembly.

The motherboard has been removed. Now you can access and replace the cooling fan if you have to.
You can access and replace the processor if you remove the heat sink.

In this guide I explain how to disassemble a HP Compaq 6730s – 6735s notebook and remove the cooling fan which is mounted under the motherboard. Basically I will take the whole notebook apart and remove all internal components one by one.

Why wouldn’t HP make a door for the cooling fan? Why should it be so complicated to replace the cooling fan?

Let’s start to disassemble the notebook.

If you need new replacement parts for you HP Compaq 6730s-6735s notebook, you can find them here.

STEP 1.

Remove the battery.
Remove covers from the hard drive, wireless card and memory.

STEP 2.

Remove one screw securing the DVD drive (red circle) and pull the drive from the notebook.
Remove memory modules (in my laptop I had only one module installed).
Remove the hard drive, you’ll find details instruction on the sticker glued to the hard drive caddy.
Unsnap two antenna cables from the wireless card. Remove two screws securing the wireless card (green circles). Remove the wireless card.

STEP 3.

Remove five screws securing the switch board cover (red circles).
Remove two screws securing the laptop keyboard (green circles).
Remove eleven screws securing the laptop bottom cover (yellow circles).

STEP 4.

Lift up the switch board cover. You can separate the switch board cover from the bottom cover with a piece of soft plastic. I’m using a guitar pick.

Be careful, the switch board cover is attached to the motherboard. Do not pull the cable from the connector yet.

STEP 5.

Lift up the keyboard and place it on the switch board cover so you can access the keyboard cable connector.

The keyboard is connected to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable. Before you pull the cable and remove the keyboard, you’ll have to unlock the connector.

On the picture below you can see the keyboard connector unlocked. Now you can pull the cable and remove the keyboard.

STEP 6.

After the keyboard has been removed, you can release the switch board cable and remove the cover.

STEP 7.

Remove four screws securing the notebook speakers.
Unplug the speaker cable from the motherboard.
Remove both speakers.

STEP 8.

Release the wireless card antenna cables.
Unplug the webcam cable from the motherboard.
Remove four screws securing the display hinges (red circles) and one screw grounding the video cable (green circle).

STEP 9.

Lift up and remove the display panel assembly.

STEP 10.

Remove two screws securing the top cover assembly.

STEP 11.

Carefully lift up the top cover assembly.

Be careful, the touch pad cable is still attached to the motherboard.Release the touch pad cable and remove the top cover assembly.

STEP 12.

Now we can access the motherboard.

Unplug three cables pointed with arrows.
Remove three screws securing the motherboard.
Lift up and release the RJ11 (modem) jack.

STEP 13.

Start removing the motherboard from the laptop case.

The motherboard has been removed.

STEP 14.

Finally, you can access and replace the cooling fan.
Simply remove one screw securing the cooling fan to the laptop base and replace it with a new one if needed.

If you are replacing the motherboard you’ll have to transfer some parts to the new board.

Transfer the DVD drive connector, modem card, heat sink, processor and modem cable.

In this post I explain how to replace or upgrade memory (aka RAM) in a Dell Latitude D830 notebook. Also, these instructions should work for a Dell Latitude D820 notebooks and maybe some other models. Please mention you notebook model in the comments if this guide works for you.

You can check the amount of installed memory in the BIOS setup menu. As you see, in my laptop I have 1024MB (or 1GB) memory installed.

Dell Latitude D830 notebook requires DDR2 memory modules. You should use PC2-5300 SODIMM memory which runs at 667MHz.You can use same memory type for a Latitude D820 notebook too.

Dell Latitude D820/D830 can take up to 4GB memory total. You can install up to 2GB memory in each slot (there are two slots available).

Now the tricky part.

If you remove the memory slot cover from the bottom of the notebook, you’ll find only one slot – DIMM B. Where’s the first slot – DIMM A?
It’s hidden under the keyboard.  Yep, in order to access the first memory slot we’ll have to remove the keyboard.

Before you start, please turn off the laptop, unplug the AC power adapter and remove the battery.

STEP 1.

Lift up one side of the keyboard cover with a small flat head screwdriver.

STEP 2.

Remove the keyboard cover.

STEP 3.

Remove three screws securing the keyboard.

STEP 4.

Lift up the keyboard and placed it on the display panel or palm rest, so you can access the memory slot A. Be careful, the keyboard is attached to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable. Are you replacing the keyboard? You can get a new one here.

STEP 5.

The memory slot A is located just above the touch pad buttons.

In order to remove the existing memory module carefully spread latches on both sides of the memory slot.

The memory module will pop up at a 30 degree angle.

Pull the memory module from the slot A by the edges.

The slot DIMM A is empty and you can install a new RAM module in there.

In this notebook memory can run in dual-channel mode which doubles the amount of available memory bandwidth and improves the notebook performance.
In order to run your notebook dual-channel mode you must have two identical memory modules in slots A and B.

For example, if you have a 1GB module installed into the slot A, you have to install an identical 1GB module into the slot B. In this case the total amount of memory installed into the notebook will be 2GB and will run in dual-channel mode.

Here’s another example. You have a 1GB module in the slot A and install a 2GB module into the slot B. In this case the total amount of memory installed into the notebook will be 3GB but it will run in regular mode, not dual-channel mode.

In this guide I explain how to remove and replace the motherboard in a Dell Latitude D500 laptop. Also, you’ll see how to access and replace all other internal parts in this laptop.

I had two different problems with the laptop.
1. The power jack was damaged. I could have just resoldered the jack but the second problem was more serious.
2. The motherboard couldn’t charge a known good battery. Apparently it had a problem with the battery charging circuit.
So I decided to replace the motherboard.

Instead of buying just a single motherboard, I bough the whole motherboard assembly (you can see it on the first picture) which includes the board itself, mounting frame, cooling fan, speakers, hard drive bracket, PC card slot, modem and power button board. I purchased a good working motherboard assembly for my Dell Latitude D500 here for the same price as they asked for a single motherboard.

OK, let’s start taking it apart. Before you start, turn off the laptop, unplug the AC adapter and remove the battery.
Here I’m taking apart the laptop battery.

STEP 1.

Lift up one side of the keyboard cover with a small flat head screwdriver. Remove the cover.

STEP 2.

Remove two screws securing the motherboard.

STEP 3.

Disconnect the keyboard cable from the motherboard.

STEP 4.

Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard. Remove three screws securing the display hinges.

STEP 5.

Carefully remove the display assembly. In one of the previous posts I explain how to remove the LCD screen from a similar Dell laptop. It’s not necessary to remove the display panel from the laptop in order to remove the screen. You can do it while the display panel is still attached to the laptop.

STEP 6.

Remove one screw securing the CD/DVD drive and pull the drive from the laptop.
Remove both memory (RAM) modules.

STEP 7.

Unsnap both antenna cables from the connectors on the wireless card and remove the card the same way you remove memory modules – spread latches on both sides of the card and when the card pops up, pull it from the slot by the edges.

STEP 8.

Remove one screw securing the hard drive assembly and pull it from the laptop.

STEP 9.

Remove all screws from the bottom.

STEP 10.

Remove three screws securing the top cover assembly.
Disconnect the touch pad cable from the motherboard.

STEP 11.

Start lifting up the top cover assembly as it shown on the picture.

STEP 12.

The top cover has been removed.

STEP 13.

Remove two screws from the motherboard assembly.

STEP 14.

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

STEP 15.

I noticed that it’s easier to remove the motherboard assembly if you remove the RTC (CMOS) battery cover first. It’s located in the battery bay.

STEP 16.

The motherboard assembly has been removed.

STEP 17.

Loosen four screws securing the CPU heat sink.

STEP 18.

Remove the heat sink. In my laptop the heat sink was clogged with dust and needed a good cleaning.

STEP 19.

Now you can access the CPU (processor). Unlock the CPU socket by turning the screw-lock into “Open” position. Carefully lift up the CPU and install it into the socket on the new motherboard. Do not forget to lock the socket after the CPU is installed or your laptop will not start.

You can search for a new motherboard by the part number from the old motherboard. The part number is located on a sticker glued in the RAM slot area. The second set of number in a long string is the part number.

In the next post I will explain how to remove the motherboard from the mounting frame and prepair it for the power jack repair.

In the following guide I will be removing the keyboard from a Gateway MT6704 (Model MA7) laptop. I believe this guide will work for many other Gateway laptops. Take a look at the sticker on the bottom of your laptop. If you can see Model MA7 under the Gateway logo, most likely you can use this guide.
First of all, turn off the laptop, unplug the AC power adapter and remove the battery.

Now remove covers from the wireless card and memory. I mentioned the hard drive cover, but I’m not going to remove it.

There are two screws securing the keyboard. Remove both screws.

Now remove two screws securing the hinge cover.

Lift up one side of the hinge cover with a sharp object as it shown on the picture below. Continue removing the cover with your fingers.

On the picture below you see the hinge cover removed.

Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest. Be careful, the keyboard is still attached to the motherboard with a cable.

On the picture below I circled the keyboard connector. In order to disconnect the keyboard, you’ll have to unlock the connector first.

On the picture below you see the keyboard connector in the locked position.

On the next picture, the keyboard connector is shown in the unlocked position. Now you can pull the cable and remove the keyboard.

The keyboard is remove and you can replace it with a new one. You can buy a new keyboard for your Gateway MT6700 series laptop here for less than $20.

Would you like to know how to remove the motherboard and replace broken power jack? Take a look at the Gateway NX570X disassembly guide. This laptop has the same body (Model No MA7).

Also, in the next post I explain how to remove the LCD screen from the same Gateway laptop.

If you have a different Gateway laptop and my guide works for you, please mention the laptop model in comments.