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In this guide I’ll disassemble an Asus N53S laptop. My target – fixing failed DC power jack.
Problem description: the laptop charges battery intermittently. Moving the power plug inside the DC jack fixes the problem for a while but eventually it fails again. I tested laptop with another AC adapter and it failed the same way.
In Asus N53S laptop the DC jack is soldered to the power board. This guide explains how to access and remove the power board.
Before you start, make sure the laptop is turned off.
STEP 1.
Remove laptop battery.
STEP 2.
Using a small screwdriver lift up and remove the bottom cover.
STEP 3.
There are four rubber feet located on the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 4.
Remove all four feet with a sharp object.
STEP 5.
Remove four screws found under rubber feet.
STEP 6.
Slide the hard drive/memory cover and remove it from the laptop.
STEP 7.
Remove three screws securing the hard drive assembly.
Slide the hard drive assembly to the left to disconnect the hard drive from the motherboard.
It’s not necessary to remove the hard drive assembly for the purpose of my guide. You can leave it connected to the laptop.
STEP 8.
All four memory slots located under the same bottom cover. It’s not necessary to remove memory modules for the purpose of my guide.
STEP 9.
The keyboard secured by five spring loaded latches on the top.
STEP 10.
Push on the latch with a small screwdriver and at the same time lift up the keyboard a little bit.
When the keyboard is lifted, it will not allow the latch to lock again.
Do the same with all remaining latches.
STEP 11.
After all latches released you should be able to lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palmrest.
STEP 12.
The keyboard cable connector located under the keyboard.
You’ll have to unlock the connector and release the cable before you remove the keyboard.
STEP 13.
In order to unlock the connector move the brown locking tab about 2 millimeters to the direction shown by two yellow arrows.
STEP 14.
Pull keyboard cable from the connector.
STEP 15.
Now you can remove the keyboard.
Need a new keyboard for Asus N53S laptop? You can find it here.
STEP 16.
Remove seven screws securing the top cover assembly.
Disconnect the touchpad cable (left) and power button board cable (right).
STEP 17.
Unlock the power button board connector same way you unlocked the keyboard connector.
Remove cable from the connector.
STEP 18.
Here’s how to unlock the touchpad connector.
Lift up the left side of the brown locking tab with your fingernail. The tap will open up at a 90 degree angle.
After that pull the touchpad cable from the connector.
STEP 19.
One of the top cover screws also secures the optical drive (DVD drive).
Now you can remove the drive from the laptop.
STEP 20.
Don’t forget to remove three screws from the optical drive bay on the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 21.
After you removed all screws from the bottom of the laptop and top cover, you can start separating the top cover from the bottom.
You can use a piece of soft plastic to separate these parts.
Continue removing the top cover assembly with your fingers.
STEP 22.
The top cover assembly removed.
STEP 23.
Under the top cover you’ll get access to the following internal components:
- speakers
- power board
- cooling fan
- wireless card
- CMOS battery
- audio board
- motherboard
STEP 24.
Disconnect the power board cable from the motherboard.
Disconnect both antenna cables from the wireless card.
STEP 25.
Remove three screws securing the right laptop speaker.
Lift up and remove the speaker.
STEP 26.
Remove one screw securing the power board.
Diconnect cable from the power board.
STEP 27.
Now you can remove the power button board from the laptop and repair or replace the failed DC power jack.
The DC power jack soldered to the board.
You can use this tutorial explaining how to desolder the power jack.
New power jacks for Asus N53V laptops available here.
May 18th, 2013 at 9:30 am
just a note of thanks for these instructions. what a lifesaver.
April 12th, 2013 at 6:54 am
Thanks! Everything is now working perfectly on my computer. I soldered the new power jack on my self, but it took quite some time. I would recommend buying an entire power board instead of just the jack. It costs a bit more, but will save you the hassle of soldering.
Also, as others mentioned here, there are more screws than shown that need to be removed.
February 8th, 2013 at 7:21 pm
Hey thanks.
This tutorial helped immensely.
There are a few screws I had to remove that you didn’t list though.
two in particular under the first cover you had me remove.
Thanks again
AFB
January 25th, 2013 at 7:19 am
So I have an issue that I’m not quite positive on. I replaced the part, and got it all back together and working again, but now my laptop seems to hover on charging, eventually dwindling to nothing and shutting down, rather than charging back to full. I’m wondering if maybe I messed up on placing the part correctly or something… or if maybe the part I used was a faulty one, or one for the wrong model. I use a n53s, and the part was for the n53sv if I recall… I double checked and compared parts to the one I was taking out, and the numbers matched and everything, so I would have thought it would work fine… But it isn’t providing enough power. Any ideas?
December 30th, 2012 at 12:12 pm
Någon som vet var man kan beställa/köpa ett nytt power board?
October 7th, 2012 at 4:50 am
@ Marcleduc Im having the same problem anyone have a fix? I tried replacing the wifi card and now the screen isnt turning on.
September 23rd, 2012 at 4:56 pm
I did everything as explained here and stoped juste before disconnecting the keyboard, put everything back in place and now the screen will not turn on
what to do???
September 11th, 2012 at 4:55 am
Thanks much for the instructions…
As noted above, there is an 8th screw on step 16, under the silver/foam strip at the bottom edge.
You don’t seem to mention removing the 5 screws in the battery compartment, which do need to be removed.
In step 7, if you don’t need to take the hard drive out, you can keep the upper left screw in place–it doesn’t go through to the front panel (but the lower two do.)
The screw at the top of the speaker assembly (Step 25) is a M2.5x7mm. This is the only one that doesn’t have clear markings about what size it is. I made the mistake of thinking it was a 10mm and didn’t realize my mistake until I had my laptop nearly all back together (with 1 less 10mm and 1 extra 7mm!)
Also, when re-assembling please pay attention to the placement of the DC power board–my first time putting it back together I misaligned the switch with the external wireless switch cover/doohickey and had to take it all apart again because I couldn’t turn my wireless on! So make sure the switch moves before putting the whole thing back together.
Thanks again for the instructions! I’m sure I could have done it without, but it’s very nice to know how it’s all put together BEFORE tearing it apart so I don’t end up snapping some piece of plastic because I forgot to remove a screw or didn’t know where or which way to pry things open.
September 10th, 2012 at 7:31 am
@ rems,
I believe the headphone jack is located on the USB/audio board shown in the step 23. If the jack is broken I think you’ll have to replace the entire board unless you can find the headphone jack itself and replace it. Replacing the headphone jack requires soldering skills.
I’m not sure where you can buy this part.
September 8th, 2012 at 3:19 am
Hey, when I want to remove the cover it seems to be stuck somewhere by the speaker part. I removed every screw! should I use force or do I have to take care of something?
By the way, I accidently broke one of the white locks of the power ribbon cable and it’s not working now, atleast, I can’t put it in. Maybe with the top cover removed I can but its hard..