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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.
In this particular guide I’m taking apart 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.
UPDATE (January, 2011):
Compaq Presario F700 specification says this laptop can support only 2GB RAM max (1GB per slot).
I just tested a Compaq Presario F700 (running Windows 7 Home Premium 32-bit OS) with two 2GB modules. I used Crucial DDR2 PC-6400 memory modules.
After I installed two 2GB modules the laptop started properly. In system properties I can see 3.19GB total RAM reported.
The BIOS shows all 4GB.
I think that 3.19GB is only limitation of a 32-bit OS. Most likely if you install a 64-bit OS, you can use all 4GB.
Were you able to upgrade your Presario F700 to 4GB? Please leave a comment.
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.
January 9th, 2010 at 4:33 pm
thankyou for the information !
my compaqs display screen turns fuzzy like a tv when i try to use it, i went to staples and they said it would be 370 dollars to repair this. Is there anything i could do to maybe fix this problem. The fuzzynes will go in and out, when i put a little pressure on the top of the screen it seems to work. Maybe the cords are loose? thankyou !
January 8th, 2010 at 8:57 am
Thank you so much for your detailed instructions on how dismantle and fix our laptop, a Compaq Presario. The instructions were excellent and easy to follow. The heat sink on our fan had gotten dirty and was causing the fan to make noise, not work properly and the computer to overheat.
After reassembling, our screen didn’t work, the problem turned out to be that I had not seated the memory modules 100%. After reinstalling them, everything worked great.
Again, thank you so much. Your site was a real life saver. I’m currently laid off and the expense of having to have the computer fixed would have been difficult. I’ll definitely donate to your site, once I’m back to work.
January 7th, 2010 at 10:19 am
tristin,
You can try reinstalling the sound driver. If it doesn’t help, backup all personal files and reinstall Windows from the recovery disc. If the sound still not working even after reinstalling the operating system from scratch, there is a problem with the sound card.
The sound card is integrated into the motherboard. It means the whole motherboard has to be replaced.
Does it work fine after you reconnect the battery? Will it run on the battery power only?
If yes, it sounds like the motherboard failure.
January 7th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Hey,
I have a Comaq Presario F700, and one day the sound just didn’t work. On the home page where the volume is it shows the volume and it just has a red x on it. I’ve tried everthing and don’t know what to do; do you have any suggestions? Also when starting my computer the screen is black and the power button flashes, and to start the computer I have to unplug it and take the battery out, I think the problems might be corrilated some how? If you have any suggestions that would be awsome, thanks a ton.
January 6th, 2010 at 12:46 pm
Rkedz,
1. The DVD drive spins, so it gets power from the motherboard.
2. The DVD drive is listed in the BIOS setup menu, so it’s detected by the motherboard. It’s not just bad connection between the DVD drive and motherboard.
Sounds like the DVD drive was damaged when your sister dropped the laptop.
January 6th, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Will not startup any CD/DVD. I see it in the boot list in bios.
January 6th, 2010 at 9:24 am
I just found this log. It reads the device, \devise\cdrom0, has a bad block
Any thoughts?
January 6th, 2010 at 9:06 am
Rkedz,
Can you see DVD drive in the BIOS setup menu?
Can you boot laptop from a bootable CD/DVD (Windows installation CD, recovery disc, live Linux CD, etc…)?
January 6th, 2010 at 8:55 am
My sister has a Presario f700. It fell off the table. The only thing that isn’t working is the DVD player. It dosen’t show up in device manager. It opens and when I put a dvd in I hear it spin for a little while and then stop. I removed it from the slot and put it back in to have PnP pick it up but nothing happens. It is running Vista. Any ideas I can try? Laptop shell is not damaged.
January 5th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
Replaced the motherboard power and hard drive lights power on normally fixing the original issue. No power to monitor. Have reseated the LCD connection to motherboard several times with no results. Could anything other than a bad mobo or bad lcd be the cause?