How to disassemble Dell Inspiron 15 M5040 or N5040 laptop

In this guide I will show how to disassemble a Dell Inspiron 15 M5040 or Inspiron 15 N5040 laptop.

There are no hatches on the bottom of this laptop. In a Dell Inspiron M5040/N5040 all major internal components (such as memory, hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card) are mounted INSIDE the laptop case. In order to access them it’s necessary to remove the laptop top cover.

I will go through the following laptop disassembly steps:
STEP1-7: Disconnecting and removing the keyboard. Accessing laptop memory modules.
STEP 8-13: Removing laptop top cover. Removing DVD drive. Accessing other internal components.
STEP 14: Disconnecting and removing laptop hard drive.

STEP 1.

Make sure the laptop is turned off. Remove the battery.

STEP 2.

The keyboard is secured by four latches on the top.

Push the latch into the laptop case using a small flat head screwdriver.

At the same time lift up the keyboard a little bit so the latch doesn’t lock back again. Do the same with three remaining latches.

STEP 3.

After all latches are unlocked you should be able to lift up the top side of the keyboard and turn it upside down on the palm rest.

STEP 4.

The keyboard connected to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable.

It’s necessary to unlock the connector and release the cable before removing the keyboard.

By the way, both memory slots are located under the keyboard.

STEP 5.

Here’s how to unlock the keyboard connector.

Carefully lift up one side of the locking tab with your fingernail. The locking tab will open up at a 90 degree angle.

STEP 6.

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

WARNING: the locking tab must stay connected to the white base.

Now you can pull the keyboard cable from the connector.

STEP 7.

Remove keyboard from the laptop.

If you need a new replacement keyboard for Dell Inspiron M5040 or N5040 laptop, you can find it here.

STEP 8.

Remove screws from the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 9.

Remove one screw securing the DVD drive.

STEP 10.

Push the DVD drive from the laptop using a screwdriver.

Pull DVD drive and remove it from the laptop.

STEP 11.

Remove one screw securing the top cover assembly.

Disconnect the power button cable (left arrow).

Disconnect the touchpad cable (right arrow).

In the following two steps I explain how to unlock the power button and touchpad connectors.

Each connector has the locking tab (brown). Carefully slide the locking tab about 1-2 millimeters up, not more.

The locking tab must stay attached to the connector base.

On the following picture you see the connector unlocked.

Now you can pull the cable from the connector.

STEP 12.

Start separating the top cover assembly from the laptop base.

STEP 13.

Remove the top cover assembly.

On the bottom side of the top cover you can access the power button board with cable and the touchpad with cable.

When the top cover removed you can get access to the following internal laptop components:
- Cooling fan.
- Wireless card.
- Hard drive.
- CMOS battery.
- USB board.
- Motherboard.

STEP 14.

In order to remove the hard drive slide it away from the motherboard.

After the hard drive is disconnected from the motherboard you should be able to remove it.

By the way, the hard drive was secured to the bottom case by two screws we removed in the step 8.

Dell Inspiron 15 M5040/N5040 laptop has a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive installed. You can replace it with any other large capacity 2.5″ SATA hard drive or Solid State Drive.