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In the following guide I explain how to disassemble a Gateway NV series laptop. To be accurate, I’m working on a Gateway NV53 laptop (NV5302u). It also says model: MS2285 on the bottom.
I’m taking it apart in order to fix broken DC jack. The DC jack is soldered to the motherboard, so the whole laptop has to be disassembled and motherboard removed. With the following guide you should be able to remove and replace (if needed) all main laptop parts.
Before you start make sure the laptop is turned off and battery removed.
STEP 1.
Remove five screws securing the hard drive and memory cover.
Remove the cover.
STEP 2.
Remove one screw securing the hard drive. In order to remove the hard drive, slide it away from the battery compartment and lift up.
Gateway NV53 laptop uses a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive. If you are not satisfied with the hard drive capacity, you can replace it with any larger 2.5″ SATA hard drive. It should work just fine.
Both memory modules can be accessed through the bottom cover. It’s not necessary to remove memory modules for the purpose of this guide.
Gateway NV series maximum RAM capacity is 4GB. It means you can install up to 2GB memory module into each slot.
You should use DDR2 800MHz, PC2-6400 SODIMM modules.
STEP 3.
Remove one screws securing the DVD drive.
Pull DVD drive from the laptop and remove it.
STEP 4.
Carefully disconnect two antenna cables from the wireless card. Simply grab the gold connector with your fingers and lift it up.
In order to remove the wireless card you’ll have to remove one screw and after that pull the card from the slot.
It’s not necessary to remove the wireless card for the purpose of my guide. You can leave it connected to the motherboard.
STEP 5.
Remove three screws securing the media button board cover.
STEP 6.
Lift up the media button board cover as it shown on the picture below. Continue separating it from the laptop base with your fingers.
STEP 7.
Do not lift up the media button board cover too much, it’s still connected to the motherboard.
At this point we are not removing the cover, we just move it a little bit away in order to get access to the keyboard.
STEP 8.
Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palmrest.
STEP 9.
Before removing the keyboard, it’s necessary to unlock the connector on the motherboard and release the cable.
On the following picture the keyboard connector shown in the locked state.
To unlock the connector, you’ll have to lift up the left side of the locking tab (brown) so it opens up at a 90 degree angle.
Be very careful, do not break this connector or your keyboard will never work again. Do not apply too much force to the locking tab.
On the following picture the connector shown in the unlocked state.
Now you can pull the keyboard cable from the connector.
STEP 10.
After the keyboard cable released, you can remove the keyboard.
If you would like to replace the keyboard, new keyboards for Gateway NV series laptops available here.
STEP 11.
Disconnect the media button board cable.
STEP 12.
Remove the media button board cover.
STEP 13.
Remove two screws securing display hinges on the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 14.
Disconnect LCD cable connectors from the motherboard.
Pull wireless card antenna cables thought the opening in the top cover.
In some Gateway NV series laptops you’ll have to disconnect one more cable. I pointed to the connector with a white arrow.
STEP 15.
Remove two screws securing display hinges.
STEP 16.
Now you can lift up and remove the entire display assembly.
STEP 17.
Remove all remaining screws from the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 18.
Remove three screws securing the top cover.
Disconnect three cables from the motherboard.
STEP 19.
Start separating the top cover assembly from the laptop base.
I’m using a guitar pick in order to crack the case.
STEP 20.
Remove the top cover assembly.
STEP 21.
Remove one screw securing the motherboard.
Disconnect the USB board cable from the motherboard (top arrow).
Disconnect the modem cable (bottom arrow). You can leave the modem board connected to the motherboard.
Also, when the top cover assembly removed, you can get access to the CMOS battery.
STEP 22.
Carefully lift up the right side of the motherboard.
STEP 23.
Remove the motherboard.
STEP 24.
When the motherboard removed you can access the cooling fan assembly (heatsink and fan).
In order to remove the cooling assembly you’ll have to loosen four screws and disconnect fan cable from the motherboard. After that you should be able to lift up and remove the assembly.
New cooling fans for Gateway NV series laptops available here.
Here’s why I was disassembling the laptop. The DC jack is broken and has to be replaced.
The DC jack soldered to the motherboard and if you would like to fix broken DC jack yourself, you have to have soldering skills. It’s not an easy job for a novice.
January 26th, 2012 at 3:27 pm
Hey I’m having problems with step 18, the connection that seems to be connected to the speaker doesn’t want to disconnect- I feel that if I pull to hard it’ll break the connection. I’m thinking that the connection is glued? I tried swirling it to the sides but it still doesn’t come out. Your input?
January 17th, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Jessica,
Have you tested your laptop with an external monitor? Can you get image on the external monitor?
Here are some tips for troubleshooting dead laptop: http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2008/06/14/laptop-dead-troubleshoot-the-problem/
If you go to the last step and still cannot get image, probably it’s the motherboard failure.
Think twice before buying a new motherboard. Is it really worth it?
January 17th, 2012 at 2:21 pm
@ Shannon,
Yes, it’s possible. Sometimes you cannot see the damage because it’s just a micro crack in the solder joint.
You can try resoldering the jack. Try doing that without removing the jack. Just melt the existing solder and apply some fresh solder.
Most commonly this damage appears on the “+” connector which is connected to the central pin inside the jack.
January 17th, 2012 at 2:02 pm
@ joe,
It’s in the power brick.
What is your symptoms? Not sure what you mean by that.
January 14th, 2012 at 4:10 pm
My laptop only displays a black screen. I have both blue lights that indicate power and charge, but no display. I have already tried unplugging it, removing the battery, and holding the power button. I also tried testing my memory modules, as well as starting the laptop without the hard drive. I thought maybe my fan was dirty, so I disassembled everything to clean it thoroughly. Is there anything else I can try, or should I resign myself to getting a new motherboard?
January 14th, 2012 at 11:03 am
I bought a new ac adapter and tried it with no luck. I disassembled the laptop and the dc jack is not broken like the pictures you show. Could still be a bad jack possibly? Before I go that route, are there other possibilities that you may know of? I tried starting up with the different memory modules removed one at a time and nothing worked trying it so I am thinking total power failure or a motherboard problem? I appreciate your response and look forward to getting this thing up an running again.
Thanks!
January 13th, 2012 at 6:30 pm
Thank you so much for the input and great directions. Do laptops have a power supply like in a desktop or is that all in the power brick? It would act like a power supply getting tired? But maybe it just a bad conction and the jack.
January 13th, 2012 at 11:36 am
@ joe,
It’s possible the DC jack has to be resoldered. Maybe the solder joint has a micro crack and it’s causing the problem.
Cannot really tell without opening up the laptop and taking a closer look at the jack.
January 12th, 2012 at 5:44 pm
I have a nv52 that when plugged in the end of the ac adaptor plug and the dc jack in the machine get realy hot. The end of the plug has blackend a little. The charge light goes on and off when the lcd is open and the backlight dims with charging on and off at this time it gets realy hot. It can only be charged not in use to avoid heat. Could there be a bad power supply or jack?
January 11th, 2012 at 2:19 pm
@ Shannon,
It’s hard to tell if this problem is related to the DC jack or AC adapter.
First, I would test the laptop with another adapter. If the problem still there, it’s likely you have failed DC jack.
The DC jack may be broken. The only way to tell is disassemble the laptop ant take a closer look at the DC jack.