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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.
In the next guide I’ll explain how to get inside the display panel and remove/replace the web camera module.
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.
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May 5th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Tnx guys!
Had some problems with that one.
May 6th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Nice writeup. The photos are excellent.
May 19th, 2009 at 4:55 am
I want to replace a cracked LCD. When I get to step 9 how do I go about removing just the LCD screen from the display case?
Thanks
May 25th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Ryan,
The LCD screen removal steps are very similar for most laptops. Basically you’ll have to remove the screen bezel, unplug the screen and replace it.
Check out the “LCD screen” category, you’ll find a lot of guides for HP laptops.
June 5th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
hello i haver the compaq presario CQ60 with the side keypad and i have a small screw in my fan. is there a easy way i can push it out?
June 6th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Sean,
Can you pull the screw out using a magnetized screwdriver?
June 7th, 2009 at 9:24 am
hi I spilled ice tea on my laptop keyboard and everything turn off, i took it to bestbuy they they said i fried the mother board. is that true,and if i did what else would i have to replace to get working or eat my loses and another one. can’t afford to buy a new. AL
June 13th, 2009 at 5:33 am
I have recently got one of these laptops and I’m looking to upgrade the memory. I have you used Sandra and CPUZ and it shows two memory slots. Slot 0 & 1 and the memory is in the slot 1 where you can easily replace. Is the other slot somewhere under the keyboard?
June 30th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Great guide. The fan in my Presario A900 stopped working while blowing canned air into it. Thought maybe it was damaged and needed replacing. I just took the laptop apart and see a huge mound of dust (as well as more dust all around it) trapped inside the fan. Maybe this stopped the fan from working? Is there a way to test the fan (first) other than putting the whole thing back together and finding out that it is broken. Don’t want to disassemble this thing again.
July 1st, 2009 at 8:37 am
Yolanda,
Spray compressed air into the fan, it has to rotate very easily. If it doesn’t, the fan has to be replaced.
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 am
Can you upgrade the CPU to a more powerful one? What is the procedure to removing the CPU from the motherboard? Thanks.
July 2nd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Joe,
Most likely you can but I’m not sure which one you can use. I don’t think that upgrading the CPU will boost the laptop performance a lot, you might never see any improvement at all. Instead of a very expensive CPU upgrade, max your RAM and install a faster (7200RPM) hard drive.
1. Remove the heat sink shown on the last picture.
2. Unlock the CPU socket by turning the screw into “Open” position.
3. Lift up the CPU from the socket and replace it with a new one.
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Any suggestions? I’m about to throw my notebook out over what should be a small problem!
My dv6256us buzzes. HP’s had it three times & replaced the hard drive, sink fan, mother board, then the fan again (supposedly). The buzz shifted from annoying to a new pitch that’s more diffuse & intolerable.
Now that I finally found these great pictures! I can tell, it’s loudest in the sink fan area. On the underside, under the f & g keys. I was considering taking it apart to see where it’s loudest, but – that’s the spot.
Curiously, the buzz stops when scrolling using touchpad or arrow keys, only using Internet Explorer (not Word or a file list window.)
Before replacing the fan, the louder fan came on every 1-2 secs for 1-2 secs. Now it has the lower fan on constantly from start up, eve blowing cold air at times.
What could be going on? If I can point HP to right spot, maybe there is hope. Or repair it myself, if I go very slowly? I’m at wits end. I don’t want to throw this out & buy another computer.
(The other problem if it’s related, is a dead spot in the left touchpad mouse that started up & they can’t seem to fix.)
Thank you!!
July 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 pm
PS I’m a programmer & I’ve built desktops. Notebooks are outside my league.
July 4th, 2009 at 7:26 am
PPS
Are there ways to adjust how often the fan comes on? It’s blowing cold air, but almost always on. Add the noise of the HD fan (which is loud with the new HD) & it’s always noisy. Does Vista or Bios have settings that effect this?
It’s always on the lower speed. Often on the higher speed.
(Sorry to keep PS-ing. Can you tell I’m very frustrated? )
July 4th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
Thanks for the response. The reason I asked is because I have an HP 6735s with the AMD Sempron SI-40, which is a “budget” CPU.
July 6th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Cheri,
There could be a problem with one of the components on the motherboard. Is the laptop still under warranty? Send it for repair!
July 8th, 2009 at 2:07 am
thanks guys i had the some problem it has help me to solve it
July 20th, 2009 at 10:25 am
Hi
I have the extact laptop and was wondering if i could change the VGA. I am not sure if it is built into main board or can fit a external mobile graphics chipset. Currently it says Intel mobile(r) 4 graphics chipset. So would i be able to upgrade graphics card.
Thanks
Malin
July 20th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Hi
Is it possible to upgrade the VGA card in this model (6730s) ?
Thanks
Malin
July 28th, 2009 at 10:56 am
“There could be a problem with one of the components on the motherboard. Is
the laptop still under warranty? Send it for repair!”
The motherboard was replaced on the 2nd trip in. It’s not the motherboard. It’s coming home now from it’s 4th trip where senior techs went over it. This time replaced the HD again as failing (the new one).
They claim well maybe the HD caused the touchpad mouse dead spot (somewhat intermittent). Does that even sound possible? I’m very curious.
I’m hoping they live up to their word that they’d replace the unit if I’m not satisfied. I so wanted just to fix this one. I’ve done software development, including testing. I’m not impressed with the tech support at all. They don’t even list the problems for themselves & go over each one. They just hit one & stop.
September 2nd, 2009 at 7:56 am
Hi Mr Laptop Tech!
And many thanks for all for this great tutorial.
Actually, I’ve just bought a HP 6730s but I am very disappointed by the noise periodically produced by the fan, my previous laptops were really much regular and quiet…
So this tutorial is exactly what I need if I want to replace the fan. So, I have two questions. If other readers can also help me, they are welcome!
1) Is the noise really due to the installed fan in this model? Dust cannot be the problem since the laptop is new! Maybe this is due to the BIOS configuration (anyway, there is no configuration possible for the fan in BIOS)?
2) If another fan model can solve the problem, where could I buy one and which one could you advise?
Thanks!
PS: sorry for my english!
September 2nd, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Thanks a lot for this great tutorial !
I exchanged my CPU from an Athlon 64 X2 QL-60 to a Turion 64 X2 Ultra ZM-87.
The only difference was that I had a few more screws on my Board than the one in this tut…
September 23rd, 2009 at 5:33 am
I want to replace the power supply socket on the motherboard. Where can I buy the socket and how do I replace it I have the socket. It’s a HP 6720s, I have it stripped down and I live in the UK.
Thanks
September 23rd, 2009 at 7:47 am
6of1,
I believe in HP 6720s notebook the power socket is soldered to the motherboard. If the socket is bad, you’ll have to unsolder the broken/defective socket and solder a new one.
Check out this guide: How to replace DC jack in a laptop.
October 13th, 2009 at 11:15 am
There’s a video of how to do? Regards!
October 17th, 2009 at 10:43 am
Great resource. However, I have an issue after disassembling my laptop – it won’t start. When press the power button fan starts working, but the hard disk drive doesn’t, so my monitor doesn’t light. It justs “hangs” at some starting point… Is it possible this to be big problem, or it is something that is easy fix?
October 25th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Hi!
Thanks a lot!
I replaced the paste between the heatsink and proc (and hd3200 chip).
Before this operation my proc’s (AMD Athlon X2 1.9GHz) temperature was around 70-80celsius, and now, its over 47-53 celsius.
It was exciting, also
Thx, again!
–
susu
October 27th, 2009 at 2:15 am
Thanx guys, that was a good stuff. I have a problem i have the same laptop hp 6735s its powering on but no display and a sound in the dvd drive with some light.
what could be the problem.
regard
joel
October 27th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Joel,
I would suspect the memory failure first. Do you have two memory modules installed in the laptop? Remove them one by one. Test the laptop with each one separately.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:54 am
I tried to disassemble the 6735s
I take the 3 2 screw back the cover I took off the top of the front.
But when I try to remove the keyboard does not come off.
While I see in the video that comes off without force.
And ‘as if there was a life behind the Ram to hold it steady.
And’ I miss that or something?
November 7th, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Alx,
Take a look at the step 3. You’ll have to remove five red screws first and then remove the keyboard cover. After that you remove two green screws and remove the keyboard.
November 8th, 2009 at 3:43 am
I mistyped.
I have removed five red screws first and then removed the keyboard cover. After i have removed two green screws.
But when I try to remove the keyboard does not come off.
While I see in the video that comes off without force.
And ‘as if there was a life behind the Ram to hold it steady.
And’ I miss that or something?
November 8th, 2009 at 9:47 am
Alx,
Not sure why you experiencing this problem. Maybe the keyboard is glued to the cover with sticky tape?
Here’s another guide for removing the keyboard. In this case this is official HP service guide for HP Compaq 6735s notebooks (follow the link). The keyboard removal instructions start on the page 61.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:08 am
I know official HP service guide but this is better.
But I have this mysterious problem with both of the guides.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:11 am
At my hp6735s was keyboard also glued on two places, so i need some force to put it out, but first of all be sure your remove all the screws and don’t pull to much, becouse of keyboard cable
November 14th, 2009 at 1:28 pm
They put me a miniSD into SD card reader that has swallowed and does not want to thrown back out.
How can I do to extract?!?
November 14th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
Mark,
I usually use a dental pick. Be careful with the pins inside the slot. Use a flashlight.
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:30 am
Does the HP 6735s have one or two ram slots. Websites etc list it as having two but mine seems to only have one, which is occupied. I Cannot see a spare one???
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:13 am
Mark T,
There should be 2 memory slots on the bottom, as it shown on the 3rd picture.
December 9th, 2009 at 11:10 am
please can you help me with my HP 6735s laptop
i switched on the laptop and when start up all the light will be on but it won’t just start up and the screen will be blank… and the DVD light will be blinking continuously
December 21st, 2009 at 3:54 am
Hello,
I have problem with my 6735s, he overheats very often…
Do I need to replace the fan, or can I just clean it sometimes?
My cleanin until now was vacuming the fan from the outside, and it really helped, but i assume that there is more dirk underneath it…
Is it nececery to do all these steps to just clean the fan, or can I go near him in a simpler way?
Thank you!
December 21st, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Aleksandar,
If the fan still works and doesn’t make noise, do not replace it. Just cleaning should be enough.
You can remove the keyboard and blow compressed air into the fan. This will remove most dust from the cooling module. I wouldn’t disassemble the laptop just for cleaning.
December 23rd, 2009 at 2:37 am
Dear tech support,
thank you for your precise and also very fast answer…
I will try to do that, but I have never removed keyboard, so I will do this veru carefull, cause I don;t know what can go wrong.
Thank you, once again…
January 3rd, 2010 at 7:25 pm
Dear Laptop Teach.
First off compliments for this “How to”. I found this, while I was writing something on my Blog about my experience with this Laptop. The problem of “overheats” comes by the fact that there isn’t a door for the cooling fan, as you said, and that there are 2 stickers (you can see them on the penultimate picture ) that block the 2 cracks in the back. I’m so sorry, because this is a good laptop and cheap at the same time, but I will never understand the absence of the cooling door and the presence of those stickers. My solution was to do some holes close to the fan. I know this isn’t a solution but this is mine solution, I did this only because my guarantee was over.. I was lucky.. Best regards and compliments again !!!
P:S Sorry for my English
January 12th, 2010 at 9:40 am
Help…
Have replaced LCD and inverter board and video cable. Now backlight does not work. can see dim image on screen. According to HP Service guide there is a internal display switch could
this be stopping the backlight from working?
January 29th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Create tutorial
i had huge problems with cooling.
some new thermal paste en cleaning fixed the job…
thx
February 5th, 2010 at 1:44 am
Hello. I need some advice. My hp compaq 6735s laptop does not switch on. I press the on button and it turns blue and then goes again. I sent it to the IT guys of the shop where I bought the notebook and they told me there is a problem with the board, and it costs around 300 Euro to replace it. The problem is my guarantee expired in December, and I have only used the laptop for 1 year. I’ve had problems with it since the very first months. To cut it short, I just wanted to know, is that normal for a motherboard to die for 1 year??? And does it really cost that much 300 euro? (I bought the new laptop for 370 euro).
I would really appreciate your help.. thnxxxx.
February 7th, 2010 at 8:25 pm
nela,
It’s not normal but possible. I’ve seen many laptops like that.
I think you can find it cheaper if buy yourself. The service center has to increase the price in order to cover shipping expenses, research time, warranty, time involved, etc…
Most likely the replacement motherboard will not be brand new and come with a very short warranty period (probably 30 days). Instead of replacing the motherboard, I would use the money for a new laptop.
February 21st, 2010 at 3:03 am
Hi there… 3 questions:
1. Upgrading the HD. I’m planning on installing a fresh Win7 h.p. on the 6735, so as a back out I want to get say a 250gb HD to build on. Are there any issues I need to be aware of?
2. Are the standard drivers in Win7 up to running this Laptop or do I have to overlay the HP ones…
3. This machine is still having overheating issues even when the BIOS has been set to keep the fan on when on mains. Is a BIOS upgrade going to help sort this out.
The machine is just out of warrenty ;-(
Thanks in advance.
February 22nd, 2010 at 10:06 pm
GordonB,
There shouldn’t be any problem. The new hard drive should be detected by the laptop and operating system automatically.
You install Windows 7 first and after that look in the device manager. Download and install all missing drivers from HP website.
Have you tried cleaning the cooling module? Maybe the heat sink is clogged with dust and the laptop overheats because of that.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:13 pm
[...] In order to separate the display panel, follow steps 1-9 in this HP Compaq 6730s and 6735s guide. [...]
March 9th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Thank you so very much for this walkthrough!
Didn’t open up my laptop yet, going to do it tomorrow.
Thank you again.
Greetings from Croatia!
March 16th, 2010 at 5:25 am
Laptop Tech,
I have a 6735s and it just wont boot, that is it did until i removed the battery, the reason i removed the battery was the bios was reporting at top left hand corner “invalid serial number.” and i thought that there might be a possibility that the battery might not be genuine hp, so in removing the battery after powering off and re-inserting it i notice the power jack light is solid white (well i think its white) with a fashing orange light with 1 second intervals, i take it that the motherboard has had a short?
Have you seen this before?