Home
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.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
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.
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 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 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 13th, 2009 at 11:15 am
There’s a video of how to do? Regards!
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.
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 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 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!
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.
July 20th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Hi
Is it possible to upgrade the VGA card in this model (6730s) ?
Thanks
Malin
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 8th, 2009 at 2:07 am
thanks guys i had the some problem it has help me to solve it
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 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 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 3rd, 2009 at 8:45 pm
PS I’m a programmer & I’ve built desktops. Notebooks are outside my league.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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 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 6th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Sean,
Can you pull the screw out using a magnetized screwdriver?
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?
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.
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 6th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Nice writeup. The photos are excellent.
May 5th, 2009 at 8:40 am
Tnx guys!
Had some problems with that one.