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Today I explain how to disassemble a HP Pavilion dm3 series notebook.
In this particular guide I’m taking apart a HP Pavilion dm3-1035dx Entertainment Notebook but the guide should be the same for all other models in Pavilion dm3 line.
Before you start, make sure the notebook is turned off.
Removing hard drive, memory modules, wireless card and CMOS battery shown in steps 1-7.
STEP 1.
Remove the battery.
Remove five screws securing the hard drive and memory covers. Remove both covers.
STEP 2.
Remove two screws securing the hard drive and slide it to the left to disconnect from the motherboard.
STEP 3.
Now you can remove the hard drive.
As you see, it’s a standard 2.5″ SATA hard drive.
STEP 4.
Remove both memory modules.
In order to remove the memory module you’ll have to follow two simple steps:
- carefully spread lathes on both sides of the slot until the memory module pops up at a 30 degree angle.
- pull the memory module from the slot by the edges.
STEP 5.
Disconnect both antenna cables from the wireless card.
Remove two screws securing the wireless card.
STEP 6.
Remove wireless card same way you removed memory modules.
STEP 7.
Disconnect the CMOS battery cable from the motherboard and remove the battery.
Removing notebook keyboard shown in steps 8-12.
STEP 8.
Remove two screws securing the keyboard on the bottom of notebook.
STEP 9.
Push on the keyboard through the openings in the battery compartment.
STEP 10.
Lift up the keyboard as it shown on the following picture.
STEP 11.
Carefully lift up the keyboard and access connector underneath.
In order to remove the keyboard you’ll have to disconnect the cable first.
On the following picture the keyboard connector shown in the locked position.
Lift up the right side of the brown clip so it opens at a 90 degree angle.
On the following picture the connector is shown in the unlocked position.
Now you can pull the keyboard cable from the connector.
STEP 12.
Remove the keyboard.
The best way to find a replacement keyboard is searching by the HP part number.
In my case I had two different HP part numbers on the keyboard: 580687-001 and 573148-001. I guess both part numbers are compatible.
If you need a replacement keyboard for HP Pavilion dm3 notebook, you can find it here.
Removing notebook top cover and cooling fan shown in steps 13-18.
STEP 13.
Remove marked screws form the bottom of the notebook.
STEP 14.
Remove six screws securing the top cover assembly.
Disconnect the top cover cable (left arrow) and touch pad cable (bottom arrow).
On some HP Pavilion dm3 models you’ll have to disconnect one more cable – the Bluetooth module cable.
On the following picture you can see the top cover cable disconnected.
On the following picture you can see how to open the touch pad cable connector.
STEP 15.
Start separating the top cover assembly from the notebook base.
You can use a thin piece of plastic (I’m using guitar pick) as a case cracker.
STEP 16.
The top cover assembly has been removed.
On the following picture the notebook shown with the top cover removed.
STEP 17.
Remove two screws securing the cooling fan.
Disconnect the fan cable from the motherboard.
STEP 18.
Remove the cooling fan.
The cooling fan part number is printed on the white sticker. In my case the part number is: 580696-001
If you need a replacement fan for HP Pavilion dm3 notebook, you can find it here.
By the way, in HP Pavilion dm3 notebook the power jack is not soldered to the motherboard. The jack attached to the power harness.
When the power jack fails, you can disconnect the failed jack harness from the motherboard and replace it with a new one.
February 12th, 2013 at 12:29 pm
Any chance we can get a separate disassembly procedure for the dm3 3000 series. The internal structure of the laptop is different than from what is outlined on this guide. Thanks.
January 26th, 2013 at 7:21 pm
I tried reinstalling the memory modules and it worked.
éthanks
January 26th, 2013 at 7:14 pm
Same thing as Sash happened to me.
Decided to disassemble the laptop to clean the fan.
I put everything back together but when I turn the computer on, the screen remains blank.
The laptop starts, the HD runs and the fan turns but the screen remains black.
Any suggestions?
January 4th, 2013 at 5:48 pm
Great instructions and pics how to disassemble the dm3. My computer wasn’t turning on, the spring action on the power switch stopped working. I took the computer apart, behold the pin broke from the power switch. Right now have a temporary fix to switch it on. But will get the proper part and replace. Thanks for the info. It helped!
November 1st, 2012 at 9:57 pm
my keyboard connector clip is broken do you know if it can be replaced???
October 4th, 2012 at 6:11 am
My speakers are not working anymore. You can use headphones in the 3.5 connection, but no sound from the speakers. I have W8 and W7 installed and either works. I was watching youtube, and all of a sudden, there was no sound. So I did not dropp it, and I don´t think its a software-problem. Hdmi-sound works too.
I´m getting ready to take my Dm3 apart to investegate. Do you know where the soundcard is, or is it on the motherboard? Any ideas?
October 3rd, 2012 at 4:12 pm
I wanted to put a 1 TB hard drive in mine. But this is the hard drive I have, http://oyendigital.com/hard-drives/store/NN2-54-1000-STO.html. It was a mini external drive. Its a laptop hard drive but its too thick. Would any 1TB sata laptop hard drive be too fat?
Thanks,
October 2nd, 2012 at 1:14 pm
The display is very sensitive on the position of the top, possibly ‘noise’ in the connecting cable. How do I get the that cable that connects the top to the base
September 27th, 2012 at 6:57 am
Thanks for this!
In step 15, when removing the cover, I was stuck some time. There’s a clip on the bottom right side I couldn’t get off easily. Finally, what I did was start removing the cover from the top, and push down to remove that clip.
Otherwise it run perfectly
Thanks again
August 22nd, 2012 at 9:49 pm
@ Jim,
I think I know what it could be. I could be wrong but it’s worth checking out.
The power switch could be broken. I fixed a problem like that just recently.
The power on/off button located on the right side of the laptop. Inside the laptop this button engaged with the power switch mounted on the USB board. You can see this board on the step 16.
It’s possible the pin on the switch is broken and the USB board has to be replaced.
It’s necessary to remove the top cover from the laptop and take a closer look on the power switch.
New USB boards for HP Pavilion dm3 laptops available here.