Home
In this guide I explain how to disassemble a HP Pavilion dv4 laptop. I’ll be removing the display panel and top cover assembly.
Before you start, make sure the laptop is turned off and battery removed.
STEP 1.
Remove hard drive, memory and CMOS battery covers from the bottom of the laptop.
On the following picture you can see all covers removed.
Now you can get access to both memory modules, hard drive, wireless card and CMOS battery.
I believe HP Pavilion dv4 can handle up to 8GB RAM maximum. It means you can install up to 4GB memory module into each memory slot.
This laptop uses DDR2 PC2-6400 SODIMM memory modules.
For the purpose of my guide it’s not necessary to remove memory modules. I’ll leave them connected.
STEP 2.
Remove three screws securing the hard drive.
Slide the hard drive assemble to the left in order to disconnect it from the motherboard.
Now you can remove the hard drive.
If you are replacing the hard drive, you’ll have to transfer mounting brackets to the new drive.
HP Pavilion dv4 laptop uses a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive. Any large SATA hard drive should work fine in this laptop.
STEP 3.
Disconnect both antenna cables from the wireless card.
For the purpose of my guide it’s not necessary to remove the wireless card, so I’ll leave it connected to the motherboard.
STEP 4.
Unlock the DVD drive and pull it from the laptop.
STEP 5.
Disconnect and remove the CMOS battery.
In the following 7 steps I explain how to disconnect and remove the keyboard. It’s not necessary go though all previous steps (except removing CMOS battery cover) in order to remove the keyboard.
STEP 6.
Remove three screws securing keyboard on the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 6.
Carefully lift up the top part of the keyboard with a sharp object. Continue removing keyboard with your fingers.
WARNING! It’s possible the keyboard is glued to the top cover with double sticky tape. Remove it slowly.
STEP 7.
Lift up the keyboard and slide it towards the LCD screen so you can access the cable underneath.
STEP 8.
Before you can remove the keyboard it’s necessary to unlock the connector.
STEP 9.
On the following picture the cable connector shown in the locked position.
In order to unlock the connector you’ll have to move the brown clip about 2 millimeters towards the display.
Be careful, the brown clip must stay attached to the white base. Don’t move it more that 2 millimeters.
On the next picture the connector shown in the unlocked state.
Now you can pull keyboard cable from the connector.
STEP 10.
Finally, remove the keyboard.
New keyboards for HP Pavilion dv4 laptops available here.
STEP 11.
Remove seven screws securing keyboard bezel. Don’t forget two screws in the DVD drive bay.
STEP 12.
Disconnect LED board cable from the motherboard.
Remove two screws securing keyboard bezel to the top cover.
STEP 13.
In order to remove the bezel, slide it towards the display and lift up.
STEP 14.
Disconnect the power button board cable from the motherboard.
Remove one screw securing the board.
Remove power button board.
STEP 15.
Disconnect speaker cable from the motherboard.
Disconnect lid switch cable from the motherboard.
Remove three screws securing the speaker assembly.
STEP 16.
Lift up and remove speaker assembly.
STEP 17.
Disconnect video cable connector from the motherboard.
Pull wireless card antenna cables through the hole in the top cover. We disconnected both antenna cables from the wireless card in the step 3.
STEP 18.
Remove four screws securing display assembly hinges.
STEP 19.
Lift up and separate the display panel assembly from the laptop base.
If you would like to disassemble the display panel and remove the LCD screen, you can follow this LCD screen removal guide for HP Pavilion dv4 laptop.
By the way, it’s not necessary to separate the display panel from the laptop base in order to remove the screen.
STEP 20.
Remove six remaining screws from the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 21.
Remove four screws securing the top cover.
Disconnect touch pad cable from the motherboard (yellow arrow).
If you have finger scanner installed, disconnect it too (green arrow).
STEP 22.
It’s not necessary, but you can disconnect the USB cable.
It will be easier to remove the top cover when this cable removed.
STEP 23.
Carefully lift up and separate the top cover assembly from the laptop base.
STEP 24.
Remove top cover assembly.
On the following picture you can see the laptop base with the top cover removed.
I’m not going to remove the motherboard but you can find instructions in the official HP service manual (available from HP website).
If you would like to clean the cooling fan and heatsink (to fix overheating), you can do it without removing the motherboard. Just used canned air and blow air into the fan until all dust is gone.
By the way, in HP Pavilion dv4 laptop the DC jack is not soldered to the motherboard.
If the jack is damaged, you can replace it with a new one without soldering. Simply unplug the damaged DC jack harness and replace it with a new DC jack harness which is available here.
December 15th, 2012 at 9:41 am
@ Mike,
First, I would check laptop memory. Try removing memory modules one by one and test the laptop with each module separately. If one of them failed, the laptop should start properly when you remove the failed module.
December 10th, 2012 at 11:22 am
My Pavilion dv4 turns on boot will not boot. My number lock and caps lock blink at the same time, every 2 seconds? Is there a trouble shooting code chart that can help my figure this out.
Thanks!
December 2nd, 2012 at 8:15 am
Hi, thanks for great breakdown. I have a dv4 that does not connect to power, I’ve already tested my AC adapter and is working. When I connect the laptop on power not even the DC jack led turn on, the only thing that happens is the front power led starts to blink if the batery is in it, but without the batery I get nothing.
November 27th, 2012 at 5:28 pm
Thanks for the pics – helpful in correctly and easily disassembly. I am going to impose on you and ask a question. I replaced the top (the diplay panel) in my dv4 1014nr but I may have made an error. The display fits and works great, but I lost the controls at the top (the touch volume, media player, and wifi on/off switches) and the battery is no longer detectable. Does it seem like I missed some reconnections somewhere?
I would appreciate any information you could give me, if you have time.
November 18th, 2012 at 10:40 am
Is there a place where I can buy the replacement clips that you lock the ribbon cables in place with? My brother lost one of the clips
August 1st, 2012 at 5:39 pm
@ Diego,
First of all, remove the hard drive and try removing memory modules one by one. Will it start with only one memory module installed?
Take a look at this guide: http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2011/02/23/fix-laptop-motherboard-with-failed-nvidia-graphics-chip/
August 1st, 2012 at 12:53 am
HI Mr. Great Guy , heres my probs , i have the same model as this Laptop youve’d shown to dis assyble method . Now heres the error codes numlock & capslocks blinks every 4 seconds , somebody told me and give me error codes for this matter . now where is video chip controller is located to this motherboard so that i can resolder it by me self. HP Service Center Saudi Arabia dont have a clue for this or never touch if it is this case. i’ll try to cross my finger even though to try to make this crap alive again . Tnx.
July 27th, 2012 at 2:57 pm
@ John,
Check the memory modules. Try reseating them. Test the laptop with only one module installed. This could be memory related failure.
July 26th, 2012 at 7:56 am
Hi Thanks for the detailed description to open it. Here is a problem. I have HP dv4-1225 dx with Windows 8 OS. Recently i had a problem that while switching on, the system switches on but i dont see any video, rather seeing capslock and numlock LEDs blink, continously. If i leave it on for a while, sometimes the whole system switches on. Considering the problem with Win8 OS, i tried with Linux, but the system didnt boot up. I have no clue. But for a long time, the system was warning me about the internal battery replacement. so can it be the major cause for the present problem. I couldnt think anything else, since, while it switches on occasionally everything works well, seems my hard drive, mother board and other things are working. I would be happy to provide more info if you need. Thanks a lot for your help.
July 23rd, 2012 at 10:56 am
@ wolf3345us,
It’s not turning on at all? Could be the power button board failure (shown in the step 14).
If the laptop turns on but there is no video, could be memory failure.
It’s not very clear from your description how the laptop is failing.