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In this guide I explain how to disassemble an HP Pavilion dv7 notebook.
To be precise, I’m taking apart an HP Pavilion dv7t-1000 notebook but you should be able to use these instructions for all models in the Pavilion dv7 line.
The guide will show how to access both memory modules and hard drives if you are upgrading the notebook, remove most internal components, access and clean the cooling fan.
Before you start, turn off the notebook and remove the battery.
If you need spare part for your HP Pavilion dv7 notebook, you can search here.
STEP 1.
Remove (loosen) four screws securing the hard drive and memory cover. Remove the cover.
STEP 2.
Remove four screws securing hard drives (two screws per hard drive).
Slide the hard drive 1 to the left until it’s disconnected from the motherboard. Remove the hard drive 1.
Slide the hard drive 2 to the right until it’s disconnected from the motherboard. Remove the hard drive 2.
STEP 3.
Remove both memory (RAM) modules.
Disconnect two antenna cables from the wireless card. These laptop has three antenna cables but only two are used.
One of the antenna cables connected to the main contact on the wireless card and the second one is connected to the auxiliary contact. All three antenna cables are labeled.
Remove two screws securing the wireless card. Remove the card.
STEP 4.
Remove one screw securing the CD/DVD drive.
Slide the CD/DVD drive to the left to disconnect it from the motherboard.
Remove the CD/DVD drive.
STEP 5.
Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the notebook.
The green circled screw secures the keyboard.
Don’t forget to remove two screws hidden in the CD/DVD drive bay.
STEP 6.
Start separating the speaker cover from the notebook base.
You can use a guitar pick as a case cracker. Insert the guitar pick between the speaker cover and case and slowly move along the side.
STEP 7.
Lift up the speaker cover. Be careful, it’s still connected to the motherboard.
In order to remove the cable, you’ll have to unlock the connector first.
Move the brown clip about 2 millimeters in the direction shown by two arrows. The clip must stay attached to the connector base.
On the picture below the connector is shown in the unlocked position.
STEP 8.
Now you can remove the speaker cover.
STEP 9.
Remove four screw securing the keyboard.
STEP 10.
Lift up the keyboard from the base and access the cable connector underneath.
STEP 11.
Carefully unlock the keyboard cable connector.
Move the brown clip about 2 millimeters in the direction shown by two arrows. The brown clip must stay attached to the connector base.
If you damage the connector, the keyboard will not work when you assemble the notebook back together.
Well… I broke the connector. I removed thousands of laptop keyboards before but I broke this connector!
As you see, the left pin on the brown clip is missing.
No panic! I still can use this clip to lock the connector.
You’ll find more info here: Fixing damaged keyboard connector on a laptop motherboard.
STEP 12.
Pull Wi-Fi antenna cables though the opening in the cover.
Remove three screws securing the speaker assembly.
Disconnect the speaker cable (green arrow) from the motherboard.
STEP 13.
Remove the speaker assembly.
STEP 14.
Disconnect the video cable from the connector on the motherboard.
Remove six screws securing display hinges (three screws per hinge).
STEP 15.
Separate the display assembly from the notebook base.
In the next post I will explain how to take apart the display panel assembly and remove the LCD screen with inverter board.
By the way, it’s not necessary to separate the display panel assemble from the base in order to take it apart.
STEP 16.
Disconnect and remove the CMOS battery.
Remove all marked screws from the bottom. The green circled screw is hidden in the CD/DVD drive bay.
STEP 17.
Remove all screws securing the top cover assembly.
Disconnect the touch pad cable from the motherboard.
STEP 18.
Start separating the top cover assemble from the notebook base.
You can use same trick with the guitar pick shown in the step 6.
STEP 19.
Remove the top cover assembly.
Here’s the back side of the top cover assembly.
STEP 20.
Disconnect the USB and audio board cables from the motherboard (green arrows).
Disconnect the cooling fan cable from the motherboard (yellow arrow).
Remove four screws securing the motherboard.
STEP 21.
Lift up the right side of the motherboard as it shown on the picture below and disconnect the DC-IN jack cable.
STEP 22.
Remove the motherboard from the notebook base.
On the opposite side of the motherboard you can access the processor (CPU) when the heat sink is removed.
By the way, the best way to find a replacement motherboard is searching by the HP part number. The part number should be located on a sticker in the memory compartment. The HP part number looks like XXXXXX-001.
Here’s the notebook base without motherboard.
The USB board, audio board, cooling fan and DC-IN jack are mounted on the base.
The DC jack attached to a harness. New jack harness for dv7 notebooks available here.
In order to remove the cooling fan, simply remove two screws securing the fan.
As you see, the cooling fan is dusty and has to be cleaned.
UPDATE:
There are only two fans listed in the service manual for HP Pavilion dv7 series notebook. They are listed on the page 27.
488885-001 for laptops equipped with AMD processor.
480481-001 for laptops equipped with Intel processors.
One of the DIY-ers had trouble searching for a new replacement fan for her AMD notebook. After the notebook was disassembled, she found that it had an Intel fan installed.
Here’s her comment:
Forget the question I just asked…We opened up our laptop and found the fan for the Intel processor installed instead of the fan for the AMD…apparently these ARE interchangeable…FYI
Check out comments 29 and 30. Thanks to Liz for this information.
December 19th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
@ Mike
Hey Mike,
After replacing my screen I noticed the same symptoms, after looking back over everything, I noticed that my RAM wasnt completly inserted. Try removing and re-inserting the RAM back into their slot.
Hope this helps.
You can contact me on Twitter if you need more assistance. (@stonehenge1861)
Drew
December 18th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Hi,
I’ve got a dv7-4061nr that begins to boot, but then stops making any progress on the boot after several seconds. You can hear the fan fire up and then back down to it’s “normal” running level. The LED on the power button is lit steadily, as are the LEDs for power and hard disk on the right side. The caps lock blinks slowly on and off. There is never anything at all on the display – no BIOS information, no cursor, no flickering, no anything, just black, as if the video cable were disconnected.
I’ve tried connecting a known good monitor to the VGA port and then booting but got the same result.
Battery and power supply seem fine.
Have gone through the “hard reset” procedure HP recommends several times with the same result.
How do I isolate what’s wrong?
Thanks
December 18th, 2011 at 2:24 pm
Just wanted to say thanks I had a DV7 and the Fan was making a terrible noise and I new it had to be clogged with dust,cat hair,dog hair…. and after following your guide I had it apart and cleaned and together in one day… Thanks allot…
December 16th, 2011 at 3:27 pm
I just wanted to say thank you for this guide! I printed it out and used it to clean my fan. It was VERY dirty and my laptop was overheating . Now it’s running like new again. Thank you very much!
December 10th, 2011 at 7:32 am
Thanks so much for the walk through on this! I had an overheating video card that was causing a BSOD unless I disabled the video driver. Using your great instructions, I fully disassembled my laptop for the first time ever and replaced the heat sink. Video display is back to normal!
December 2nd, 2011 at 11:31 am
@ Alex,
There is no glue. Probably you forgot to remove some screws.
Just buy a can of compressed air and spray it into the fan grill until all dust is gone. This should be enough.
CPU runs at 50%? Probably this is OS related issue.
Backup data and reinstall Windows 7. Cleaning the CPU fan will not help in this case.
December 2nd, 2011 at 9:59 am
Your tutorial was really helpful, but i stopped at step 20. I have HP DV7-2190en. On this model keyboard connection cannot be removed. but that’s not the problem. After screwing ALL screws, i can’t lift the motherboard. It seems like glued to the bottom. and, furthermore, a fan, if I try to lift my motherboard, lifts with motherboard too. what to do? I want to remove all that dust, that my PC worked better and faster, because CPU, according to task manager, shows me about 50% when no programs at all is running. I use Win7… so maybe you can help?
November 29th, 2011 at 12:39 pm
FYI, be careful when ordering fans based on the search engine on the website. Mine is a Pavilion Entertainment PC, AMD, 3173 in the model number. I ordered the fan, and after I got it all torn apart, discovered it wasn’t the right one.
My laptop uses a 3-lead fan assembly for the wiring, and it’s model is 535442-01. I found a new one on Ebay for $50. Something to keep in mind.
November 29th, 2011 at 5:51 am
thank s a lot my friend!!!!nice work!!
**keep up….
November 27th, 2011 at 3:14 pm
Disassembled my old laptop today. Quite a job, but thanks to this I managed to fix the problem. Fan was full of dust, laptop became overheated very often. Problem solved now, thanks guys!