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In this guide I explain how to disassemble an HP Pavilion dv7 notebook.
This is my first disassembly guide for HP pavilion dv7 series.
To be precise, I’m taking apart an HP Pavilion dv7t-1000 notebook.
UPDATE. READ THIS: I found that HP Pavilion dv7 notebooks come in different body types. If your laptop doesn’t look like one shown in this guide, check out my second complete HP Pavilion dv7 disassembly guide (for dv7-3000 and dv7-4000 series) or my third HP Pavilion dv7 disassembly guide (for dv7-6000 series).
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.
July 13th, 2012 at 5:55 am
THANK YOU!!!! The instructions were flawless. I removed about a 1/4″ of “felt” blocking the fan and heat sink. My computer was running so loudly and hot that I couldn’t stand it. Now I have to really listen to hear the fan noise. Runs like new.
July 10th, 2012 at 12:57 pm
Found the lcd tutorial… Now I just need to know if the glossy screen (not 1980×1620) with the matte finish (1980×1620).. HP ARE IDIOTS…..
July 10th, 2012 at 12:11 pm
I have a dv7 hd lcd (1980×1620) can this be installed in lieu of the non hd lcd? Or do I need an inverter? or will the screen not be “hd” because of other hardware / software incompatibilities? HP can’t answer… I have spoken to 6 people andhey can’t tell me if I need other parts or tell me if I will get the 1980 x 1620 resolution not…and is there a tutorial anywhere showing how to instal the new lcd screen?
July 3rd, 2012 at 12:39 am
thank you for your perfect job with the instructions.
Help us keep the plan obsolesce away.
Greetings from Hellas. (Greece)
July 1st, 2012 at 5:36 pm
Just wanted to say thanks for this. My wife’s HP Pavilion DV7 overheated, shut down, and we discovered the fan had quit working. The laptop is about 5 years old, but other than the fan issue, there’s no problems, but we were looking at at least $100 bucks to have someone fix the fan (and everytime I’ve done that, they “find something else wrong” that costs more. I was about ready to throw in the towel and move to a new laptop or an iPad.
We found this site, gave it a try and discovered the fan was stuck due to dust and cat-hair. Cleaned it out, put the laptop back together, and (first time) no power…. then I went back over the procedure and saw I had skipped re-connecting the speaker bezel to the motherboard (so the pwr switch was disconnected). Second time no touch-pad (also had missed the re-connection). Third time was a charm and it’s running perfectly, fan is working as good as new, and I just saved myself a lot of money.
My advice…. keep each screw with the section it is used for… there are LOTS of different sized screws and getting them all back into the correct hole is a nightmare if you don’t label or tape them near where they came from.
Thanks again!!!
June 19th, 2012 at 4:12 pm
I am interested in removing the motherboard, cpu etc from my dv7 17″ laptop. Unfortunately, this laptop has serios issues with overheating (AMD Turion x2) processor and I know they run hot. My current setup has me running a 32bit version of XP and other than using to watch movies, check e-mail, it can’t do a thing without running way too hot. I have CoreTemp installed and the two cores run around 78-81 centigrade. What I’d like to do is remove those parts, put them into a micro atx case and use it solely as a media center but with lots of cooling. The design of the of the dv7 is flawed in that there is one fan and almost no vents. With a table fan blowing straight at the only fan, it’s just barely ok… Can anyone help? I’m sure this has been done before so if anyone has any thoughts or suggestions PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE help.
June 19th, 2012 at 8:01 am
Hi, thanks for incredible instructions.
It turn on, i can hear the fan working but the screen is black… I opened it again, i removed everything from motherboard, dvd, ram, usb etc and still nothing… And i have some experience with laptop repair… Please help me to solve this problem. Is it possible to made damage in cpu or motherboard? How can i understand if something is damaged? Thanks
I have this problem: I followed all the steps, i cleaned the fan and when i connect everything back, the laptop is not working
June 15th, 2012 at 3:40 am
I have had this DV7-1245dx for 3 years now. For the last year and a half, the fan has been screaming non-stop when the computer is on. It would get so hot, one could fry an egg near the power button. This resulted in poor performance and frequent spontaneous shut offs. I literally had to prop that corner (under the power button) up with something just so I could use the computer for a while before it shut off. THANK YOU! Your directions and pictures were perfect. A local computer shop wanted $100 to take this thing apart and clean it. With your instructions (and another site (with instructions only, no pics) I was able to take this bitch apart myself and air it out. I found a chunk of dust near the fan (blocking the fins) that looked like dryer lint after drying a whole load of new towels! I am broke now, which is why I couldn’t afford to take this to the computer store. As soon as I can, I will donate to you. Thank you so much!
June 12th, 2012 at 2:45 pm
On step 7 when putting all together it did not power on so i went looking for loose connection. the speaker connection on step 7 is completey off the board. can it be repaired? i manually hit the connection on the board and powers up right, so i have to reattach the whole connector to the board any advise
June 12th, 2012 at 11:31 am
@ Malik,
It’s possible that HP updated the part number. I’ve seen it happening before.
Try calling “Spare Parts Warehouse” and talk to sales rep. They have access to all HP parts and most likely can help you to find the correct part number.