In this guide I show how to disassemble a HP Pavilion dv2 laptop. I’m taking it apart in order to replace the motherboard.

HP Pavilion dv2 motherboard comes with the processor attached to it and the motherboard is not very expensive. If the motherboard failed it might make sense to repair the laptop.

Make sure the laptop is turned off before you start taking it apart.

STEP 1.

Remove laptop battery.

STEP 2.

Loosen five screws securing covers on the bottom of the laptop. Lift up and remove all covers.

STEP 3.

Under these covers you can access the hard drive, memory module, wireless card.

NOTE: HP Pavilion dv2 laptop has only ONE memory slot.

It’s not necessary to remove the memory module and wireless card for the purpose of my guide. I’ll leave them connected to the laptop.

STEP 4.

Remove four screws securing the hard drive mounting bracket.

STEP 5.

Slide the hard drive assembly to the left to disconnect it from the connector on the motherboard.

STEP 6.

Lift up and remove the hard drive assembly.

If you are replacing the hard drive you’ll have to transfer the mounting bracket to the new drive.

You can use any 2.5″ SATA hard drive.

STEP 7.

Remove two screws from the bottom. These screws securing the laptop keyboard.

STEP 8.

Lift up the upper side of the keyboard and move it towards the screen.

STEP 9.

Here’s where to find the keyboard cable connector.

It’s necessary to unlock the connector and release the cable before removing the keyboard.

STEP 10.

In order to unlock the connector you’ll have to lift up the left side of the locking tab with your fingernail.

The locking tab will open up at a 90 degree angle.

It must remain connected to the brown connector base.

STEP 11.

On the following picture the same connector shown in the unlocked position.

Now you can pull the cable from the connector.

STEP 12.

Remove the keyboard.

Here you can find new replacement keyboards for HP Pavilion dv2 laptops.

STEP 13.

Remove screws from the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 14.

Remove screws securing the top cover assembly.

Disconnect the touchpad cable.

You disconnect the touchpad cable same way as the keyboard cable.

STEP 15.

Remove the top cover assembly.

STEP 16.

Here’s a view on the laptop with the top cover assembly removed.

STEP 17.

Remove three screws securing the cooling fan.

Unplug the cooling fan cable from the motherboard.

STEP 18.

Lift up and remove the fan.

New fans for HP Pavilion dv2 laptops available here.

STEP 19.

Remove five screws securing the side cover.

STEP 20.

Remove the side cover.

STEP 21.

Disconnect the RJ-45 (LAN) jack cable from the motherboard.

STEP 22.

Lift up and remove the RJ-45 (LAN) jack assembly.

STEP 23.

Disconnect two antenna cables from the wireless card.

STEP 24.

Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard.

The video cable connector located close to the wireless card on the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 25.

Remove one screw from the VGA connector.

STEP 26.

Remove all screws securing the motherboard.

Disconnect the following cables from the motherboard:
1. Bloetooth module cable.
2. Speaker cable.
3. DC power jack cable.
4. Webcam/microphone cable.

Here’s how to unplug the Bluetooth and speaker cables.

Here’s how to unplug the webcam/microphone cable.

Here’s how to unplug the DC jack cable.

STEP 27.

Start removing the motherboard from the left side.

STEP 28.

Carefully lift up the motherboard. There is one more cable to disconnect on the right side.

This is the switch board (on/off button) cable.

Unplug the switch board cable.

STEP 29.

Now you can remove the motherboard from the laptop.

Here’s the laptop bottom cover with the following components still attached:

- Speaker.
- DC power jack.
- Switch board aka Power button board aka on/off button board.

On the bottom side of the motherboard you can access the CMOS battery and heatsink

As I mentioned before, the processor (CPU)  is soldered to the motherboard. It cannot be removed, upgraded or replaced.

Here’s where I found a brand new replacement motherboard for HP Pavilion dv2 laptop for less than $70.

In this guide I will disassemble an Asus UX50V laptop.

I’m not sure 100% but I think this guide might work for one of the following Asus laptops: U50A, U50F, U50VG, U50, U50V, U50F, U50VF. If you have one of the mentioned models please confirm if my guide works (of doesn’t work) for you in comments after this post.

I’ll go through the following major laptop disassembly steps:

STEP 1-7: Disconnecting and removing the keyboard.
STEP 8-11: Removing the top cover and display assembly.
STEP 12-18: Removing DVD drive, hard drive and cooling fan.
STEP 19-21: Removing laptop motherboard and accessing both memory modules.

STEP 1.

Turn off the laptop. Remove the battery.

STEP 2.

The keyboard is secured to the top cover by five plastic latches.

Push on a latch with a small flathead screwdriver and at the same time lift up the keyboard a little bit.

When the keyboard is lifted up, it will not allow the latch to lock.

Unlock all five latches.

STEP 3.

Now you should be able to lift up the upper side of the keyboard and turn it upside down.

Be careful, there are two ribbon cables connected the keyboard to the motherboard.

It’s necessary to unlock both connectors and release cables before removing the keyboard.

In the following three steps I explain how to unlock connectors.

STEP 4.

Here’s the main keyboard cable connector and it’s shown in the locked position.

Slide the locking tab (brown piece) about 1-2 millimeters to the shown direction.

NOTE: the locking tab must stay attached to the connector base.

STEP 5.

On this picture the same connector shown in the unlocked position.

Now you can pull keyboard cable from the connector.

STEP 6.

Unlock the keyboard backlight cable connector same way as the main connector.

Release and remove the cable.

STEP 7.

Remove the keyboard.

You can find a new replacement keyboard for Asus UX50V laptop here (probably same for Asus  U50A, U50F, U50VG, U50, U50V, U50F, U50VF).

STEP 8.

Remove all screws from the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 9.

Remove screws securing the top cover assembly.

Disconnect the following cables:
1. Touchpad cable.
2. Video cable.
3. Web camera cable.
4. Power button board cable.

Also, it’s necessary to disconnect wireless card antenna cables from the wireless card.

Here’s how to disconnect wireless card antenna cables.

Simply lift up the golden connector and unplug it from the card.

Disconnect the touchpad cable the same way we disconnected the keyboard cable in steps 4 and 5.

Slide the locking tab about 1-2 millimeters to the shown direction.

After that pull the cable from the connector.

In order to disconnect the video cable, just pull it up by the clear tab attached to the connector.

Finally, disconnect the web camera cable and power button board cable.

These are regular male-female connectors.

STEP 10.

After all screws removed and cables disconnected you can start separating the top cover assembly from the bottom cover.

I’m using the guitar pick as a case cracker. You can use a small piece of soft plastic. Insert it between the top cover and bottom cover and move slowly along the side.

At the same time lift up the top cover with your finger.

STEP 11.

Lift up and remove the top cover assembly.

As you see, the display panel attached to the top cover. Remove them together.

STEP 12.

This is a view on the bottom part of the top cover assembly.

Here you can access the power button board and touchpad.

This is a view on the laptop internal components after the top cover/display assembly removed.

STEP 13.

Remove three screws securing the hard drive assembly.

STEP 14.

Lift up the hard drive assembly and disconnect it from the cable.

STEP 15.

Remove four screws securing the DVD drive.

STEP 16.

Lift up one side of the DVD drive and slide it to the shown direction to disconnect from the motherboard.

Remove DVD drive from the laptop.

STEP 17.

Remove two screw securing the cooling fan.

Disconnect fan cable from the motherboard.

STEP 18.

Lift up and remove the cooling fan.

STEP 19.

Remove screws securing the motherboard.

Disconnect the touchpad cable.

STEP 20.

Carefully lift up one side of the motherboard and remove it from the laptop.

The motherboard removed.

STEP 21.

Here’s a view on the bottom side of the motherboard.

NOTE: in an Asus UX50V laptop both memory modules are located on the BOTTOM side of the motherboard. In order to remove, replace or upgrade memory it’s necessary to disassemble the entire laptop and remove the motherboard.

Here’s a view on the bottom cover with the motherboard removed.

Here you can access:
- Card reader board.
- CMOS battery (attached to the card reader board).
- USB board.
- Touchpad button board.
- Both speakers.

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In this tutorial I explain how to disassemble a Dell XPS 15 L502X laptop. My goal is removing and replacing broken DC jack.

I’ll go though the following major laptop disassembly steps:

STEP 1-4: Accessing laptop memory and wireless card. Removing the DVD drive.
STEP 5–9: Disconnecting and removing the palmrest assembly.
STEP 10-12: Removing laptop hard drive.
STEP 13-17: Disconnecting and removing the keyboard.
STEP 18-21: Removing laptop screen assembly.
STEP 22-27: Removing laptop bottom cover. Accessing the cooling fan.
STEP 28- 29: Disconnecting and removing DC jack cable.

STEP 1.

Before you start, make sure the laptop is turned off.

Remove the battery.

STEP 2.

Loosen/remove three screws securing the memory and wireless card cover.

Lift up and remove the cover.

STEP 3.

Under the cover you can access both memory modules and wireless card.

It’s not necessary to remove memory modules for the purpose of my tutorial. I’ll leave them connected to the motherboard.

We’ll disconnect wireless card antenna cables later (step 19) when we remove the display panel.

STEP 4.

Remove one screw securing the DVD optical drive.

Pull DVD drive from the laptop and remove it.

STEP 5.

Remove one screw securing the palmrest assembly. This screw located in the battery compartment.

Release two latches securing the palmrest assembly.

STEP 6.

Turn the laptop over and start lifting up the palmrest assembly from the laptop.

STEP 7.

I’m using the guitar pick to separate the palmrest assembly from the laptop base.

STEP 8.

Be careful while removing the palmrest assembly, it’s still connected to the motherboard.

STEP 9.

Turn the palmrest upside down so you can access the touch pad cable (left arrow) and power button cable (right arrow).

In the following two steps I explain how to unlock connectors and release cables.

Very carefully lift up the left side of the locking tab with your fingernail. The locking tab will open up at a 90 degree angle.

The locking tab must remain attached to the connector base.

On the following picture both connectors shown in the unlocked position.

Now you can pull cables.

STEP 10.

When the palmrest removed you can access the hard drive and CMOS battery.

STEP 11.

Remove four screws securing the hard drive mounting bracket to the laptop base.

Slide the hard drive assembly to the left to disconnect it from the motherboard.

STEP 12.

Lift up and remove the hard drive from the laptop.

STEP 13.

There are two small plastic tabs securing the keyboard on the top.

STEP 14.

Lift up the upper side of the keyboard and move towards the screen.

STEP 15.

Turn the keyboard upside down.

Now you can access the main keyboard cable connector (1) and keyboard backlight cable connector (2).

STEP 16.

Disconnect both cables as I explained in the step 9.

STEP 17.

Remove keyboard from the laptop.

If you need a new keyboard for your Dell XPS 15 L502X laptop, you can find it here.

STEP 18.

Remove two screws securing display hinges on the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 19.

Disconnect white and black antenna cables from the wireless card.

STEP 20.

Pull both wireless card antenna cables though the opening.

Remove four screws securing display hinges.

Disconnect video cable from the motherboard.

Here’s how to disconnect the video cable. Simply pull the connector by the black belt attached to it.

STEP 21.

Lift up and remove the display (LCD screen) assembly.

STEP 22.

Remove six screws from the bottom of the laptop.

Disconnect the subwoofer cable (left arrow) and cooling fan cable (right arrow).

STEP 23.

Remove three more screws located in the DVD drive bay.

Here’s how to unplug the subwoofer and fan cable from the motherboard.

It’s a regular male-female type connector.

STEP 24.

Remove all screws securing the top and bottom covers together.

STEP 25.

Start separating the top cover assembly from the bottom cover.

STEP 26.

In Dell XPS 15 L502X laptop the motherboard is attached to the top cover assembly.

STEP 27.

The cooling fan attached to the bottom cover.

Here’s the bottom side of the top cover assembly.

As I mentioned before, the motherboard is attached to the top cover.

STEP 28.

Remove one screw securing the DC jack to the laptop cover.

Disconnect DC jack cable from the motherboard.

Here’s how to unplug the DC jack cable connector from the motherboard.

STEP 29.

Finally lift up and remove the DC jack cable. It’s ready for the replacement.

In this guide I’ll be replacing the LCD screen on a Dell Inspiron N5030 laptop.

You should be able to use same instructions for Dell Inspiron N5020 and M5030 models.

In this post I explain how to disassemble the display panel, disconnect the video cable and remove the screen.

In my previous guide I explained how to take apart Dell Inspiron N5030/N5020/M5030 laptop body.

Make sure the laptop is turned off and battery removed before you start the disassembly process.

STEP 1.

Insert your fingers between the screen bezel and LCD screen on the top of the display panel.

Wiggle the bezel and separate it from the display back cover.

STEP 2.

Continue removing the bezel on the top and sides of the display assembly.

STEP 3.

Carefully separate the bezel on the bottom part of the display.

STEP 4.

Lift up the hinge cover (part of the bezel) using a small screw driver.

STEP 5.

Continue separating the bezel on the bottom of the display.

STEP 6.

Remove the screen bezel.

STEP 7.

Remove two screws securing the LCD screen assembly on the top.

STEP 8.

Carefully unplug the cable from the web camera module.

By the way, the web camera is not a part of the screen. It’s a separate module.

STEP 9.

Loosen (do not remove) six screws securing display hinges.

STEP 10.

Remove two screws securing the LCD screen on the right side.

STEP 11.

Remove two screws securing the LCD screen on the left side.

STEP 12.

Now you can separate the LCD screen from the display cover and lay it down on the keyboard.

STEP 13.

The video cable is running behind the LCD screen.

The web camera cable is part of the video harness.

STEP 14.

Remove sticky tape securing the video cable connector.

Unplug video cable connector from the LCD screen.

STEP 15.

Now you should be able to remove the LCD screen and replace it with a new one.

Dell Inspiron N5030, N5020 or M5030 laptops use LED-backlit LCD screens.

The best way to find a compatible screen is searching by the screen model number or Dell part number. Both numbers can be found on the screen sticker.

In my laptop I had the following LCD screen installed: model LTN156AT02. If you have a different one, just search the model number.

In this guide I explain how to disassemble Dell Inspiron N5030, N5020 or M5030 laptop.

In this case I’m taking apart a Dell Inspiron N5030 but all disassembly steps should be identical or very similar for Dell Inspiron N5020 and M5030 models.

Here are major laptop disassembly steps:

STEP 1-8: Disconnecting and removing laptop keyboard.
STEP 9-11: Accessing laptop memory, wireless card. Removing DVD drive.
STEP 12-15: Disconnecting and removing the top cover (touchpad) assembly.
STEP 16-17: Accessing internal laptop components. Disconnecting and removing the hard drive.

Let’s take it apart.

STEP 1.

Make sure the laptop is turned off (not in sleep mode or hibernation mode).

Remove laptop battery.

STEP 2.

Remove two screws securing the keyboard.

STEP 3.

You’ll find three spring loaded latches securing the keyboard on the top.

Push latches into the laptop using a small flat head screwdriver.

At the same time lift up the keyboard a little bit so latches remain unlocked.

STEP 4.

Lift up the top side of the keyboard and slide towards the LCD screen.

Be careful, the keyboard still connected to the motherboard.

STEP 5.

The keyboard connector located under the keyboard.

You’ll have to unlock the connector and release the cable before removing the keyboard.

In the following two steps I show how to unlock the connector.

STEP 6.

The keyboard connector has two parts: white base permanently soldered to the motherboard and  brown locking tab, the moving part.

Carefully lift up one side of the locking tab with your fingernail.  It will open up at a 90 degree angle.

STEP 7.

Now you can pull the cable from the connector.

STEP 8.

Remove the keyboard.

If you need a new replacement keyboard for Dell Inspiron N5030 laptop, you can find it here.

STEP 9.

Under the keyboard you’ll get access to the following parts:
- both memory modules.
- wireless card.
- DVD drive.

I’ll leave memory modules and wireless card connected to the motherboard. It’s not necessary to remove them for the purpose of my guide.

STEP 10.

Remove one screw securing the DVD drive.

STEP 11.

Push DVD drive from the laptop with your finger.

Now pull the DVD drive and remove it from the laptop.

STEP 12.

Remove screws from the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 13.

Disconnect the following cables:
1. Power button board cable.
2. Touchpad cable.
3. Speaker cable.

Here’s how to disconnect the power button board cable and touchpad cable.

Carefully lift up the locking tab about 1 millimeter up. Do not separate it from the white base.

On the following picture connector shown in the unlocked position. Now you can pull cable from the connector.

The speaker cable has a regular male-female connector. Unplug speaker cable from the motherboard.

STEP 14.

Start separating the top cover assembly from the laptop base.

I’m using the guitar pick as case cracker.

STEP 15.

The top cover assembly removed.

On the bottom side of the top cover assembly you’ll get access to the following parts:
- Both speakers.
- Power button board.
- Touchpad (sold as part of the top cover assembly).
- Touchpad button board.

STEP 16.

After the top cover assembly removed, you’ll get access to the following internal components:
- Cooling fan.
- Motherboard.
- CMOS battery.
- Hard drive.

We already removed screws securing the hard drive in the step 12.

STEP 17.

Slide the hard drive to the shown direction to disconnect it from the motherboard.

Lift up and remove the hard drive.

Dell Inspiron N5030/N5020/M5030 laptop has a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive installed. You can replace it with any other large capacity 2.5″ SATA hard drive or SSD.

In the next guide I explain how to replace LCD screen on Dell Inspiron N5030, N5020 or M5030 laptops.

In this guide I’ll be replacing the LCD screen on a Dell Latitude E6410 laptop.

Dell Latitude E6410 laptop has a 14.1″ LED-backlit LCD screen installed.

STEP 1.

First of all, turn off the laptop and remove the battery.

STEP 2.

Very gently insert your fingers between the top side of the screen bezel and screen.

Wiggle the screen bezel and separate it from the display back cover.

STEP 3.

Continue separating the screen bezel from the back cover on both sides of the display assembly.

You can use a piece of soft plastic to separate the bezel.

STEP 4.

The screen bezel removed.

STEP 5.

Remove four screws securing the screen mounting brackets to the back cover.

STEP 6.

Carefully separate LCD screen assembly from the display back cover and place it on the keyboard.

STEP 7.

Now you can access the laptop video cable which is connected to the LCD screen.

STEP 8.

Remove sticky tape securing the connection and unplug the video cable from the screen.

STEP 9.

Remove the failed/damaged/broken LCD screen. It’s ready for the replacement.

You can search for a new replacement LCD screen for Dell Latitude E6410 laptop here.

STEP 10.

You’ll have to transfer both (left and right) screen mounting brackets to the new replacement screen.

Each mounting bracket secured by two screws to the side of the screen.

In this guide I explain how to replace failed or damaged LCD screen on Dell Vostro 1014/1015 laptop.

In my case I’m fixing a Dell Vostro 1015 laptop but all screen replacement steps should be the same for Dell Vostro 1014 and probably some other Dell laptops.

Dell Vostro 1015 laptop has a 15.6″ LED LCD screen.
Dell Vostro 1014 laptop has a 14.0″ LED LCD screen.

If this guide works for you please mention the laptop model number in comments after the post.

STEP 1.

Before you start laptop disassembly make sure it’s turned off.

Remove laptop battery.

STEP 2.

You’ll find six screw covers on the screen bezel.

These covers hiding screws securing the bezel.

Remove all six covers with a sharp object.

Usually I glue covers somewhere on the bezel so they don’t get lost.

STEP 3.

Insert your fingers between the screen bezel and screen and starts separating the bezel from the back cover.

You’ll have to wiggle the bezel a little bit in order to unlock hidden latches.

STEP 4.

Continue separating the bezel on both sides of the display assembly.

You can use a piece of soft plastic (I’m using the guitar pick). Insert it between the bezel and back cover and slowly move along the side.

STEP 5.

Now move to the lower part of the bezel.

Lift up the part which covers hinges with a screwdriver.

STEP 6.

The screen bezel has been removed.

STEP 7.

Loosen (do not remove completely) four screws securing display hinges to the display back cover.

STEP 8.

Before you proceed with the LCD screen removal it’s necessary to disconnect cable from the web camera module.

Carefully unplug the cable from the web camera.

STEP 9.

Separate the display back cover from the LCD screen just enough to access screws on the side of the screen.

These screws securing the LCD screen to the mounting brackets.

Remove screws from the right side of the screen.

STEP 10.

Remove screws located on the other side of the screen.

For some reason I had two screws on the right side and three screws on the left side.

STEP 11.

Now you can separate the LCD screen from the display back cover and place it face down on the keyboard.

STEP 12.

The video cable is glued to the LCD screen.

By the way, the web camera cable is part of the LCD video harness.

Carefully unglue the video cable from the screen.

STEP 13.

Remove sticky tape securing the video cable connector.

Unplug video cable from the LCD screen.

STEP 14.

Now you can remove failed/damaged LCD screen and replace it with a new screen.

You can search for a new screen using two different numbers:

1. LCD model number. In my case the model number is LTN156AT02.
2. Dell part number. In my case the part number is 0NPFT8.

NOTE: there could be more than one screen compatible with Dell Vostro 1014/1015 laptop.

New 15.6″ LED LCD screen for Dell Vostro 1015 laptop available here.
New 14.0″ LED LCD screen s for Dell Vostro 1014 laptops available here.

In this guide I will show how to disassemble a Dell Inspiron 15 M5040 or Inspiron 15 N5040 laptop.

There are no hatches on the bottom of this laptop. In a Dell Inspiron M5040/N5040 all major internal components (such as memory, hard drive, DVD drive, wireless card) are mounted INSIDE the laptop case. In order to access them it’s necessary to remove the laptop top cover.

I will go through the following laptop disassembly steps:
STEP1-7: Disconnecting and removing the keyboard. Accessing laptop memory modules.
STEP 8-13: Removing laptop top cover. Removing DVD drive. Accessing other internal components.
STEP 14: Disconnecting and removing laptop hard drive.

STEP 1.

Make sure the laptop is turned off. Remove the battery.

STEP 2.

The keyboard is secured by four latches on the top.

Push the latch into the laptop case using a small flat head screwdriver.

At the same time lift up the keyboard a little bit so the latch doesn’t lock back again. Do the same with three remaining latches.

STEP 3.

After all latches are unlocked you should be able to lift up the top side of the keyboard and turn it upside down on the palm rest.

STEP 4.

The keyboard connected to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable.

It’s necessary to unlock the connector and release the cable before removing the keyboard.

By the way, both memory slots are located under the keyboard.

STEP 5.

Here’s how to unlock the keyboard connector.

Carefully lift up one side of the locking tab with your fingernail. The locking tab will open up at a 90 degree angle.

STEP 6.

On the following picture the connector is shown in the unlocked position.

WARNING: the locking tab must stay connected to the white base.

Now you can pull the keyboard cable from the connector.

STEP 7.

Remove keyboard from the laptop.

If you need a new replacement keyboard for Dell Inspiron M5040 or N5040 laptop, you can find it here.

STEP 8.

Remove screws from the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 9.

Remove one screw securing the DVD drive.

STEP 10.

Push the DVD drive from the laptop using a screwdriver.

Pull DVD drive and remove it from the laptop.

STEP 11.

Remove one screw securing the top cover assembly.

Disconnect the power button cable (left arrow).

Disconnect the touchpad cable (right arrow).

In the following two steps I explain how to unlock the power button and touchpad connectors.

Each connector has the locking tab (brown). Carefully slide the locking tab about 1-2 millimeters up, not more.

The locking tab must stay attached to the connector base.

On the following picture you see the connector unlocked.

Now you can pull the cable from the connector.

STEP 12.

Start separating the top cover assembly from the laptop base.

STEP 13.

Remove the top cover assembly.

On the bottom side of the top cover you can access the power button board with cable and the touchpad with cable.

When the top cover removed you can get access to the following internal laptop components:
- Cooling fan.
- Wireless card.
- Hard drive.
- CMOS battery.
- USB board.
- Motherboard.

STEP 14.

In order to remove the hard drive slide it away from the motherboard.

After the hard drive is disconnected from the motherboard you should be able to remove it.

By the way, the hard drive was secured to the bottom case by two screws we removed in the step 8.

Dell Inspiron 15 M5040/N5040 laptop has a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive installed. You can replace it with any other large capacity 2.5″ SATA hard drive or Solid State Drive.

In this guide I will show how to disassemble a Sony Vaio VPCS111FM laptop in order to fix broken power button.

Also, this laptop has another model number on the bottom: Model PCG-51211L.

Here’s what happened. The power button got pushed into the laptop case and stopped working. It wasn’t possible to turn on the laptop at all.

In order to figure out what’s going on I had to disassemble the laptop base and take a closer look at the power button.

By the way, here’s my previous post explaining how to replace LCD screen on Sony Vaio VPCS111FM laptop.

STEP 1.

Make sure the laptop is turned off. Remove the battery.

STEP 2.

Remove four screws securing the hard drive and memory cover.

It’s not necessary to remove the memory cover for the purpose of this guide. I’m doing it just to show where laptop memory located.

STEP 3.

Remove two screws securing the hard drive assembly.

As you see, both memory modules can be accessed on the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 4.

Slide the hard drive assembly to the shown direction to disconnect it from the motherboard.

Remove hard drive assembly from the laptop.

STEP 5.

Remove two screws securing the DVD drive.

STEP 6.

Push DVD drive with a screwdriver and pull it from the laptop.

STEP 7.

Remove all screws from the bottom of the laptop.

NOTE: my Sony Vaio VPSS111FM laptop had both hinge covers missing. I don’t think you’ll have a problem removing them.

STEP 8.

Remove the express card cover.

Don’t forget to remove one screw located under the cover.

STEP 9.

Now you should be able to lift up the bottom cover and remove it from the laptop.

STEP 10.

The bottom cover removed.

STEP 11.

Under the top cover you’ll get access to the cooling fan assembly (fan and heatsink).

If the cooling fan looks dirty, blow the dust off the fan and heatsink.

STEP 12.

Remove screws securing the express card board.

STEP 13.

Disconnect the power button board cable from the express card board.

STEP 14.

Carefully lift up the right side of the express card board to disconnect it from the motherboard.

STEP 15.

The express card board still connected to the laptop by two wires (wireless card antenna cables). It’s not necessary to disconnect them. Just put the board aside.

The wireless card attached to the bottom side of the express card board.

STEP 16.

Remove one screw securing the power button cover.

Lift up and remove the cover.

Now you can see why the power button got pushed in.

The power button board mounted on the metal frame which is part of the top cover assembly.

A part of the metal frame where the power button board attached broke off.

STEP 17.

Remove the broken metal frame with the power button.

STEP 18.

Remove one screw securing the power button board to the frame and remove the board.

Now I’m going to glue the broken metal piece back to the main chassis.

I’ll be using JB weld Cold Weld compound to attach two metal parts.

I glued broken parts and let it cure overnight.

The next day I assemble the laptop and voila! The Sony Vaio VPCS111FM power button fixed!

In this guide I explain how to disassemble Acer Aspire 5740/5340 series laptop.

I’ll walk through the entire laptop base disassembly and remove the motherboard.

Main laptop disassembly steps:

STEP 2-5: Removing laptop hard drive, memory and DVD drive.
STEP 6-11: Removing laptop keyboard.
STEP 12-17: Removing display assembly.
STEP 18-22: Removing top cover assembly.
STEP 23-30: Removing laptop motherboard. Accessing cooling fan and DC jack.

STEP 1.

First of all, make sure the laptop is turned off and battery removed.

STEP 2.

Remove screws securing the hard drive and memory covers on the bottom of the laptop.

Lift up and remove both covers.

STEP 3.

Both memory slots are located on the bottom of the laptop.

Acer Aspire 5740 series laptop can take up to 8GB RAM total (up to 4GB module in each slot).

Memory specs: PC3-8500 DDR3-1066 204pin SDRAM SODIMM.

This laptop supports Dual-Channel SDRAM support. In order to run it in Dual-Channel mode you must have two identical memory modules in both slots.

I’ll leave both memory modules connected to the motherboard.

Remove one screw securing the hard drive. Slide the hard drive to the shown direction to disconnect it from the motherboard.

STEP 4.

Lift up and remove the hard drive.

Acer Aspire 5740/5340 series laptop has a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive installed. You can replace it with any large capacity 2.5″ SATA hard drive or SSD.

STEP 5.

Pull DVD drive from the laptop and remove it.

The DVD drive was secured by one of the screws we removed in the step  2.

STEP 6.

Carefully lift up the keyboard bezel with a small screwdriver.

Do not move the cover to far from the laptop because the media button board (attached to the cover) still connected to the motherboard.

Turn the keyboard cover upside down.

STEP 7.

Here you can see the media button board which is attached to the keyboard cover.

Before you can remove the cover it’s necessary to unlock the connector and release the cable.

On the following picture the connector shown in the locked position.

Lift up the brown locking tab with your fingernail. It will open up at a 90 degree angle.

NOTE: the locking tab must stay attached to the connector base.

On the following picture the same connector shown in the unlocked position.

Now you can pull cable from the connector.

After you release the cable you can remove the keyboard cover from the laptop.

STEP 8.

The keyboard secured by three locking latches on the top.

Push each latch with a small screwdriver and lift up the keyboard.

STEP 9.

After all three latches are unlocked you can lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palmrest.

Be careful, the keyboard still attached to the motherboard.

STEP 10.

Disconnect the keyboard cable using the same technique as in the step 7.

STEP 11.

After you disconnected the keyboard cable from the motherboard you can remove the keyboard.

Do you need a new replacement keyboard for Acer Aspire 5740 laptop? You can find it here.

STEP 12.

In the following six steps I’ll show how to remove the display assembly.

In order to do that we’ll have to disconnect the wireless card antenna cables first.

STEP 13.

Turn the laptop upside down and disconnect two antenna cables from the wireless card.

You can leave the wireless card connected to the motherboard.

STEP 14.

Pull both antenna cables though the opening in the top cover.

Un-route both cables.

STEP 15.

Remove two screws securing display hinges on the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 16.

Disconnect video cable from the motherboard.

Remove two screws securing display hinges.

STEP 17.

Lift up and remove the display assembly.

STEP 18.

Remove all screw from the bottom of the laptop (I could have missed one or two on this picture, so check all screws carefully).

STEP 19.

Disconnect the following cables from the motherboard:

1. Touchpad cable.
2. Touchpad button board cable.
3. Left speaker cable.
4. Media button board cable.

Disconnect cables 1, 2 and 4 same way you disconnected cable in the step 7.

Update: there are three screws securing the top cover on the top. I forgot to show them. Don’t forget to remove this screws. I’ll fix the picture soon.

STEP 20.

Disconnect the left speaker cable from the motherboard.

STEP 21.

Start separating the top cover assembly from the laptop base.

STEP 22.

Remove the top cover assembly.

On the other side of the top cover assembly you can access the left speaker, touchpad and touchpad button board.

STEP 23.

After the top cover assembly removed you can access the motherboard, CMOS battery (replaceable), modem card and USB board.

STEP 24.

Remove one screw securing the modem card.

Lift up the modem card and disconnect it from the motherboard.

STEP 25.

Disconnect the right speaker cable from the motherboard (upper arrow).

Disconnect the USB board cable from the motherboard (lower arrow).

Remove one screw securing the motherboard.

STEP 26.

Make sure the SD dummy card (or SD card) removed from the card reader.

STEP 27.

Start removing the motherboard from the laptop base as it shown on the following picture.

STEP 28.

The motherboard removed.

STEP 29.

The cooling fan assembly attached to the bottom side of the motherboard.

You can buy a new replacement fan for Acer Aspire 5740 series laptop here.

STEP 30.

Acer Aspire 5740/5340 series laptop has DC power jack soldered to the motherboard.

If the jack fails, you’ll have to de-solder it from the motherboard and replace with a new one.

This disassembly guide might fit some other models in the Acer Aspire line. If it works for your laptop, please mention the model number in the following comments.