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In this guide I explain how to diassemble an Asus K53U laptop.
I’ll go though the following major laptop disassembly steps:
STEP 1-4: Accessing and removing laptop memory, hard drive, DVD drive and wireless card.
STEP 5-11: Disconnecting and removing the keyboard.
STEP 12-16: Removing the palmrest assembly. Accessing the CMOS battery.
STEP 17-21: Disconnecting and removing the motherboard.
STEP 22-24: Accessing and removing laptop cooling fan and DC power jack harness.
By the way, in the second guide I’ll explain how to remove and replace Asus K53U laptop screen.
OK. Let’s take it apart. Make sure the laptop is turned off before you start.
STEP 1.
Unlock and remove the battery.
STEP 2.
Remove two screws securing the hard drive and memory covers on the bottom of the laptop.
Under those covers you can get access to the hard drive, wireless card and two memory slots.
In my Asus K53U laptop I found only one memory module installed.
I’ll leave the wireless card and memory module connected to the motherboard.
STEP 3.
Slide the hard drive to the left to disconnect it from the motherboard.
Lift up and remove the hard drive.
Asus K53U has a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive installed.
STEP 4.
Remove one screw securing the optical DVD drive.
Slide DVD drive to the left and remove it from the laptop.
STEP 5.
Remove two screws securing the keyboard on the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 6.
There are three spring loaded latches securing the keyboard on the top.
Push on the latch with a small screwdriver.
When the latch pushed in, the keyboard will lift up a little bit and the latch will not move back into the locked position.
Unlock all three latches.
STEP 7.
Now you should be able to lift up the upper side of the keyboard and turn it upside down on the palmrest.
STEP 8.
The keyboard connector has to be unlocked in order to release the cable.
In the following two steps I show how to unlock the connector and remove the cable.
STEP 9.
Carefully lift up the left side of the connector retainer with your fingernail.
The retainer will open up at a 90 degree angle.
STEP 10.
Now you can pull the cable from the connector.
STEP 11.
Remove the keyboard.
By the way, new replacement keyboards for Asus K53U laptops available here.
STEP 12.
Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 13.
Remove three screws securing the palmrest assembly.
Disconnect the power button board cable (upper arrow) and touchpad cable (lower arrow) from the motherboard.
You’ll have to unlock the touchpad cable connector same way you unlocked the keyboard connector in steps 9-10.
Here’s how to unlock the power board cable connector and remove the cable.
Carefully slide the white cable retainer to the right about 1-2mm. Do not apply to much force! The retainer must remain attached to the connector base.
On the following picture the connector shown in the UNLOCKED position. As you see, the retainer still attached to the connector.
Now you can pull the cable from the connector.
STEP 14.
Start separating the palmrest assembly from the laptop bottom cover.
STEP 15.
Remove the palmrest assembly.
On the bottom part of the palmrest assembly you can access the power button board and touchpad.
NOTE: the left and right buttons are not part of the touchpad. In Asus K53U both touchpad buttons soldered to the motherboard (you can see them on the next picture).
STEP 16.
When the palmrest assembly removed you can access the CMOS battery.
It’s a regular coin battery which can be easily removed and replaced.
DISCONNECTING AND REMOVING THE MOTHERBOARD.
In order to remove the motherboard it’s necessary to disconnect the power jack cable and wireless antenna cables first.
STEP 17.
Unplug the power jack cable. This connector located on the bottom of the laptop close to the memory module.
STEP 18.
Disconnect both antenna cables from the wireless card.
STEP 19.
Remove one screw securing the motherboard.
Disconnect the video cable, speaker cable and USB board cable from the motherboard.
The speaker cable has a regular male-female connector. Unplug the speaker cable from the motherboard.
Unplug the USB board cable from the motherboard.
Lift up the video cable connector by the black belt on the top and disconnect it from the motherboard.
STEP 20.
Start removing the motherboard from the laptop bottom cover as it shown on the following picture.
STEP 21.
Remove the motherboard.
STEP 22.
The cooling fan is mounted on the bottom part of the motherboard.
Yes, it’s necessary to remove the whole motherboard in order to access and replace or clean up the cooling fan.
Disconnect three screws securing the fan to the motherboard.
Unplug the fan cable.
STEP 23.
Lift up and remove the cooling fan.
You can search for a new Asus K53U replacement fan here.
STEP 24.
The DC power jack harness mounted in the upper left corner of the laptop.
After the motherboard removed, the DC jack harness can be easily accessed and removed.
New DC power jack harnesses for Asus K53U laptops available here.
August 13th, 2012 at 5:11 pm
[...] is my second guide for this model. In the first guide I explained how to disassemble Asus K53U laptop body and access internal [...]
August 22nd, 2012 at 8:33 am
FYI – the touch-pad cable connector in step #13 also has a 90 degree swiveling latch that should be ‘flipped’ up before disengaging the cable, and conversely, flipped ‘down’ upon reassembly. I found this out quite by accident during reassembly, but the cable would not have gone back without the latch in the open position!
Otherwise this was a HUGE help in fixing our laptop which was not connecting to the power supply because the plug receiver had been pushed back too far into the case, and would not connect. The repair I made was simple, I did NOT wish to glue the socket into the case out of concern that if it was still ‘broken’, I’d have to replace it…which would be impossible if it was glued in. So, I cut a small block of wood: 0.3″ x 0.8″ x 0.8″ to uses as a brace between the rear of the connector and the metal hinge, and reassembled everything, and it works just fine! Thanks for the guide, donation made!
August 22nd, 2012 at 9:33 am
@ Phil Ozell,
This is correct. I didn’t mention how to unlock the touchpad connector because it’s same type as the keyboard connector.
Well… I just added it to the guide so there is no confusion.
Thank you very much!
January 2nd, 2013 at 2:52 pm
hi i have same problem as phil ozell, DC power jack pushed back into case, my question is do i have totally dismantle the laptop to repair this or can i leave some part in place, thank you.
January 9th, 2013 at 11:41 am
Can you help me to find the motherboard for this model ASUS K53U-SX191 AMD Dual-Core E450.
Thanks!
March 16th, 2013 at 11:25 pm
Seems this power jack issue is a common one, that’s what I have just fixed on my girlfriend’s laptop, with some cardboard from a pizza box…
In answer to Dave Horrocks’ question, you only need to go as far as step 15 to access the DC jack.
Also of note: the keyboard on my girlfriend’s laptop had 5 latches rather than 3 and was stuck down at the right hand side, it required a bit of force to remove.
Thank you very much for your expert instructions, I have made a donation, I can’t spare much but I guess every little bit helps…
March 25th, 2013 at 12:39 am
hello
Does anybody know how to dissasamble ASUS B50A ?
I`m stuck on removing palmrest assembly ( upper cover ) ?
I need to check out my stereo jack and speakers…
thanks in advance
May 10th, 2013 at 3:35 am
hello awesome guides here. Just wondering is there a guide for a asus k53s ?.
it should be pretty similar to this no??.
Thanks heaps
Nathan