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In this guide I explain how to disassemble a Dell Studio 1555 laptop. I’ll show how to take it apart completely and remove all major parts.
With this guide you’ll be able to:
- access laptop hard drive, memory, CMOS battery.
- remove and replace keyboard.
- remove and replace DVD optical drive.
- remove motherboard.
- remove and clean the cooling fan assembly.
- access and DC jack harness.
etc…
Before you start, make sure the laptop is powered off and battery removed.
STEP 1.
Start laptop disassemble with removing the memory card and hard drive cover which is secured by three screws.
STEP 2.
Under the cover you’ll get an access to both memory modules/slots, hard drive, wireless card and CMOS battery.
Also, some Dell Studio 1555 models can be equipped with WWAN and WPAN cards.
Remove four screws securing the hard drive. Slide the hard drive to the right to disconnect it from the motherboard.
STEP 3.
Lift up and remove the hard drive.
If you replacing the hard drive, you’ll have to transfer mounting brackets to the new drive.
My Dell Studio 1555 laptop has a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive which can be upgraded to a SSD hard drive (expensive but quite and fast).
STEP 4.
In order to release the memory module you’ll have to spread latches on both sides of the memory slot.
The memory module will pop up at a 30 degree angle.
Pull both memory modules from slots.
Dell Studio 1555 laptop uses DDR2 PC2-6400 memory. It can take up to 8GB total (up to 4GB RAM in each slot).
If you want to use more than 4GB RAM, you’ll have to run a 64-bit operating system.
STEP 5.
Remove one screw securing the center control cover.
STEP 6.
Carefully lift up the upper side of the center control cover and slide it towards the display.
STEP 7.
Remove the center control cover.
STEP 8.
Remove two screws securing the keyboard.
STEP 9.
Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest.
Be careful. The keyboard still attached to the motherboard. There are two ribbon cables running from the keyboard to the motherboard.
Before you can remove the keyboard, it’s necessary to unlock both connectors and release cables.
STEP 10.
You can unlock both connectors using the same method.
Lift up the right side of the locking tab. It will open up at a 90 degree angle.
STEP 11.
On the following picture the connector shown in the unlocked position.
Now you can pull the cable from the connector.
Open up another connector using same method.
STEP 12.
Remove the keyboard.
Now you can replace it with a new keyboard if needed.
STEP 13.
Disconnect both antenna cables from the wireless card.
If you have WWAN and WPAN cards installed, disconnect antenna cables from them too.
I would suggest making notes how those cables are connected.
STEP 14.
Unroute all antenna cables.
Remove two screws securing display hinges on the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 15.
Disconnect shown display cables from the motherboard.
STEP 16.
Unroute display cables and pull antenna cables though the opening in the top cover.
Remove two screws securing the display hinges.
STEP 17.
Lift up and remove the display assembly.
In one of the following posts I explain how to take apart the display assembly and remove the LCD screen.
STEP 18.
Remove eight screws from the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 19.
Remove ten more screws from the top cover.
Disconnect shown cables from the motherboard.
STEP 20.
Start separating the top cover assembly from the bottom cover.
STEP 21.
Continue separating the top cover.
I’m using a guitar pick as a case cracker.
STEP 22.
Lift up and remove the top cover assembly.
STEP 23.
Remove one screw securing the CD/DVD optical drive.
STEP 24.
Lift up the front side of the CD/DVD optical drive and disconnect it from the motherboard.
STEP 25.
Remove four screws securing the ExpressCard board.
STEP 27.
Remove the ExpressCard board.
As you noticed, I disconnected cables from the card itself and left them connected to the motherboard.
STEP 28.
Remove six screws securing the motherboard.
Disconnect three shown cables from the motherboard.
STEP 29.
Lift up the right side of the motherboard and carefully pull it from the bottom case.
STEP 30.
Remove the motherboard.
STEP 31.
On the bottom side of the motherboard you’ll get an access to the cooling module (cooling fan and heat sink).
If the cooling fan and heat sink look dusty, you can blow it off with compressed air.
Also, cleaning the cooling module will fix any possible laptop overheating issues.
Noisy fan? New Dell Studio 1555 fans available here.
STEP 32.
If you would like to replace the cooling module or apply new thermal grease on the CPU, you’ll have to remove it.
Loosen six screws securing the cooling module and disconnect the cooling fan cable from the motherboard.
Now you can separate the cooling module from the motherboard and access the CPU.
STEP 33.
The DC jack (power connector) in Dell Studio 1555 laptop is not soldered to the motherboard.
The DC jack attached to the power harness which can be unplugged from the motherboard (we did it in the step 28).
If your DC jack failed, just replace the entire DC jack harness.
It’s possible this guide will work for some other Dell Studio laptops. If it works for you, please mention the model in comments below.
April 20th, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Thanks for an excellent guide!
Two questions I’m hoping you could help me are:
1, how can I remove the antenna connections from the WLAN card? if I’m any less gentle, I’m afraid I might break them.
2, after removing 9 (case) + 4 (HDD) + 1 (under HDD) + 3 (cover) + 1 (WLAN) + 1 (near the CMOS) screws, Memory modules, HDD, WLAN card, the media control cover still won’t budge (the screen is tilted WAY back). it isn’t as though it’s been loosened but something’s holding it – it’s completely TIGHT. What’s the right way to do it?
April 15th, 2012 at 8:03 am
I needed to replace my fan on my 1558 since each time I turned on my computer it sounded like a helicopter taking off. Now after putting it all back together, I plugged it in, and all I got was a black screen, and beeping sound. Any ideas as to what I did wrong?
April 14th, 2012 at 8:17 am
@ fdx,
Did I? I believe there are 6 screws securing the motherboard to the case and I marked all of them.
April 13th, 2012 at 11:19 pm
On removing mother board screws you miss one screw that holds heatsink – top left corner there is a screw that mounts heatsink in to case. please mar it in red or that could be a “jesus! screw” for someone…
April 7th, 2012 at 5:52 am
Great instructions! I have to say though it’s a pretty crappy laptop design to have to remove the entire motherboard just to clean the fan and the heatsink!
Some tips from my experience: those small white connectors are a pain to disconnect, and they’re fragile too. Be gentle and don’t yank the wires. Care needs to be taken when reattaching the screen: don’t try closing it until all four screws are tightly secured, otherwise you might end up cracking the case like I did
Apart from no problems, laptop is running fine. Although I do have three screws leftover and I’m not sure why…
March 31st, 2012 at 11:31 am
I so appreciate this! thank you!
March 2nd, 2012 at 11:43 am
@ Vipin,
I believe somewhere on the Dell website you can pull the original system configuration list (using service tag number from your laptop). It will pave part numbers for all major components inside the laptop. The motherboard part number should be in there.
February 29th, 2012 at 3:10 am
By the way i looked there is no sticker on the slots is there any other way of knowing it ?
February 28th, 2012 at 2:39 pm
@ Chileno,
Most likely it’s not assembled correctly.
Check all connections.
February 28th, 2012 at 1:53 pm
@ Vipin,
There should be Dell sticker somewhere on the old motherboard. Probably it’s somewhere close to memory slots.
The sticker should have a number, something like CN-0H5639-XXXXX-XXX etc… The first string of numbers and letters after CN- will be the part number.
In my example the part number is 0H5639 (example from a keyboard). You should be able to find replacement motherboard if you search on Google or eBay by the part number.