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In the following guide I will be removing the keyboard from a Gateway MT6704 (Model MA7) laptop. I believe this guide will work for many other Gateway laptops. Take a look at the sticker on the bottom of your laptop. If you can see Model MA7 under the Gateway logo, most likely you can use this guide.
First of all, turn off the laptop, unplug the AC power adapter and remove the battery.
Now remove covers from the wireless card and memory. I mentioned the hard drive cover, but I’m not going to remove it.
There are two screws securing the keyboard. Remove both screws.
Now remove two screws securing the hinge cover.
Lift up one side of the hinge cover with a sharp object as it shown on the picture below. Continue removing the cover with your fingers.
On the picture below you see the hinge cover removed.
Lift up the keyboard and place it upside down on the palm rest. Be careful, the keyboard is still attached to the motherboard with a cable.
On the picture below I circled the keyboard connector. In order to disconnect the keyboard, you’ll have to unlock the connector first.
On the picture below you see the keyboard connector in the locked position.
On the next picture, the keyboard connector is shown in the unlocked position. Now you can pull the cable and remove the keyboard.
The keyboard is remove and you can replace it with a new one. You can buy a new keyboard for your Gateway MT6700 series laptop here for less than $20.
Would you like to know how to remove the motherboard and replace broken power jack? Take a look at the Gateway NX570X disassembly guide. This laptop has the same body (Model No MA7).
Also, in the next post I explain how to remove the LCD screen from the same Gateway laptop.
If you have a different Gateway laptop and my guide works for you, please mention the laptop model in comments.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
March 18th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
Thanks a lot for explaining how to unplug the keyboard. I had 5 broken keys and your guide helped a lot. Saved me money!
March 18th, 2009 at 10:35 pm
[...] In this guide I will remove a broken LCD screen from a Gateway MT6704 (Model MA7) laptop and replace it with a new screen. As I mentioned in my previous article, where I was replacing the laptop keyboard, this guide will work for many other Gateway laptops in MT6700 line. [...]
April 8th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
Well hey I have this same laptop but the power jack broke on me so I sent it to get repaired and they couldn’t they said that the mother got damaged and now it won’t even turn on with a fullychared battery what exactly is the mother board and if dameged so I’d there a posibilty to fix it
April 12th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
David Sotelo,
The motherboard is the main circuit board in any laptop. All major parts are connected to the motherboard.
If the motherboard is damaged, you’ll have to replace it with a new one. There is not much you can do to fix it.
April 27th, 2009 at 12:55 pm
the guide worked great for keyboard replacement of the mt6723 model, only the keyboard screw locations were different. thx!!!
May 14th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Worked for my MX6920
June 5th, 2009 at 8:14 am
i brought a new gatway adapter for my ma7 and my computer is not charging up at all the fan on the computer isnt on ither ,i called gateway they told me my battery is fine ,can you tell me what might be a problem.
June 5th, 2009 at 8:25 am
were is the power jack on a laptop?model ma7
June 6th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
kim,
The power jack is soldered to the motherboard. In order to access and replace the jack you’ll have to remove the motherboard first.
June 23rd, 2009 at 9:42 am
I broke the Black thing that keeps the keyboard tape in the connector. Anyone know how I can get a new one of those?
September 16th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
My hard drive burnt out a few months ago on my Gateway MT6828 Notebook. I have recently purchased a new Fujitsu Hard Drive but cannot access the BIOS to configure the new drive. When I hit F2 at boot, it asks for a BIOS PASSWORD….never seen this before! I looked online for Phoenix BIOS and tried the ‘default’ password, no luck. I’ve seen that I can reset the CMOS, but I cannot locate it on my motherboard. What to do? Thank you in advance!
Dontaye Williams
“To me, giving up is way harder than trying.” ~Knowledge
September 17th, 2009 at 7:13 pm
MT6821
MA7
September 19th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Dontaye Williams,
Sorry, cannot help you to clear the BIOS password on this model.
Is it necessary to access the BIOS in order to configure the hard drive? What if you just install the new drive and boot from the recovery disc?
October 9th, 2009 at 10:18 am
This also mostly works for ML6732. There three other screws in the bottom that have to come out, but otherwise, it’s the same.
November 14th, 2009 at 6:15 am
Thanks for your guidance ! help is appreciated!
November 17th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Ben,
Here’s how you can fix the broken keyboard connector:
How to fix broken keyboard connector on laptop motherboard
December 14th, 2009 at 8:25 am
This looks like good info. I’m hoping to find a tutorial for replacing the keyboard although I suspect I just reverse the steps. You should move the warning about using an anti-static bracelet to the top. I almost missed it because of ads. I’m excited to be able to repair my laptop so it doesn’t end up in a landfill.
December 26th, 2009 at 1:20 am
Worked on the MT6705. Now I have to replace the DC-IN jack.
January 1st, 2010 at 12:51 pm
Hi, my charging hinge is loose, do you have a guide to fix that? Ive had it fixed by gateway once before but dont feel like having them do it again. Thx
January 3rd, 2010 at 1:59 pm
Chris,
I don’t know what the charging hinge is.
January 27th, 2010 at 5:20 am
This job is even simpler on a Gateway NX500S. You don’t have to remove the covers from the bottom. There is a single screw hole labeled “K”. Just remove this screw & then proceed with the two hinge screws and so on.