How to remove motherboard from Dell Latitude D500 laptop

In this guide I explain how to remove and replace the motherboard in a Dell Latitude D500 laptop. Also, you’ll see how to access and replace all other internal parts in this laptop.

I had two different problems with the laptop.
1. The power jack was damaged. I could have just resoldered the jack but the second problem was more serious.
2. The motherboard couldn’t charge a known good battery. Apparently it had a problem with the battery charging circuit.
So I decided to replace the motherboard.

Instead of buying just a single motherboard, I bough the whole motherboard assembly (you can see it on the first picture) which includes the board itself, mounting frame, cooling fan, speakers, hard drive bracket, PC card slot, modem and power button board. I purchased a good working motherboard assembly for my Dell Latitude D500 here for the same price as they asked for a single motherboard.

OK, let’s start taking it apart. Before you start, turn off the laptop, unplug the AC adapter and remove the battery.
Here I’m taking apart the laptop battery.

STEP 1.

Lift up one side of the keyboard cover with a small flat head screwdriver. Remove the cover.

STEP 2.

Remove two screws securing the motherboard.

STEP 3.

Disconnect the keyboard cable from the motherboard.

STEP 4.

Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard. Remove three screws securing the display hinges.

STEP 5.

Carefully remove the display assembly. In one of the previous posts I explain how to remove the LCD screen from a similar Dell laptop. It’s not necessary to remove the display panel from the laptop in order to remove the screen. You can do it while the display panel is still attached to the laptop.

STEP 6.

Remove one screw securing the CD/DVD drive and pull the drive from the laptop.
Remove both memory (RAM) modules.

STEP 7.

Unsnap both antenna cables from the connectors on the wireless card and remove the card the same way you remove memory modules – spread latches on both sides of the card and when the card pops up, pull it from the slot by the edges.

STEP 8.

Remove one screw securing the hard drive assembly and pull it from the laptop.

STEP 9.

Remove all screws from the bottom.

STEP 10.

Remove three screws securing the top cover assembly.
Disconnect the touch pad cable from the motherboard.

STEP 11.

Start lifting up the top cover assembly as it shown on the picture.

STEP 12.

The top cover has been removed.

STEP 13.

Remove two screws from the motherboard assembly.

STEP 14.

Start removing the motherboard assembly as it shown on the picture below.

STEP 15.

I noticed that it’s easier to remove the motherboard assembly if you remove the RTC (CMOS) battery cover first. It’s located in the battery bay.

STEP 16.

The motherboard assembly has been removed.

STEP 17.

Loosen four screws securing the CPU heat sink.

STEP 18.

Remove the heat sink. In my laptop the heat sink was clogged with dust and needed a good cleaning.

STEP 19.

Now you can access the CPU (processor). Unlock the CPU socket by turning the screw-lock into “Open” position. Carefully lift up the CPU and install it into the socket on the new motherboard. Do not forget to lock the socket after the CPU is installed or your laptop will not start.

You can search for a new motherboard by the part number from the old motherboard. The part number is located on a sticker glued in the RAM slot area. The second set of number in a long string is the part number.

In the next post I will explain how to remove the motherboard from the mounting frame and prepair it for the power jack repair.