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In the following guide I remove the motherboard from a Compaq Presario CQ50 laptop. Also this guide should work for Compaq Presario CQ 60/CQ70 and HP G50/G60/G70 laptops.
If you need replacement parts, you can find them here. Just search by the part name and laptop model.
Start laptop disassembly with removing the battery.
STEP 1.
Remove memory, hard drive and wireless card covers.
STEP 2.
Remove three screws securing the hard drive assembly.
Slide the hard drive assembly to the right, disconnect it from the motherboard and remove from the laptop.
STEP 3.
Remove both memory modules.
Disconnect two antenna cables from the wireless card. Remove two screws and remove the wireless card from the laptop.
STEP 4.
Remove one screw securing the DVD drive.
Pull the DVD drive from the laptop.
STEP 5.
Remove all screws from the bottom of the laptop.
Disconnect the CMOS battery cable from the motherboard.
STEP 6.
Carefully lift up the keyboard as it shown on the picture below.
STEP 7.
Access the keyboard cable connector underneath the keyboard.
Unlock the connector before removing the keyboard.
In order to unlock the connector you’ll have to move the locking clip (white) about 2-3 millimeters towards the LCD screen.
The locking clip must stat attached to the connector base (dark brown) as it shown on the picture below.
Now you can release the cable and remove the keyboard.
STEP 8.
Unlock the power button cable connector.
On the following picture you can see the connector in the unlocked state.
Now you can remove the power button board cable from the connector.
STEP 9.
Remove the plastic cover.
STEP 10.
Disconnect the video cable connector from the motherboard.
Disconnect the webcam cable.
Pull the wireless card antenna cable through the opening in the top cover.
STEP 11.
Remove screws securing the display hinges.
STEP 12.
Remove the display assembly from the laptop.
In the next post I explain how to remove the LCD screen, inverter board and hinges from the display assembly in HP G50/G60/G70 laptops. It’s similar for Compaq Presario CQ50/CQ60/CQ70 laptops.
STEP 13.
Disconnect the touch pad cable from the motherboard.
Remove screws securing the top cover assembly.
STEP 14.
Start separating the top cover assembly from the laptop base.
You can use a guitar pick in order to split the laptop case.
STEP 15.
The top cover assembly has been removed.
STEP 16.
Remove one screw securing the left speaker.
Remove the left speaker from the base.
STEP 17.
Remove four screws securing the motherboard.
Disconnect four cables from the motherboard.
STEP 18.
Remove the motherboard from the laptop base.
STEP 19.
Disconnect the cooling fan cable from the motherboard.
STEP 20.
Loosen four screws securing the cooling fan assembly.
STEP 21.
Remove the cooling fan assembly from the laptop.
STEP 22.
In this model the power jack is not soldered to the motherboard.
You can unplug the power jack cable from the motherboard and replace it with a new DC jack harness if it’s bad.
May 21st, 2013 at 7:27 am
@ Michał,
The laptop should turn on without this cable connected to the motherboard.
What happens when you push on the power button? Does it turn on but shows no video? Check memory modules. Maybe memory not connected properly.
May 17th, 2013 at 3:03 pm
Hi, I destroyed web cam plug (2 of 4 cables out), and when I turn on laptop I have no image/screen. Have you any ideas? Can I turn laptop with out this plug?
May 9th, 2013 at 10:48 am
hi
I have CQ60-100EA (i live in UK) can the AMD Sempron processor and the nvidia graphics card and hard drive be upgraded?
Thanks
April 16th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Hi,
The following is a link for the G7921-SF1U chip that senses temperatures and controls the fan.
http://www.gmt.com.tw/product/tree.php?PL=6&SL=10&CL=36
Made by Global Mixed-mode technology.
The schematic diagrams for the whole Compaq CQ60 laptop is viewable and downloadable from
http://skemalaptop.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/hp-compaq-cq60-cq70-g50-g60-g60t.html
or
kythuatphancung.com/download/hp-compaq-cq60-cq70-hp-g50-g60-g60t-wistron-warrior-laptop-schematics.html?dl
The G7921-SF1U chip is shown in the center of page 24.
There is also a formula shown there for adjusting the T8 temperature setting from the default 85C.
Folks who are into modifying their laptops, may be interested in using that mod.
Thanks
April 16th, 2013 at 6:17 pm
Hi,
One of the Replies here mentioned a “4407″ IC that was blown.
This is shown on the schematic at the website below as being a AO4407-1-GP .
This chip is made by Alpha and Omega Semiconductor http://www.aosmd.com .
http://skemalaptop.blogspot.co.nz/2012/02/hp-compaq-cq60-cq70-g50-g60-g60t.html
Data Sheets are available for download from
http://www.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/pdf/136097/AOSMD/AO4407.html
1) http://aosmd.com/pdfs/datasheet/AO4407.pdf
2) http://pdf1.alldatasheet.com/datasheet-pdf/view/136097/AOSMD/AO4407.html
The chip is stated as being ideal as a load switch and for battery protection applications.
During the dis-assembly of the laptop, it would be an additional practical precaution to do a visual inspection (and possibly electronic) of parts that commonly fail, such as this chip, the power jack wires, dry or cracked solder joints on terminals and hot chips and sockets.
Thanks again.
April 16th, 2013 at 5:59 pm
Hi,
The following link has a schematic of the power jack / socket.
http://www.laptopjacks.com/view_part/Compaq-Presario-CQ40-401AX-DC-Power-Jack-CQ542500.html
which links to the diagram at
http://www.laptopjacks.com/images/HP543100schematics.jpg
This site has useful information for other laptops, in the projects on your site.
Thanks
April 16th, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Hi,
Is there some way I can send you some photos of the copper heat sink tip in the Ram bay, the wiring of the power jack, the DVD adapter board, and possibly a labeled set of screws, so you can include them in an updated article?
Thanks
April 15th, 2013 at 8:11 pm
@ Wilson Street
Thank you for your valuable comment. I’m sure this comment will help many people.
April 15th, 2013 at 6:56 pm
Hi,
Nice article – Thank you.
A few thoughts that may be useful for adding to it.
1) The Ram bay has the CPU end of the copper cooling duct tip exposed just under the side of the bay. This provides an easy access point to sense the temperature of the heat sink system close to the source of heat, without needing to do a major strip down. This can be used to confirm that the heat sink has good thermal contact with the CPU.
This can be down with the tip of your finger, or using a temperature sensor. It can also be compared with a sensor reading taken by inserting the sensor through the air outlet grill, into the radiator/heat exchanger. The temperature drop would give an indication of the efficiency of the colling system. Little temperature drop would indicate a clogged radiator.
2) In step 17 and 18, the motherboard is removed, and 18 shows the motherboard being lifted by a finger at the front right corner. This is done so the sockets on the left side of the MB come cleanly out of the case holes.
However, there may be resistance to this rotation, due to the fan casing having a tight fit near the air outlet, and at the end of the battery compartment. Using just the finger at the right end, causes the whole motherboard to be used as a lever, and so places stress on the components and solder joints. To reduce the chance of damage, the resistance caused by the fan can be overcome by inserting a flat head screwdriver in the intake opening of the fan on the right side, then gently prising the fan case up, while lifting the MB with the finger.
3) In step 17, some models (mine is an AU model), have a small adapter for the DVD drive that attaches to motherboard DVD connector on right side. This is fastened by two screws, and also needs to be disconnected before the motherboard can be lifted.
4) In step 13, four screws are removed, but some models may also require a 5th screw to be removed from near the left hinge mount, just to the right of the rearmost slot in the silver faceplate top.
5) Step 14, shows the prising of the top plate cover from the base. Some difficulty can be experienced in the region of the corners near the hinges where there is a small clip arrangement. This can be no problem, or a bit of a fidgety hassle, depending on the method of unclipping . So a little tip on how to make this step run smoothly would be helpful.
6) Fan disassembly.
Since many readers are probably doing this strip down, so they can service the cooling system, it would be handy to show a strip down of the fan, cleaning of the heat exchanger, removal of the impellor blades and show bearings/washers. Lubrication of fan blade shaft to reduce wear and whining noise.
7) It would be handy to show a photo of all the screws on a piece of paper, with labels to show which steps they were removed at or which holes they came from. So they can be easily recognized, when reassembling the laptop.
Alternatively, the screws removed at each step, could be shown as an insert in the picture, or on a piece of paper in the picture.
8) Suggestion for Additional precautions and info at the start;
“In the following guide I remove the motherboard from a Compaq Presario CQ50
laptop. Also this guide should work for Compaq Presario CQ 60/CQ70 and HP
G50/G60/G70 laptops.
If you need replacement parts, you can find them on eBay, or other auction websites.
Just search by the part name and laptop model.
Precautions
Start laptop disassembly by making sure the power is not connected and then
removing the battery.
Remember to contact your hands to an earth, to discharge any static electricity, and
not wear clothing that attracts static electricity.
Use some small containers, like bottles/jars, egg trays, margarine punnets, to collect
groups of screws and small parts in, for each stage of disassembly. This will make it
very easy to know which bits to use, in what order when re-assembling the laptop.
You can also label the containers, by where the parts came from, or which stepp they
were extracted in.
If you find yourself using “force”, then check that you have done everything right, like
removed “all” the screws. The job is fiddly, but things are not glued together (unless
removing thermal compound).
9) description of method of re-attaching the heatsink to the CPU mount.
possibly with refurbishment of thermal paste compound on CPU, and assessment of state of GPU plastic thermal pad.
10) precaution during re-assembly to keep the cable for the power socket as far from the copper tube of the cooling system to prevent thermal damage to the cable. Ensure that it is properly seated in the two slots that hold it to the case. Maybe show photo of this.
11) In the steps where the wiring straps are clamped by the little black strips in the white strap sockets, it would be helpful to have a close-up photo, and some tips on how to lever these open (and later – closed) in such a way as to avoid damage to the locking clips at the ends (and how to insert the strap to ensure best connection).
Thank you for this excellent step by step article.
This laptop seems to suffer from overheating problems, due to several causes;
all of which need attention.
April 12th, 2013 at 1:38 pm
Hi I need the color order of the webcam plug looking down at it starting from closes to the LCD screen, wires Red, white, and 2 blacks, I think the order is Red, White, Black, and Black… But not sure, they got pulled out of the plug…
Thanks