Home
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.
The motherboard is dead? Check out these motherboard repair offers.
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 one if needed.l
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
August 23rd, 2010 at 12:07 pm
Hello, a friend warned me about the power port cable thats connected to the motherboard, he says its loose, but we don’t understand why its moving up and down
I have Compaq Presario CQ60 and I’m really worried about accidentally blowing my motherboard
Please help
August 14th, 2010 at 11:44 am
valachus,
It’s possible some kind of connection related problem. Check all internal connections. I cannot help you without looking at the laptop.
August 11th, 2010 at 10:33 am
Great walkthrough, used it to great effect to take a CQ60 apart for cleaning the fan, however I think I must have connected incorrectly a cable since the front side LEDs no longer light up (at all) and I’m getting a “battery present, not charging” permanent message. I think it’s a internal connection problem since on AC power it runs smooth but the LEDs (AC / BATT / HDD) are out completely. Any ideas?
August 8th, 2010 at 12:05 pm
Thanks for posting this, I’m putting it back together with a new MB and I cant figure out where the wifi cables reconnect?
August 8th, 2010 at 10:03 am
hi
in the open cable connector picture ( the 10 Th one from the top )you can see the black plastic bit that pinches the cable which is coming from POWER BUTTON BOARD.
so if you break this black bit of plastic which means you wont be able to connect this cable to mother board.
please tell me what i am gonna do now as i have broken this and can not power up anymore
thanks alot
August 2nd, 2010 at 5:34 am
What is the cpu socket type I want to add an intel core dual 2.3 proc
July 29th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I posted this same question earlier but it seems I received no response, so I thought I would try again:
I have a Persario CQ50 and I made a small boo-boo. The connector to lock down the power button cable connector snapped. Is there anything that can be done to get a new one, or do I have to scrap the motherboard?
July 27th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Thanks for this guide. I suspect an overheating problem with the CQ50 and just want to access the heatsink/fan to remount and clean. Do I have to disassemble the keyboard as well or just the bottom cover? Thanks
July 26th, 2010 at 6:18 pm
I have a presario cq50. When i turn on the computer the computer itself turns on but the screen remains off or doesnt turn on. I have tried hooking it up to an external monitor and that didnt work. I have tried a hard reboot, that didnt work either. IDK what the problem is, so any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
July 26th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
My Compaq CQ60 gets really hot on the bottom. I’m afraid the fan isn’t working but I am not sure how to tell. I don’t feel a lot of air coming from there. I did use compressed air and I could see it spinning when I blew the air in (while it was turned off).
Should the fan run constantly? Or just sometimes?
The wireless keeps losing the connection suddenly and it’s slow -I’m afraid its frying! I don’t know if I should replace the fan or if it’s just going to die on me after less than a year.
July 22nd, 2010 at 10:16 am
CARDENAS,
I found the part number for the power button board in the service manual: 486627-001
Google the part number and you’ll find it.
July 19th, 2010 at 8:52 am
Hello,
My sam open his Compaq Presario CQ50 and he breack the Power board button, if you know were i can buy this part, please help me because is very difficult to find.
Thanks a lot
July 17th, 2010 at 10:48 pm
Dinahcj,
First, test the AC adapter. Maybe the adapter is bad.
Connect a voltmeter and while testing the voltage, move the power cable. If power cuts off when you move the cable, the adapter is bad and has to be replaced.
The power jack shouldn’t be soldered. It should be the same as I show at the end of the guide, located on a power harness. Simply buy a new DC jack harness, unplug the old one and connect a new one.
July 17th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
I have a compaq presario cq60 and I’m having trouble with the power jack. At first I could wiggle my cord to make it come on but now it won’t work at all. Is the jack soldered in my model? I’m not sure how to tell if it is completely broken or if it’s just loose and if it’s loose how would I fix that? If it’s not soldered can I just purchase another power jack and replace it like you described in this post? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
July 12th, 2010 at 10:13 am
Roelworks,
Try cleaning the fan with compressed air. Blow air into the fan grill on the bottom of the laptop and after that into the grill on the side.
This will help you to clean the fan without taking apart the whole laptop.
July 11th, 2010 at 9:19 am
Thank you extremely much for this guide. Walked me through to a complete fan cleaning of my wife’s cq60-110eo and just put it back together. It booted up like clock work and is now wonderfully silent. One smiling wife