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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.
October 13th, 2010 at 6:29 pm
I think that I may have damaged my Video Card as you have labeled in number 10. I obviously can’t see if the wires are all in there because of the black sheath. Would this possibly be the reason that my laptop has power, lights come on, fan blows, bet screen remains completely black?
October 4th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
I just took apart a CQ60. The DC jack LED does not turns on. I checked at the harness connector that I am getting voltage on the red cable, but not on the orange one. I’m not sure but I think that the LED must be on as long it is connected to the AC adapter, even if the harness is no plugged in the motherboard. I am not sure if I should replace the DC harness or if this is a motherboard problem because I known I am getting voltage at the motherboard.
What you guys suggest?
September 29th, 2010 at 1:26 pm
Hi
Many thanks for excellent strip down guide. My sons CQ60 became very very hot. Stripped down to motherboard and extracted fan assembly which comes down to very easily de-dusted parts. Took whole fan assembly off, removed tin-can cover on fan, pulled heatsink off processor and was able to completely clean the radiator assembly. No dust anywhere now. Just needs replacement heat transfer compound and off we go. I’m 90% sure it will work fine now. There was a significant amount of dust clogging the radiator vanes inside the fan assembly. Please accept my £5 with gratitude.
September 28th, 2010 at 8:20 pm
Sarah,
Take a look at this post:
How to fix broken keyboard connector on laptop motherboard.
Maybe it will give you the idea how to fix the connector.
September 28th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
My roommate just got her screen replaced and now the left click button won’t respond. I took the laptop apart and it appears that the white plastic clip that keeps the ribbon in place is broken. Is there a way to replace this?
September 21st, 2010 at 8:17 am
I Just had to replace the mother board in my HP G60 (same as the Compaq) for some reason I now can not get the new board to recognize the dvd drive. Is there any chance that I forgot to reconnect a cable or with it being an ata drive should i just have to slide it in and be good to go? Do i Need to reset any bios setting or anything? If anyone could email me with an idea it would be great Ian1982@ymail.com
September 10th, 2010 at 9:14 pm
Jay,
Nope, it’s not necessary.
Moreover, you don’t have to remove the motherboard. Just disconnect the left speaker as it shown in the step 16 and after that you should be able to disconnect the DC jack harness.
September 9th, 2010 at 3:15 pm
This is a great guide. Before I start tearing my machine down however, I have a few questions about some of the steps you have included in your photo tutorial regarding the removal of ONLY the charging port and disconnection of the charging port cable.
1. For removal of the charging port and disconnection of its cable at the plug on the motherboard, is it necessary to remove the cooling fan assembly (step 20-21)?
2. If not, is it possible to unplug the charging port cable from the motherboard and remove/replace the charging port without removing the motherboard from the case (step 17-18)?
These questions are in regards to my Compaq CQ50 laptop.
Thank you,
Jay
September 7th, 2010 at 11:15 am
Sake,
You can pull two cables in the top right corner.
Do not pull the cable in the lower left corner. First unlock the connector, only after that remove the cable.
Do not hurry. Take a closer look at the cables, it shouldn’t be difficult how to disconnect them safely.
September 7th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Hi, Thanks for these helpful instructions. They helped me a lot.
But I stuck with step 17. Can you give me a tip how I can remove the cable connetions from the motherboard? Can I just pull them ayaw from the motherboard or do I have to something first before I pull them away?
Thanks a lot!