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Here are instructions for taking apart a Dell Inspiron 1720/1721 or Dell Vostro 1700 laptop.
You can use these guide for removing and replacing:
1. Laptop memory, hard drive, wireless card, modem.
2. CD/DVD optical drive.
3. Laptop keyboard.
4. LCD panel.
5. Heat sink, CPU, motherboard and other internal components.
Are you looking for spare parts for your Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop? Search here.
First of all, turn off the laptop, unplug AC power adapter and remove the battery.
Turn the laptop upside down and remove Wi-Fi, memory and hard drive covers.
Disconnect (unsnap) two antenna cables from the wireless card. Remove the wireless card.
Spread latches on both sides of the memory module and carefully pull the RAM module from the slot.
You can access only one memory slot from the bottom of the laptop. The second memory slot is located under the keyboard.
Remove three screws securing the hard drive. In order to disconnect the hard drive from the motherboard, lift it up by the black tab attached to the hard drive caddy. Remove the hard drive.
As you see, Dell Inspiron 1720 can handle two hard drives. You can increase laptop storage space by installing a second hard drive.
The BIOS (CRT) battery is located right under the memory slot. By the way, disconnecting the battery will not clear the BIOS password, don’t even try.
Now I’m going to remove the CD/DVD optical drive. Remove one screw securing the CD/DVD drive to the laptop base and open the drive with a paper clip.
Carefully pull the CD/DVD drive from the laptop.
Remove all screws from the bottom.
Remove two screws securing display hinges.
In the following four steps I explain how to remove the laptop keyboard. If you are replacing the keyboard, you can skip all previous steps.
Lift up the keyboard bezel with a flathead screwdriver. Remove the bezel.
Remove four screws securing the keyboard.
Slide the keyboard to the direction shown by the red arrow.
Lift up and remove the keyboard. Now you can replace it with a new one if needed.
As you see on the picture below, this keyboard doesn’t have a flat ribbon cable as most laptop keyboards do. The keyboard connector is a part of the keyboard base.
Unplug two LCD cables from the motherboard and remove one screw securing the grounding cable.
Remove the LCD panel.
Remove six screws securing the top cover assembly and unplug one cable pointed with the red arrow.
As I mentioned before, the second RAM slot can be accessed when you remove the keyboard.
The internal Bluetooth module can be mounted in the top right corner. My Inspiron 1720 came without internal Bluetooth module but it had the Bluetooth cable installed.
Lift up and remove the top cover assembly.
The top cover has been removed.
Loosen four screws securing the CPU heat sink.
Remove the heat sink. Do not forget to apply new thermal grease when you install the heat sink back.
Remove four screws securing the cooling fan. Unplug the fan cable from the system board. Remove the fan.
Remove two screws (blue circles) securing the dial up modem. Remove the modem.
Remove six screws (red circles) securing the PCMCIA slot board.
Remove the PCMCIA slot board.
Remove all screws securing the system board. Unplug three cables on the bottom (three red arrows). Unplug and remove the Bluetooth cable (yellow arrow).
Start removing the system board from the left side.
The system board has been removed.
In order to remove the CPU, you’ll have to unlock the CPU socket first. Turn the screw into the “Unlocked” position. Carefully lift up the CPU from the socket.
If you are replacing the system board, you’ll have to transfer the hard drive connector board to the new system board.
September 16th, 2010 at 9:01 pm
I have a question. my laptop fell on it’s side where the headphone jack is and at the time my headphones were plugged into it and it broke the little rectangle shape little box that the headphone jack plugs into and now my pc has no sound. I don’t know if that’s the sound card that the head phone jack is connected to or what. I’m not very laptop literate but I need to know what that part is and how to replace it and possibly where I can find it. I’m a student and I need it done asap without having to pay for someone else to do it. I have the dell inspiron 1721. I hope I’m making sense in how I explained this
September 10th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
Frank,
Yes, if you know for sure that your new motherboard is 100% good (probably refurbished one) and you can replace it correctly (hard if you’ve never done it before).
If in doubt, just save your money for a new laptop.
September 10th, 2010 at 2:08 pm
It appears my 2-yr old 1720 is also suffering motherboard problems described here and elsewhere as ‘no power regardless of battery or AC adapter’ and ‘AC adapter light goes off when I plug in the cord from adapter to laptop’.
My main question is…
Is it worth the $200 for a replacement motherboard… If this is an inherent problem with these motherboards(as it appears it is) am I gonna continue replacing the mainboard every couple yrs?
September 7th, 2010 at 9:41 pm
Lisa,
What is your laptop model?
Can you find and google Dell part number from the old drive?
September 7th, 2010 at 5:53 pm
I’ve been hatting this Dell computer since after 1 yr of owning it. The CD Rom started becoming intermitent almost immediately after buying but I failed to return it because I had way too much personal info on the HD to mail off to who knows who. Thanks to this site, I can safely remove the CD /DVD, use it for target practice and get one that always works. Now I need to find out what is compatible with it. Anyone have any ideas????
September 7th, 2010 at 11:24 am
Eoin Hamdam,
Sorry, I don’t remember how the wireless switch is designed on this model.
September 7th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Great source of information. Thanks very much sir !
The button for wireless on my 1720 seems to be broken. Is there anyway I can fix this myself ?
August 28th, 2010 at 10:59 am
Waynec,
Most likely it has more than one speed.
Did you try cleaning the cooling fan and heat sink? You can do it without laptop disassembly.
Find an air compressor or you can use shop-vac in blowing mode and blow air into the fan grill on the bottom until all dust is gone. After that blow air into the fan grill on the side. Switch direction a few times until it’s completely clean. This should fix the overheating problem.
August 28th, 2010 at 8:20 am
Does the inspron 1721 have a two speed fan? Fan runs but only one speed…When computer is working hard, it overheats.
August 14th, 2010 at 11:46 am
Ray Janson,
Did you check memory modules? Do you have two memory modules installed? Try removing them one by one. Test the laptop with each module separately, try installing them in different slots.