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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, 2011 at 6:17 am
Superb guide and very easy too follow..i would add a note about the wwan wlan wires..spent ages thinking id forgotten too hook something up on motherboard..then thought..”ohh wwan and lan..duh”.
But great guide and extremely helpfull.
September 15th, 2011 at 5:33 pm
I have an Inspiron 1720 that had a noisy cooling fan. I purchased a new fan, and following the pictures and captions on this site, it was REALLY EASY to take things apart properly, and to backtrack and put things back together. You saved me the cost of paying someone to install the new fan, and I really appreciate that. Thanks a ton!
September 14th, 2011 at 6:54 pm
Thanks! T9300 installed!
July 31st, 2011 at 9:40 pm
I appreciate the images & instructions. I have a Dell Inspiron 1720 laptop (same as what you depicted). It’s 4 yrs old, running Vista. Apparently I got a virus 2 days ago, because it won’t recognize my passwords (2 password protected accounts). Somone told me to look at my BIOS, and ignorant me, set up a BIOS password. I KNOW the password, but my PC won’t recognize it. So, I’m told to find the J1, J2, J3, J4 pins on the motherboard and move them around to unlock the BIOS password. Disconnecting the CMOS battery didn’t help. My questions is: Must I remove everything you’ve just shown me, to get to these J pins? Thank you, I really miss my PC.
June 13th, 2011 at 12:17 pm
I was wondering, is it possible to transfer data from a hard drive in the second slot to a hard drive in the first slot? If so, is it possible to do so when the second slot drive has been damaged/stopped working properly (which is why I’m getting the other drive)?
June 12th, 2011 at 2:41 am
Hi, thanks for the great guide. The only Problem I have is that after Putting the laPtoP back together several of the keys no loner work! Is this common ? Could I have damaged the keyboard? thanks!
June 6th, 2011 at 3:00 pm
I have a Dell Vostro 1700 that won’t display on the laptop LCD but will display externally on my TV. Do I need to replace the LCD? or the video controller or is it best to just buy a new laptop for slightly more than the parts?
June 5th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
Got it all up and running. Thank you, connections were a little trickier than I thought.
Thanks again for the great info.
Jean
June 5th, 2011 at 12:07 pm
Hi, Thanks for this info.
I used the directions to replace my keyboard but, of course, not reading the whole article I took out the memory module and now when booting up I get:
The amount of system memory has changed.
If you did not change your memory….
try to reseat the memory.
I have done this, reseated the module and still getting the same start up msg and can’t continue from there.
Any suggestions?
Thanks again,
Jean
April 29th, 2011 at 9:55 am
I cannot thank you enough for putting this up on the net.
My Vostro 1700 would not power up with battery, and when the AC adaptor was plugged in the green light immediately went out – the net said a motherboard short circuit – but I have never changed anything more complex than a lighbulb before.
Got a replacement motherbaord from Ebay for £140 and thermal grease for £3 – all fixed at 1/4 of the cost being quoted elsewhere – and it means our favourite laptop is still running.
Donation sent!
Cheers
Dave