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In this post I explain how to take apart a HP Pavilion dv5 laptop (Pavilion dv5t-1000 model).
I’m taking it apart in order to replace the noisy cooling fan which is mounted deep inside the case under the motherboard. In order to replace the cooling fan I’ll have to disassemble the whole laptop.
Let’s take it apart step-by-step. Before you start, make sure the laptop is turned off.
REMOVING HARD DRIVE, MEMORY, WIRELESS CARD AND DVD DRIVE (Steps 1-7).
STEP 1.
Remove the battery.
Loosen four screws securing the hard drive, memory and CMOS battery covers. Remove all three covers.
STEP 2.
Lift up the left side of the hard drive assembly and carefully slide it to the left.
STEP 3.
Remove the hard drive assembly and disconnect the hard drive cable from the motherboard.
Remove both memory modules.
If needed, remove the CMOS battery (I’ll keep it connected to the motherboard).
STEP 4.
If you are replacing the hard drive, you’ll have to disconnect the hard drive cable and transfer it to the new drive.
Also, remove four screws (two from each side) and transfer hard drive mounting brackets.
HP Pavilion dv5 laptop has a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive installed.
STEP 5.
The wireless card located under the hard drive.
Disconnect both antenna cables and remove one screw securing the wireless card.
STEP 6.
Remove the wireless card same way you removed memory modules.
STEP 7.
Remove one screws securing the CD/DVD drive and pull it from the laptop.
REMOVING KEYBOARD AND KEYBOARD COVER (Steps 8-18).
STEP 8.
Remove five screws (yellow) securing the keyboard cover.
Remove two more screws (red) securing the keyboard.
STEP 9.
Insert a piece of soft plastic (I”m using the guitar pick) between the keyboard cover and laptop case and carefully lift it up.
STEP 10.
Continue removing the keyboard cover with your fingers.
Be careful, there are two cables running from the keyboard cover to the motherboard. You’ll see this cables on the next pictures.
STEP 11.
Place the keyboard cover so you can access four screws securing the keyboard.
STEP 12.
Lift up the keyboard.
STEP 13.
Now you can access the keyboard cable connector.
Before you can remove the keyboard, you have to unlock the connector and release the keyboard ribbon cable.
STEP 14.
On the following picture the keyboard connector shown in the locked position.
STEP 15.
In order to unlock the connector, lift up the brown piece so it opens up at a 90 degree angle.
On the following picture the keyboard connector shown in the unlocked position.
Now you can pull the cable.
STEP 16.
Remove the keyboard.
Looking for a new replacement keyboard for your HP Pavilion dv5 laptop? You’ll find wide selection here.
STEP 17.
Disconnect the power button and LED board cables from the motherboard.
STEP 18.
Remove the keyboard cover.
REMOVING DISPLAY AND TOP COVER ASSEMLBY (Steps 19-26).
STEP 19.
Disconnect the video cable from the motherboard.
Disconnect the webcam cable.
Pull both wireless antenna cables though the opening in the top cover.
STEP 20.
Remove four screws (two on each side) securing the display assembly hinges.
STEP 21.
Remove the display assembly.
In the next guide I explain how to take apart the display panel and remove the LCD screen.
STEP 22.
Disconnect the speaker assembly cable and remove it.
STEP 23.
Remove all screws from the bottom of the laptop.
STEP 24.
Remove four screws securing the top cover assembly.
Disconnect the touchpad cable.
STEP 25.
Start removing the top cover assembly.
STEP 26.
The top cover assembly has been removed.
REMOVING MOTHERBOARD AND COOLING FAN ASSEMLBY (Steps 27-32).
STEP 27.
Disconnect the power jack, USB board and audio jack board cables from the motherboard.
Remove one screws securing the motherboard. It’s hidden under the audio jack board cable.
STEP 28.
Lift up the right side of the motherboard.
STEP 29.
Remove the motherboard from the laptop base.
STEP 30.
If you need to replace the DC power jack, you’ll find it mounted in the top right corner of the laptop base.
In a HP Pavilion dv5 laptop the power jack is not soldered to the motherboard. It’s attached to a power cable.
STEP 31.
Loosen three screws securing the cooling fan assembly.
Disconnect the cooling fan cable from the motherboard.
STEP 32.
After the cooling fan assembly removed, you’ll have to clean remaining thermal grease from the CPU and GPU chips.
Now you can install a new cooling fan assembly.
I purchased a brand new assembly and it came with thermal grease and thermal pads pre-applied.
If you are installing a used assembly, you’ll have to apply thermal grease on the processor and transfer thermal pads from the old assembly.
Different HP Pavilion dv5 laptops have different cooling fan assemblies. It depends on the CPU installed (AMD or Intel) and type of graphics memory (discrete or UMA graphics subsystem memory).
Here’s how to find the correct fan/heatsink assembly.
1. Download the official service manual for HP Pavilion dv5 laptops.
2. Find the motherboard part number. Usually it’s located on a sticker under memory modules.
3. Compare your part number with all motherboard part number listed on the page 20 in the service manual. This will help you to find out what type of motherboard you have installed.
4. Find the correct fan/heatsink assembly part number in the same manual on the page 21. Search this part number on Google and you’ll find it.
By the way, you can buy just the replacement fan here without buying the entire heatsink assemlby.
May 7th, 2011 at 12:33 am
That’s freakin ridiculous… having to disassemble the whole thing to get tho the fan?! WTF?!
April 19th, 2011 at 4:24 pm
Hi John dv7,
Sorry to say I have NOT found a solution to the problems we are having with our HP paper weights. I too have been spending my spare time searching the Internet hoping to find a miracle that will bring my laptop back to life. Here is a forum I found that pretty much explains the probability of getting the HP pavillion to work again. CoreyX64 post tells the whole story. http://www.aoaforums.com/forum/crashed/48573-hp-pavilion-dv5.html
My laptop came with an AMD Athlon x2 which is a lower grade than yours. I suggest you check out ebay to find the higher grade processor you are looking for……..GOOD LUCK
April 17th, 2011 at 9:34 am
Lisa,
If you see same problem on both the internal AND external screens, most likely this is graphics card (video card) failure.
April 16th, 2011 at 12:06 pm
Hi, Your guides have been so very helpful. But I am stuck. The laptop is a pavilion dv5-1200nr. I replaced the video cable first….several months back because it was flickering….which fixed the problem like a charm
and your site guides were most helpful. Then it started not booting up all the way and shutting down without warning and running VERY hot. So I have replaced the fan unit and put it back together and it is running cool and boots right up. My problem NOW is that my screen is weird….it is not flickering but rather has horizontal repeats of the same thing over and over….and they move up and down the screen….at varying speeds. I hooked it to a external monitor and it did the same thing. Do I have something connected wrong? Is my video card bad? I can not find anything anywhere that is similar to what it is doing. I can video the problem and submit it to you if asked. THANKS!
April 13th, 2011 at 10:41 am
John,
My name is also John, and I’m having the same issue but with a dv7, so my paper weight costs $200 more than yours! I have replaced my motherboard and tried stripping the memory, etc out of it. The only thing I haven’t done is replace the CPU. My computer runs an AMD Turion 2 CPU. If you have a (possibly) working Turion 2 CPU, I might be able to take that off your hands and see if it works in mine. And if so, I’d be happy to pay you for it.
Have you run across any solutions yet? I’ve scoured the internet and not found any solutions to this.
April 13th, 2011 at 7:34 am
John,
If the barebone approach didn’t work, most likely you have a problem with one of the following: motherboard, CPU or memory.
There is no way I can tell which one is failing without replacing them with known good parts.
April 12th, 2011 at 11:16 pm
Looks like I have a $500 paper weight. I disassembled my laptop and tried the barebone approach with no luck. I still get the blinking LEDs and blank screen. I did find a link talking about the same problem I was having and the guy ended up taking it to a computer store to have it repaired. The repair shop couldn’t even figure out what the problem was. Thanks for your help.
April 10th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
Jonh, Im having the same problem as you, and it seems lots of people having the same issue. Here is a thread that appears to be help for some: http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Other-Notebook-PC-questions/dv5-1002nr-fix-for-black-screen-and-2-blinking-lights/td-p/213318
I will try to disassemble my laptop following this amazing tutorial, I will post the results later.
Best regards
April 10th, 2011 at 10:44 am
John,
You’ve replaced CPU and memory and still getting same problem?
I’m afraid this could be motherboard failure.
The last thing you can try is minimizing the laptop as much as you can. Minimize it to barebone system: leave only motherboard, CPU and memory.
Test barebone system with an external monitor connected to the VGA port. If the problem still there, most likely this is motherboard failure.
April 8th, 2011 at 9:57 pm
When I power up my HP DV5 1000 laptop computer I get a blank screen, the caps lock and numbers lock blink once every 4 seconds. According to the HP website, it was a CPU faliure. Although I am a total NOVICE when it comes to computers, I decided, what the heck, I would follow your tutorial and fix the problem myself. Low and behold it was easier than I thought. Your step by step instructions helped me disassemble my laptop in less than an hour and a half, replace the CPU, and reassemble the laptop in about an hour and a half. I figured this would fix my problems but of course things aren’t as easy as I thought. I still have the blank screen and the caps lock and numbers lock lights are still blinking. I have done a hard reset, removed the memory and replaced it, checked the BIOS battery and checked the hard drive. Any other suggestions? PLEASE don’t tell me i need a new motherboard, i might as well buy a new laptop since a new motherboard will cost about as much as a new laptop.