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In this guide I explain how to take apart a HP Pavilion dv6000 series laptop. I’ll be removing memory, hard drive, wireless card, CD/DVD optical drive and keyboard. Please use this guide at your own risk and only if your laptop is out of warranty.
In the next post I’ll be removing the LCD screen and inverter board.
STEP 1.
Turn off the laptop, unplug the AC/DC power adapt and remove the battery.
Remove screws from the memory and hard drive covers. Remove both covers.
STEP 2.
Lift up the right side of the hard drive and disconnect it from the motherboard. Remove the hard drive.
STEP 3.
Remove one screw securing the CD/DVD optical drive. Pull the drive to the left and remove it from the laptop.
STEP 4.
In order to remove the memory module, spread latches on both sides from the memory module. The memory card will pop up at a 20-30 degree angle. Carefully pull the memory module from the slot by the edges. Remove both modules.
There are two wires connected to the wireless card (Wi-Fi card). These wires are antennas. In order to disconnect the antenna cable from the card, grab the gold connector with our finger tips and unsnap it from the card.
Remove two screws securing the wireless card. Pull the wireless card from the slot.
STEP 5.
Now I’m going to remove the keyboard.
Remove three screws securing the keyboard bezel, I marked them with red circles.
Remove three screws securing the keyboard, I marked them with green circles.
By the way, if you are replacing the keyboard, you don’t have to remove memory, CD/DVD drive and wireless card. Simply go from the step 1 directly to the step 5.
STEP 6.
Turn the laptop over and start lifting up the bezel. Be careful, do not lift it up to far because there are wires connected to the bezel. You can see these wires on the last picture.
STEP 7.
After you release the bezel, you’ll be able to lift up the keyboard as it shown on the picture below. Leave the bezel attached to the laptop.
STEP 8.
The keyboard is connected to the motherboard via a flat ribbon cable. Before you pull the cable you have to unlock the connector.
STEP 9.
Here’s how to unlock the keyboard connector on the motherboard.
Very carefully move the connector locking tab to the direction shown by two red arrows using your finger nails. Move it abut 2 millimeters, not more. The tab must stay attached to the connector. All you have to do is release the cable.
WARNING! If you destroy the connector, the internal keyboard will not function anymore. You’ll have to either use the laptop with an external keyboard or replace the motherboard. The keyboard connector is permanently soldered to the motherboard.
After the cable has been released, you can pull it from the connector and remove the keyboard. Replace the keyboard with a new one if needed.
Here you can find new replacement parts for your HP Pavilion dv6000 laptop.
On the picture above you can see how the keyboard bezel is attached to the laptop. Be careful when you lifting up the bezel, you can accidentally disconnect the cables.
Static electricity can kill your laptop. I recommend wearing an anti-static wrist strap while working with internal parts of your laptop.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
May 4th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Hi gr8 article, and most useful, although my wife managed to cure the stickyness caused by a soda pop spill, buy using wet wipes and cocktail sticks to rub the stickyness away from under each key, then leaving in the airing cupboard to dry. Now works a treat. Removing the keyboard first did help with access.
April 30th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
This site is great! I used your directions to open up my DV 6000 which I got about a year and a half ago. My problem is that I am having trouble using the power cord to charge the battery or run the computer. The problem started a slight need to adjust or jiggle the cord to make a good connection. It progressed or regressed to the point where it virtually has to be held by hand in place to keep the connection and even that is beginning not to work. I was told that it probably needs to have the motherboard replaced?? I was hoping I could sloder or improve the connectivity once I got inside. With your help I’m inside but I don’t see anything loose? What do you think I could try short of sending it off for service. I’ve been quoted around $300 to fix the problem!
April 30th, 2009 at 3:26 am
Great site. Very helpful from what i can see so far. I’m having a problem that I have not seen posted so far. I have a HP Pavilion dv6119US 2 yrs old. About 1 week ago the sound stopped coming from the internal speakers but when i connect to the external speaker plug up front I get sound just fine. Mute, volume controls all work as expected with external speakers. I used info from the HP service manual and removed the internal speakers and tested them outside the PC with another audio source and they will produce sound just fine. So I spent about 3 hrs last night with HP tech service from India and update audio drivers etc but in the end it was all a wasted of time. It was obvious they had not encountered this problem before. It appears to me not to be a software problem but most likely some failure on the audio sound card that controls the switching of sound between the internal and external speakers. Do this seem reasonable to you? Would replacing the audio card likely fix this? Thanks for your time to reply.
April 28th, 2009 at 5:49 am
Sir
I have Hp Dv6000 Laptop .
Its lcd screen is most of the time showing black..
however some times for few second I got its LCD normal.
What was the problem and how it will rectify.
It is out of warrenty.
Thanks
Amit Kumar
April 27th, 2009 at 5:48 am
Hello All,
I have been having a problem charging my laptop for about four months. It started with the AC cord breaking, so i went to the local radioshack and purchased a replacement connecter and soldered it to the old adapter. About a month after i started using this radioshack connecter it would not charge unless i had the connecter positioned in a center way. Now the charging pin has broken out of the power connector, but i can still get it to charge. I have read on the internet that my problem is probably just that the power connector is loose and i need to solder it back to the motherboard. Can anyone tell me if that is the correct thing to do or should i try something else first? I can lift the bezel enough to see the power connecter…
April 23rd, 2009 at 11:43 am
Hi. I need help. My HP dv6000’s Cd/DVD Drive has stopped working. I don’t know what to do. A computer guy I know said that if i wiggle the drive connection it would probably work. but I don’t know how to get to that.
April 23rd, 2009 at 4:16 am
I am a technician and have a hp Dv6000 which upon start up gives one long beep and two short beeps and nothing shows up on the screen. For sure that seems to be memory error. My modules are PC2 class 5300. I tried resitting the modules nothing worked. I decided to use PC2 class 4200 and the laptop started up OK. I used the laptop for one day then it went back to same problem. I doubt whether it is the memory bank, nor motherboard. Could it be BIOS problem or can someone help me
April 22nd, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Hello, I have an HP Dv6636nr, I seem to be having a problem with the DVD drive. I use certain programs to back up my dvd’s and they were working fine up until about a week ago. Suddenly the programs would freeze and the DVD drive would stop working. I went to best buy and the Geek squad guy ran their diagnostic tool that told me I had a couple of lovely Trojan viruses, My Trend Micro Antivirus software was unable to even find them so i resorted to doing a destructive reboot. Everything seemed to be working fine until I tried to start backing up my dvds again. Now my drive wasn’t even showing up, After refreshing my Device Manager several times it would reappear, but would stop working halfway through the backup. Also, when the drive is working it is extremely loud and I can feel it vibrating. I think the drive may be loose, how can I fix this?
April 21st, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Alex,
You’ll find step-by-step motherboard removal instructions in the service manual for HP Pavilion dv6000 (it’s a 3.3MB pdf file).
Yep, you’ll have to transfer some parts.
If you are replacing one motherboard with another compatible one, you don’t have to reinstall software. The new motherboard should work with the old load.
But I would suggest backing up files as a precaution if something goes wrong.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:56 am
cruiser,
I already replied to you in a different thread but here it goes again.
Test the laptop with each memory module separately. If it works fine with one module and fails with the second one, the second module is bad.
If the laptop fails same way (beep error) with each module installed separately, most likely your problem is related to the motherboard.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:49 am
Matt,
I believe the power button is located on a separate board, isn’t it? I guess you’ll have to replace the power button board.
April 21st, 2009 at 11:41 am
Nevin,
You have two memory modules installed, right? Try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each one separately. If you getting same beep error message with both modules installed separately, most likely it’s related to the motherboard. I doubt that both memory modules can fail at the same time and at least one of them has to be good.
Did you read this post about free repair for some HP laptops?
April 21st, 2009 at 8:11 am
I am pretty sure that I need to replace the motherboard, however, I’m a little confused as to how. Please list the items that I need to remove in order to replace it. Also, is it safe to assume that everything I remove from the old motherboard should be installed into the new one?
And lastly if I am replacing the motherboard with the exact replacement, should I back up anything or create a boot disk, etc.?
April 20th, 2009 at 7:57 pm
i have a hp Dv6000 upon start up it gives me one long beeb and two short beebs and nothing shows up on the screen. what does this mean is it the motherboard or something else? i have looked at all the posting that you have and have seen many people with the same problem but didnt see an answer on what it is. i have called hp and they said that iam out of warrenty they didnt give me a real answer except to buy a new one. so any dionostic help will be good and then i will take it apart and fix it my self.
thanks for the very good site.
April 20th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
My problem is that my powerOn button no longer functions properly. Where once i simply had to tap it I know have to apply significant downward pressure with a screwdriver for it to turn on. I took it apart and nothing seems to be broken. Any thoughts?
April 20th, 2009 at 12:23 pm
Hi,
I have a dv6000 and I see the same issue faced by others..1 long beep followed by 2 short ones. Has anyone fixed this successfully..?..is it an issue with the system board..?..how much did you end up paying for the board and any pointers where you purchased the board would be appreciated..thanks in advance..
Nev
April 19th, 2009 at 10:37 pm
Patrick,
I cannot tell if your problem is related to the liquid spill or not but if the laptop was working fine before and suddenly started doing reboots, that could be related to the memory modules. Try reseating both modules. Try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each one separately.
April 14th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I have a dv6227cl that just recently starting doing reboots before anything comes on the screen. The media card slot light stays on the whole time. The laptop just stays that way for about 5 – 10 seconds and reboots over and over again. I sent it in because of the wireless issue and it was returned to me stating that there was “liquid damage” to the keyboard, memory area, and they didn’t do anything to it except to somehow manage to take the “h” key off and lose the little supports under it. Is there anyone with a broken keyboard that would ship it to me if i paid the shipping? And does anyone have a clue as to being able to start up the laptop? I had the problem before, but that was with a cracked lcd that i replaced using this site. Thanks for your hard work!
April 14th, 2009 at 11:34 am
Thanks Laptoptech.
I printed a copy of manual before I started but was still unable to open it. Later I discovered the dv6000 has 2 GOLD BOLTS that require a 3/8 socket to unscrew. (I actually used the business end of a small allen wrench to loosen the bolts. Worked fine.) The Bolts are shown in the photo for step 4 (just to the left of the antennas that connect to the Wi-Fi card).
REMOVING THESE BOLTS IS NOT LISTED IN THE MANUAL and that’s why I had such a hard time.
Thanks for your help. Your site is one of reasons I had the courage to try to open my laptop. Now, I just hope I can put it back together!
THANKS
April 12th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Thank you.
You are truly the man…
Never opened a laptop before…
this is great.The dv6000’s are quite buggy.After my
laptop went under warranty for the vanishing wlan issue…Only six months later it has developed a
1 long beep 2 short beep problem (vga!).I am thinking of getting a dell or acer since hp’s are very unreliable…
April 12th, 2009 at 9:06 pm
Manuel G,
I think you might have a problem with the laptop memory. You have two memory modules installed. Try removing them one by one and test the laptop with each memory modules separately. Does it make any difference?
April 12th, 2009 at 7:11 pm
di tregale,
Yes, you can fix this by replacing the keyboard.
April 12th, 2009 at 7:07 pm
DV6000Hell,
In the comment 18 I posted a link to the maintenance and service guide. You’ll find step-by-step disassembly instructions in there. Check out the manual.
April 11th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Wow, this site is wonderful. Over the course of the last few weeks I’ve had a problem with my dv6000 laptop and have been spending alot of time searching for an answer, so I’m confident in saying that this is easily the most user-friendly tech site I’ve come across.
I have what seems to be a unique issue that maybe someone can help with. A while back my computer started looping between the start-up BIOS and the Vista loading screen when I would boot it up. Somehow or another I ended up at the recovery console and tried to reinstall windows (I think the original problem was with the MBR, but learned of this too late.) The reformat of the drive went through, but then the recovery console froze. I had to hard reset the laptop and when it came back up, I got an Err2Err3 message. Apparently this is the sign of a missing operating system, so a few days later I tried adding Ubuntu (by this point I was willing to lose my data, I was just trying to get my computer working again.) Ubuntu went through the entire install process and gave me an error message at the end. Then it took me to the liveboot version desktop and froze up on me after I started clicking around, exporing it. I had to do a hard restart.
Here’s where things get really weird. After the failed install, the liveboot cd would not even load for me and the error message changed from Err2Err3 to “Operating System not found”. I turned off the computer in disgust and left it alone for about a week.
Last night, I turned it back on to tinker with it again and somehow the liveboot cd worked. Thankful that the voodoo gods were apparently too preoccupied with something else to focus on this cursed machine, I got to the liveboot Ubuntu screen and ran the internal shredding application. I figured nuking the hd and starting over clean would be my best option after all the trouble I’d experienced. (Trouble which, I must mention, had no easily accessible precident online when I looked for it at every step of this horrible adventure.) Unfortunately for me, the curse was back and the shredding application started returning errors. (Not sure if you’re familiar with Ubuntu, but it gives progress at every step of the shredding process in the form of a “–mb of –Gb shredded” type of count which, for me, came in increments of 13mb. When I say that it was returning errors, what I mean is that after the first 1Gb or so, every progress update was followed by an error message.) With no obvious way to stop the shredder, I did a soft reset and got out of the liveboot desktop, but the shredder was still running onscreen in a BIOS-looking text (black background, white text). I hard resetted yet again.
So, that where I am. I tried another liveboot shredder called KillDisk and it progressed to a certain point, then froze. Being the hard-resetting master I was, I hard reset the laptop, put it away, and walked off feeling utterly defeated. The fact that even a disk shredder would not work on the unit suggests to me a bad hd, but I’m not sure. I could see in the start-up BIOS that the system was registered as a Vista unit, but couldn’t see any details on the harddrive. I had to get the motherboard replaced a while back and I’ve heard that bad motherboards can affect an hd, so maybe that was the problem? What I’d like to know is a)has anyone ever heard of a harddrive rejecting a shredder and if so, was there a solution that would allow the hd to be wiped and reused, b)if the harddrive is faulty, can I just buy a new one, pop it in and treat the computer as new when installing the OS?, and c)Kind of an off-shoot of b, but is there any other issue that could kill a harddrive that I should be aware of? I don’t wanna throw a new one in there if it will just suffer the same fate.
Sorry for the verbose post, but I know how important accuracy is in diagnosing…well, pretty much anything. But especially computers. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated.
P.S. I’m outside of HP’s warranty and my geek squad warranty might have been invalidated due to all the tinkering I’ve done. Just wanted to throw that out there.
April 8th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
my kid split coke at a few keys om the keyoard. the keys imdtweem V&M womt work… tried to pull them up & fix them & i camt evem get them ack om mow ..cam this get fixed?
April 8th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Hi,
I have unscrewed all of the screws and my beautiful laptop is now a mess. I need to replace the usb d/c power cable. But to get to the connections, I need to take the main face plate off (the one surrounding the mounse pad). But when I pull, it pulls off all around the edges like something attatched in the middle is holding it down. I don’t want to pull more for fear of breakage. Help.
Dee
April 8th, 2009 at 9:46 am
I tried all the above with no luck. It must be the camera.
Thanks for the info!
April 7th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
11beagle,
Access the device manager, find the entry for your webcam (could be listed in USB devices), right click on the entry and uninstall. Restart the laptop and let it detect the webcam. Does it help?
Also, you can try reinstalling Windows.
If nothing helps, probably it’s bad camera.
April 7th, 2009 at 8:05 am
I have a HP Pavilion dv6636nr that the built in webcam doesn’t work anymore.
I downloaded the latest HP webcam driver version 6.1003.101.0
The webcam is listed in the Devise Manger but has a yellow flag + This device cannot start. (Code 10).
I have tried everything I know including the newest Vista sp 1 driver update.
Any suggestions or is the webcam dead?
April 5th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Yousonofagun,
You can replace the motherboard but you’ll have to find another one with the same part number. Basically, you are replacing your defective HP motherboard with a similar working HP motherboard.
You can do it in desktops but not in laptops. In some cases you can find a better motherboard (more video RAM, bettery chipset, etc…) but this motherboard has to be designed for your laptop. You cannot install motherboard from a different laptop brand.
If your laptop is still under warranty, I would suggest sending it to HP for repair.