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In this post I explain how to take apart a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge laptop.
I’ll show how to:
1. Access laptop memory, hard drive, fan assembly.
2. Remove palmrest/touchpad assembly.
3. Disconnect and remove laptop keyboard.
4. Access wireless card and CMOS battery.
Before you start, make sure the laptop is turned off.
STEP 1.
Remove main battery.
Loosen five screws securing the bottom cover. Under the bottom cover you’ll find laptop memory, hard drive, fan assembly.
STEP 2.
Remove the bottom cover.
The bottom cover removed.
STEP 3.
In order to remove the hard drive, slide it to the right and disconnect from the motherboard.
After that you can lift up and remove the hard drive assembly.
If you are replacing or upgrading the hard drive, you’ll have to transfer the mounting bracket to the new drive.
Lenovo ThinkPad Edge laptop uses a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive. Any large SATA hard drive should work fine in this laptop.
STEP 4.
The cooling fan is a part of the heatsink assembly.
In order to remove the cooling fan assembly, you’ll have to loosen four screw securing the heatsink and disconnect fan cable from the motherboard.
After that you should be able to lift up and remove the fan assembly. If the cooling fan and heatsink look dusty, blow it off with compressed air.
STEP 5.
Remove one screw securing the DVD drive.
Slide DVD drive to the left and remove it from the laptop.
STEP 6.
I also removed a small cover located in the lower left corner of the laptop base but… I didn’t find anything under this cover.
I think, in some different ThinkPad Edge models there is a WWAN slot located under this cover.
STEP 7.
There are four rubber plugs located on the bottom part of the laptop case.
These plugs hide screws securing the palmrest/touchpad assembly.
You can remove all four plugs with a sharp object.
STEP 8.
Remove six screws securing the palmrest/touchpad assembly.
STEP 9.
You can separate the palmrest assembly from the laptop base with a guitar pick.
Insert the guitar pick between the palmrest and base and slowly move along the side.
STEP 10.
Carefully lift up the palmrest/touchpad assembly and place it upside down on the table.
STEP 11.
Now you can access the touchpad cable which is connected to the motherboard.
In order to unlock the touchpad connector, lift up the brown clip in the direction shown on the following picture.
The connector clip opens up at a 90 degree angle.
Now you can pull the touchpad cable from the connector.
STEP 12.
Remove the palmrest/touchpad assembly.
In the following steps I show how to disconnect and remove the laptop keyboard.
STEP 13.
Remove two screws securing the laptop keyboard on the bottom.
There are three cables connecting the keyboard to the motherboard.
Two connectors are shown on the picture below.
The third connector hidden under the black ribbon cable.
Let’s disconnect all three cables one by one.
STEP 14.
In order to unlock the first connector you’ll have to move the black clip about 2 millimeters to the direction shown by two arrows.
Do not separate the black clip from the white base. On the following picture the connector is shown in the UNLOCKED position. Do not move the black clip any further.
After the connector is unlocked, you can pull the ribbon cable.
STEP 15.
Unlock the second connector same way you unlocked the first one.
Release the second cable.
STEP 16.
As I mentioned earlier, the third keyboard connector located under the black ribbon cable.
Let’s disconnect the third connector.
Move the brown clip in the direction shown by the yellow arrow.
It will open up at a 90 degree angle.
After the connector is unlocked, you can pull the cable.
STEP 17.
After all three connectors unlocked and cables released, you can remove the keyboard.
New keyboards for Lenovo ThinkPad Edge laptops available here.
The Lenovo keyboard part number printed on a sticker.
It’s FRU number: 60Y9743
The wireless card and CMOS battery locations shown on the following picture.
It’s not necessary to remove the keyboard in order to access the wireless card and CMOS battery.
May 8th, 2013 at 2:13 pm
I wanted to find the “video card” Where is it? and can it be replaced? I had a sticky key for a while after leaving the computer on the lanai.. and the rain blew sideways.. and sprinkled on it.. turned it upside down and it was working for bit but a few keys when phycho.. then some got stuck on… and I had to bypass it through bio’s just to start it up.. I just used virtual keyboard to put in my password, but I think somehow the sticky key burned out the video card.. now I just turn on the computer and it has vertical lines.. but you can still hear that key beeping for a while.. still stuck. I bought a new keyboard and will use this guide to change it out.. but I think I need to ffigure out if its even fixable.. I heard that its possible that a sticky key will just wear it out.. or maybe its just jarred loose or something. Please help .. I just don’t want to buy another one.
April 10th, 2013 at 1:25 pm
Thank you, this is very helpful.
However, I think you circled the wrong thing in the CD drive removal. It is actual the center screw (that is the easiest to take out and most obvious when you flip over the computer). I struggled with this for 30 mins so I figured I would post here. Maybe it’s common knowledge to remove a CD drive but I never have before!
Also, I found it hard to navigate to this page because the Lenovo site is terrible so here is a link: http://support.lenovo.com/en_US/detail.page?LegacyDocID=MIGR-75145 whcih contain the keyboard service parts for the Lenovo Edge 14 laptop. What I did is take the FRU No and search Ebay to get the part I needed. I will post if I have any trouble replacing the keyboard when it comes in the mail (I just replaced my touchpad/palm rest).
June 1st, 2012 at 5:51 pm
@ lc,
I think it’s necessary to remove the palmrest first. Otherwise you will not be able to slide and remove the keyboard.
In the service manual (page 101) the keyboard removal shown after the palmrest removal.
May 31st, 2012 at 6:24 pm
do you need to remove the palmrest in order to remove the keyboard or was that just the order in which you did it?:
May 31st, 2012 at 7:17 am
What is the motherboard model? I am curious due to the fact that I would like to know what I can upgrade the RAM, and the HDD and potentially when I get the money the CPU. I would also like any other upgrade advice that you have.
March 15th, 2012 at 11:01 am
@ joe,
I explained some single key repair techniques in this post: http://www.laptoprepair101.com/laptop/2007/03/20/key-fell-off-keyboard/
March 14th, 2012 at 11:24 pm
I’m looking for information on how to replace a single key on my thinkpad edge 14. My down arrow key has gotten smushed in and lost its springy feel. Is there a way to replace the rubber spring under the keycap for just one key without buying a whole new keyboard?
February 1st, 2012 at 6:32 pm
@ john,
Restart the laptop and try using one of the F* function keys. Try F1, F2, F10, F12, etc… one of them should take you to the BIOS setup. Can you use the keyboard in BIOS?
February 1st, 2012 at 8:11 am
why would the keyboard and trackpad quit working on this new machine? I could see if it was all one cable and that came loose, but that seems like a slim chance. any thoughts?
January 24th, 2012 at 7:10 pm
Thanks a bunch. Needed to reset the bios, and could not for the life of me find what screws do what on my own.