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In the following guide I’ll be taking apart a Gateway P-series laptop.
In my case I’m taking apart a Gateway P-6825 but the guide should work for the entire P-series line.
If it fits any other Gateway model, please mention the model number in comments after this post.
First of all, turn off the laptop, disconnect AC adapter and remove battery.
Many major laptop components can be accessed if you remove two covers from the bottom.
There are five screws securing the fan/RAM cover and four screws securing the hard drive cover.
Under the fan/RAM cover you’ll find both memory (RAM) modules, wireless card, cooling fan and processor (mounted under the heat sink).
Removing this cover will not allow you to replace the cooling fan, but you’ll be able to clean it. I suggest using compressed air for cleaning the cooling fan and heat sink.
Also, removing this cover gives you access to both memory modules and makes it very easy to replace/upgrade memory.
Under the hard drive cover you’ll find two hard drive bays.
In my case I had only one hard drive installed.
In order to remove the hard drive, slide the entire hard drive assembly in the direction shown by the yellow arrow.
In my case I had to use some force because the hard drive was fitted very tightly.
When the hard drive assembly removed, you can remove four screws securing the hard drive to the caddy.
After that separate the hard drive from the caddy. Now you can replace the hard drive with a new one.
Using a sharp object remove the rubber cover located on the right side of the hard drive bay.
This cover hides a screw securing the DVD drive. Remove the screw.
Now you can slide the DVD drive from the laptop and remove it.
The DVD drive has been removed.
In the following 10 steps I explain how to remove the keyboard.
It’s not necessary to follow all previous steps in order to remove the keyboard.
Remove two screws securing the power button cover in the battery bay.
Carefully lift up the right side of the power button cover.
Continue removing the power button cover.
Be very careful. There are two cables connecting power/media boards to the motherboard. Do not lift up the cover too high.
On the following picture you can see two cables.
Try not to disconnect them from the motherboard or power/media board.
Ideally, these cables remain connected after you remove the cover.
Remove five screws securing the keyboard.
Lift up the top side of the keyboard.
Now you can access the keyboard cable connector.
Before you remove the keyboard, you have to unlock the connector and release the cable.
In order to unlock the connector, flip the right side of the brown clip up so it opens at a 90 degree angle.
After the connector is unlocked, you can release the cable.
Finally, remove the keyboard and replace it with a new one if needed.
Looking for a new keyboard for your Gateway P-series laptop? You’ll find it here.
February 23rd, 2011 at 11:02 pm
We need to replace the CPU fan on our P-6100. We have the replacement fan.
How do we get to it after removing the keyboard?
February 20th, 2011 at 11:35 am
roy,
I don’t have LCD screen replacement guide for P-series but you can use this one as an example: http://www.insidemylaptop.com/remove-lcd-screen-from-gateway-mt6704-model-ma7/
Shouldn’t be much different.
February 19th, 2011 at 11:30 am
how do i replace the lcd screen
January 13th, 2011 at 5:24 pm
I have a P-6860FX and every six months I need to clean out both vents because of excessive lint and dust build up. I take a vaccum hose and place it directly on the INTAKE port for both cooling ports (one at a time). Then I put my face up to the EXHAUST port and blow as hard as I can while still holding the vaccum host to the INTAKE port. This basically blasts out all the lint and dust that have built up inside the computer on the fins and fan blades. This works extremely well and my laptop can run games again without overheating. Good luck!
November 15th, 2010 at 7:03 am
Hi,, this is my exact laptop…What would be the fastest processor I could swap into this? And I assume I could swap in a wireless N card as well…What’s your opinions.
Thanks marc
October 11th, 2010 at 10:14 am
Sam,
It’s not necessary to disassemble the entire laptop in order to clean the cooling fan.
Just remove the heatsink (shown in the 3rd picture) and blow off the fan with compressed air.
Thanks for the link.
October 11th, 2010 at 9:43 am
Thanks for this guide! As with Ranju, I found the link through the superusers website, and the step-by-step instructions with pictures proved very helpful. Unfortunately my issue was dust blocking my fans on my P-7805u and this guide stopped short of what I needed get to them to clean them. However I found another one that covers the additional info I needed: http://forum.notebookreview.com/gateway-emachines/382408-gateway-fx-disassembly-guide-covers-all-17in-fx-notebooks.html
Highly recommended if you need to get deeper into your system! I was able to clear out the dust (on both fans) and my system started operating normally again.
@John Not sure how similar your model is to the P-series, but this guide definitely gets you deep enough to change your fan… if you end up needing to. In my case the fan quieted right down once it was able to cool the system normally again.
September 17th, 2010 at 6:13 pm
hi, can u make a tutorial how to replace the fan for Gateway MT3707. i really want to change my fan so bad
September 7th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Thanks for your comment. Yeah, I’ll look into that. I was trying to get to the graphics card to clean the fan and the vents in case there’s dust accumulated there but overheating on the 6860FX seems to be a common issue as I find that other people have complained about it as well.
August 29th, 2010 at 11:30 am
Ranju V,
I don’t know if in your laptop the graphics card is a discrete module, but in my case the graphics card integrated into the motherboard.
There is not much you can do with the integrated graphics card (cannot be removed, replaced, upgraded). I guess if it’s getting hot, you can reapply thermal paste under the heat sink.