Complete disassembly guide for Dell Inspiron 1545

posted in: 4. Dell | 26

Dell Inspiron 1545 disassembly guide

Today I am presenting a complete disassembly guide for Dell Inspiron 1545.

My goal is removing and replacing the DC jack board and cleaning the cooling fan which is mounted under the motherboard.

Keep track of all removed screws. Make notes where they go. It will help you a lot during the reassembly process.

Before you start taking it apart, make sure the laptop is turned off.

STEP 1.

As always, start disassembly process with removing the battery.

On the bottom of the laptop remove screws securing the service cover and remove the cover.

Under the cover you can access both memory (RAM) slots, wireless card and heatsink. I will show how to remove the heatsink in the step 14.

Remove one screw securing the DVD drive. Pull the DVD to the left and remove it.

Remove two screws securing the hard drive. Pull the hard drive to the right and remove it.

Upgrading regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive to a 2.5″ SATA solid state drive will improve laptop performance significantly.

Parts on the bottom of laptop

STEP 2.

Remove all screws from the bottom.

Remove bottom screws

STEP 3.

Remove the center control cover.

Remove two screws securing the keyboard. Remove the keyboard.

In one of my previous guides I explained how to remove the keyboard from a Dell Inspiron 1545 in greater detail.

Refer to that guide for removing the keyboard.

Remove laptop keyboard

STEP 4.

Disconnect both antenna cables from the wireless card.

Simply grab the antenna cable by the gold connector and pull it up.

Disconnect wireless antenna cable

STEP 5.

Pull both antenna cables though the opening in the top cover and un-route them from the top cover.

Un-route wireless antennas

STEP 6.

Remove six screws securing the display hinges.

Unplug the Bluetooth cable and LCD screen cable from the motherboard.

Remove screws from display hinges

Here’s how to unplug the Bluetooth module cable.

Remove the Bluetooth module.

Disconnect cables

Here’s how to disconnect the LCD screen cable. Pull the connector up by the blue tab and unplug it from the motherboard.

Unplug video cable

STEP 7.

Lift up and remove the display panel.

In one of the previous guides I explained how to remove the LCD screen from the display panel.

Refer to that guide for removing and replacing the LCD screen.

Remove display assembly

STEP 8.

Now we’ll have to disconnect and remove the power button board.

Before you remove the power button board, you’ll have to unlock the connector and release the cable.

Power button board

Here’s how to unlock the connector. Lift up the cable retainer with your fingernail.

The retainer will open up at a 90 degree angle.

Unlock connector on keyboard

On the following picture the connector shown in the unlocked position.

Now you can pull the cable from the connector.

Pull cable from connector

STEP 9.

Remove the power button board.

By the way, if your laptop stopped turning on when you push on the power button it’s possible that replacing this board will fix the issue.

Remove power button board

STEP 10.

Remove screws securing the top cover (palm rest) assembly.

Disconnect the trackpad cable from the motherboard. Use same technique as for disconnecting the power button board cable.

Disconnect top cover assembly

STEP 11.

Separate the top cover (palm rest) assembly from the bottom case and remove it.

Remove top cover assembly

STEP 12.

Now we are going to remove the express card bus board.

Access express card bus board

Remove three screws securing the express card bus board.

Remove screws from express card board

STEP 13.

Lift up the express card bus board to disconnect it from the motherboard and remove it.

Remove express card board

STEP 14.

Loosen five screws securing the heat sink assembly.

Remove screws from heatsink

STEP 15.

Carefully lift up the heat sink and separate it from the CPU and GPU chips.

Remove heatsink assembly

When you turn the heat sink over, you’ll see the area that covers the CPU has thermal grease on it and area that covers the GPU has thermal pad.

You’ll have to reapply thermal grease before installing the heat sink back in place. Do not touch the thermal pad, you can reuse it.

In one of my previous posts you’ll find more detailed instructions about applying thermal grease on the CPU.

Apply new thermal grease

STEP 16.

Remove screws securing the motherboard.

Disconnect three cables from the motherboard.

Disconnect motherboard

Simply unplug cable connectors as it shown on the following picture.

Disconnect speaker cable

STEP 17.

Lift up the motherboard on the right side and start removing it.

Start removing motherboard

STEP 18.

Remove the motherboard.

Remove motherboard

In a Dell Inspiron 1545 the DC power jack attached to a separate board.

By the way, the CMOS battery also can be accessed on the bottom side of the motherboard.

DC power jack board

STEP 19.

Remove two screws securing the DC power jack.

Remove screws from DC jack board

STEP 20.

Separate the DC power jack from the motherboard. Now it’s ready to be replaced.

If you have a failed DC jack, it’s easier to replace the entire power jack board than re-solder just the DC jack.

Remove DC jack board

STEP 21.

The cooling fan attached to the bottom case.

You can access and remove the fan only when the motherboard removed.

In order to remove the fan you’ll have to remove two screws.

Remove screws from fan

STEP 22.

Finally, remove the cooling fan.

Now the fan is ready to be replaced.

Remove and replace fan


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26 Responses

  1. Stephanie

    Thank you so much for sharing your expertise! I just followed your detailed instructions for complete disassembly of my Dell Inspiron 1545. I have never repaired anything on a computer before and I have only installed print cartridges. I replaced my keyboard and the dc jack charging board. I just booted my laptop up and it is charging!! For the first time in over a year and the keyboard works great as well. Thank you so much! One tiny bit of feedback, my laptop has a webcam and that was the only part your instructions did not cover. I looked online and found a different video showing how to remove the camera cable, but your instructions are much more detailed and concise. If you added that detail, it would probably be appreciated. Thanks again!!

    • IML Tech

      @ Stephanie,
      You are very welcome! I’m glad that my guide is helpful even for people without any computer repair experience.
      I didn’t cover the webcam because my laptop didn’t have any. 🙂

  2. Mike

    Followed your instructions perfectly. Was needing to replace the DC jack board. Called Dell tech support to find a way to order a replacement… The support rep told me that the DC jack board was not a separate item from the motherboard and that if I wanted to replace the jack board, I would have to replace the motherboard. According to your pictures, that is clearly not the case! I guess I will need to find a local repair shop that can order the part for me! Otherwise, this was simple with your instructions given. Thank you!

    • IML Tech

      @ Mike,
      Dell Inspiron 1545 DC jack located on a separate board. You can find it on Amazon for $15-20.

  3. hooman

    you are amazing , i can repair asus x44 with your learning , and i want repair my dell know , thank you soo much

  4. Cleaning guy

    Hello, this has been most helpful in other ways and wondered if it might be able to help me out with one more. My Inspiron 1545 has a very light display and trying to adjust the brightness via the keyboard is not working. I can see the screen when I turn it a particular way into the light but it is very faded. Any ideas?

  5. rajat

    @cleaning guy
    i had the same problem of a light display . just go in the bios by pressing F2 on starting up your laptop
    enter the display settings .
    there is the option to control your brightness , set to maximum , save and exit and then restart .

  6. noroozi

    dear friends
    thanks a lot for you open mind behavior.
    u put good information on the site.
    i replaced cmos battery with your guide manual.
    i am electronic engineer and going to open laptop-tablet and smart phones repairing shop.let me know best site for online or off line guidance.

  7. andrew

    Many thanks for these instructions -just wandered, is there an easier way to replace the cmos battery?

    thanks

  8. Daniel Dias

    Muito bom o tutorial, precisei trocar a placa ṃe de um Dell 1545 e usei este roteiro. Parab̩ns. (Passo Fundo РRS РBrazil)

  9. Denise O'Gorman

    Hey, awesome job on the Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop disassembly guide! My question to you is, I would like to know where I can go to get the best deal on a LCD screen for my DELL Inspiron1545 LAPTOP? Also, a question for you about a different computer. I have a TOSHIBA SATELLITE C- Series laptop it has a 14 inch screen and is the color purple inside and out. The problem I’m having with it is that there are scratches on the top cover and it looks totally messed up to me and I would like to replace that top purple cover but I’m not sure where to locate that part? I would like to know if it is possible to replace the top cover? You know, the hard shell outside? If so then where can I find it at a reasonably good price? Well there you have it that’s all I needed to ask, thanks again for your wonderful tech help and teaching us how to do things with our computer I really appreciate it, and I’m looking forward to hearing from you soon thanks again

    Denise O’Gorman

    • IML Tech

      @ Denise O’Gorman,
      You can get a good deal on a screen here: http://www.laptopscreen.com/English/model/Dell/INSPIRON~1545/
      Just make sure to select the correct one.

      For Toshiba Satellite C case I would start searching on eBay. I saw some gray covers but not a purple one. I guess you can periodically check on the availability.

  10. Lisa

    I just replaced the power jack on my Dell Inspiron 1545 and it will now charge the battery but when I turn it on, the light will come on and I can hear it starting but there is no display and it shuts down. There are no beeps or other noises. What did I do wrong and what could I do to fix this issue? Thank you.

  11. ankush

    sir
    I had dis assembled my dell laptop according to your guide but after assembled again and powered on there is no display. Display remains blank. I have checked the display connectors also but they are correct. Please provide the solution. Thanks in advance

  12. Miles

    great instructions! Was wondering on the dell 1545 what screws go around the screen? I’m missing like two on the bottom corners! My hinges are real loose, missing these screws be the problem of the looseness or the hinges bad?

  13. Rijan

    Thank you very very much for this guide…. I wish that this guide will help me in coming pc problem

  14. Laura

    Thanks so much for taking the time to photograph all the steps here. This is great! I have replaced the keyboard and the screen and bezel, those were simple. But to get to that blasted CMOS battery….what the hell, Dell!

  15. Ben

    Holy cow, bro! My cooling fan stopped working in my Dell and I followed these instructions with ease to replace it. Only bummer is that it was the last thing to take out lol. Can’t thank you enough. Now I can use my laptop for more than 5 minutes!

  16. Donnell Wisniewski

    You seem to know quite a bit about these Dells so I have a very easy question. What does the slide button do on the bottom of the case (just below the battery compartment)? It has a picture of a padlock next to it. I have somehow slid the button to the other end and need to know if it’s something important! Thanks

  17. Hepie

    Donnell Wisniewski

    That slider locks the battery in place, hence the padlock.

  18. Malcolm Spinks

    A great guide. I also want to replace a failed DC power jack board. I thought that I could get away with just removing the back cover, but it seems to be a little more involved than that and a bit of a performance. Wondering whether I can be bothered to do it myself or to pay someone to do it?

  19. Henry

    Thank you very much for your time preparing this article, I found it very useful. Thks!