How To Dismantle, Clean and Repair an HP Laptop... http://lonewolfonline.net/computers/tutorials/dism...

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How To Dismantle, Clean and Repair an HP

Laptop
Laptop overheating? broken? in need of repair? This guide shows how to
dismantle and clean the cooling fans on a HP Pavilion laptop. Can also be
used to dismantle and repair the cd drives, power jack, keyboard or any
other component inside.

My laptop is getting on a bit now and has started developing a few

problems. Primarily I am experiencing overheating, with the fans running
at full power and various a few other niggles. This is my illustrated guide
for HP laptop disassembly. It is based on the ze5400ea model but should be
similar for any HP pavilion disassembly.

I am approaching this with four objectives:

1. Clean fans and exhaust airways of dust to improve air flow and cooling
2. Investigate poor wireless performance
3. Investigate faulty power switch
4. Investigate broken floppy drive

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This procedure will certainly invalidate any warranty you may have on your
product. This guide is produced through experimentation and is in no way
endorsed by HP or Compaq. Always follow correct electrical safety
procedures. Do not undertake this task if you are uncertain about
dismantling/repairing electrical components. The author, Tim Trott, accepts
no responsibility or liability for any damage to hardware, loss of data, injury
or anything else. Whilst every effort is made to document as accurately as
possible, this is a guideline only and any work you decide to carry out, you
do yourself. Basically if you mess up its your fault.

Background
I am experiencing ever increasing fan noise, due to the processor
overheating. A quick inspection through the fan grille shows substantial
dust build up and I assume that this is restricting the air flow and the
thermal efficiency of the cooling mechanism.

I am also experiencing a poor wireless performance, while one minute it will

be connected perfectly fine then, without warning, the bandwidth will drop
to 1mbs (still with good quality and strength) and will not communicate
with anything. When I disable the connection and re- enable a few networks
are discovered, but not mine. I have to keep dis/re-enabling the connection
and eventually it will pick up the signal again. This could remain stable for
the rest of the day, or 5 minutes. As a temporary fix I am using a PCMCIA
wireless card which has functioned perfectly fine.

The power switch is very detrimental about when it works, mostly not
working. I have to use the quick function buttons to activate the laptop.
Feels like the switch is Pepsified
(that's covered in Pepsi).

Finally, the floppy disk no longer accepts floppy disks. They go in part way
but do not 'clunk' down to the heads and spindle, rendering it useless.

After over three years of ownership my laptop is now out of warranty and as

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such now begins to show signs of breaking (typical!). Technically there is

nothing wrong with the laptop, the specs are high even by today's standards
(2.8GHz Pentium 4 Processor, 512MB RAM, 54G Wireless) so rather than
rush out and buy the latest model… what harm can be done by attempting
to fix it?

The first thing we need to do is remove the Battery and AC connector to

prevent any electric shocks. Next is to remove the Hard Drive and store it
safely to prevent risk of data loss. The hard drive can be removed by
unscrewing three screws on the underside of the laptop. One screw is
covered by a rubber grommet.

Next remove all the screws from the underside and rear of the laptop. There
are no screws under the memory and expansion panels and there are no
labels covering any screws.

Turn the laptop over and open the screen fully. Just above and under the
Page Up key is a little cut-out where you can prise the cover off with a flat
head screwdriver. It will then unclip and can be removed (you have removed
the screws on the hinge at the back?) Be very careful of the two wireless
antenna connecters, they are fragile and you don't want to damage them.

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This gives access to four screws holding the keyboard in place. Unscrew
these and you can remove the keyboard from the laptop. You will need to
unplug the connector from the main board.

You will need to unscrew the wireless antenna connections and disconnect
the screen DVI connection as well as the floppy drive ribbon cables (mine
had Panasonic written on it in large letters) There is a small and a large one
near where the keyboard was plugged in.

More screws, these took a while to find the correct ones. There are three at
the top and one down a little shaft. With everything unplugged and

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unscrewed you can now remove the top part and the screen from the base.
There are a few clips at the front which can be prised off.

With the cover fully off it is clear that there is a substantial amount of dust
build-up inside. There are clumps of fluff on some of the chips.

My next task is to remove the heat sink from the processor so that I can
clean it out. The system works using copper heat pipes to direct the heat
away from the chip and to disperse it near the side of the case using copper
heat sinks and fans. This allows for a very flat and compact method of heat
redistribution. When removing and fitting the heat sink, please note the
tightening sequence of the screws. By following this sequence it will
improve the contact area and quality of the contact, the same as when
fitting a cylinder head to a car.

Dust buildup

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Heatsink cleaned and dust free

Having removed the heat sink it was obvious that the metal fins were totally
clogged up with dust. Taking it outside and blowing compressed air into the
fins and fans removed most of the dust, and a paintbrush helped with the
rest. The difference is obvious between before and after. Hopefully this will
help with the overheating issue. When reassembling the heat sink to the
main board I cleaned both surfaces with isopropanol and I used a little Artic
Silver to aid with thermal transfer. Please also observe the correct sequence
if you decide to do this.

Reassembly of the laptop is the reverse process with nothing major to

report except two connections. You may have noticed that the top half and
bottom half were joined with a small solid connector, the top half having
pins and the lower half sockets (see picture, connector is located near the
optical drive). These need to be aligned properly or you risk damaging the
pins. Don't forget the function button panel connector – its easy to loose it
when you put the cover back on. Wireless connections should also be
carefully fed back through the cover and reattached.

Reducing Fan Noise Further

Mindi has kindly written in advising me that HP offer a BIOS update that
will reduce fan noise. Since my fans are still noisy (although much less now)
I had a look into this link. The BIOS version to fix fan noise is version
KH.F.15, and since my BIOS is KH.F.08 I thought it wouldn't hurt to give it a
go. I don't usually update BIOS software (if it isn't broke, don't fix it), but if
this can help reduce fan noise I had to check test it out.

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This BIOS update was tested on my ze5440ea model, the update process
was absolutely perfect and as easy as downloading the file (1.6mb) and
running it. I would make sure that you check compatibility from the HP
website before running the update, and it looks as though the flash updater
itself check compatibility before starting.

HP Bios Update Software

Once downloaded, simply run the executable and it will self extract and
launch the flash program. From there it’s just a case of following the
onscreen steps. If successful the system will reboot and you should have an
Intel logo as well as the HP logo as it boots up.

First impressions are that the fans are less noisy, I have determined that
there are 4 fan speeds in use: 1) Off (only if using outside or in very cold
rooms (AC). 2) Quite running (seldom heard) 3) Normal Noisy running and
4) Going into meltdown.

It seems that in this update HP have changed the normal running mode to
quiet running by changing the temperature threshold. The BIOS flash
works! Thanks for sharing this tip with us Mindi.

Summary and Conclusions

My first task was to clear the fans and heat sinks from dust to reduce the
noise from the fans running at full speed constantly. This was achieved by
removing the heat sink assembly from the processor and blowing
compressed air into it, further, a paintbrush was used to remove stubborn
particles.

This has had the desired effect, with the noise greatly reduced. This should
also improve the performance of the laptop slightly as well as lengthen the
lifespan.

I could find no cause for the poor wireless performance, all cables intact
and all contacts clean, however the card and contacts were cleaned with
alcohol and reseated and it does seem to be performing a little better.
Update on next day: Back to usual – non working. No idea why this laptop
can't connect to wireless lans one minute and not the next.

The faulty power switch I have put down to a bad design flaw. The switch is
illuminated by an led from below. When pressed, the switch rock on a pivot
point to depress a micro switch to the left of the button, therefore the
button must be depressed not in the centre, but off to the right, in order
that the micro switch be activated. Poor design, but knowing this does
make it easier to operate by pressing the right edge of the button down and
to the right.

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Floppy drive shows no visible cause of error and remains broken.

80 Responses to “How To Dismantle, Clean and Repair an

HP Laptop”

« Older Comments

1. Dave says:
Saturday 30th May 2009 at 4:29am

Well, I just removed about 1/4 of a cat from the fan/heatsink area of my
HP ZE5468CL. I knew it had slowed way down (to the point it would
just turn itself off), and the fan ran way more than it used to. But I
didn’t think it was this bad. I think one of the fans wasn’t even turning.

Amazingly, I had no screws left over! And I didn’t really keep track of
them.

Thanks for your help with this!

2. elias says:
Sunday 24th May 2009 at 1:29am

i have a hp pavilion ze5000 that was broken the jack connector i did
replased the jack and i tested and it power the unit but no the lcd
screen what could be wrong?

3. gabe says:
Sunday 3rd May 2009 at 3:43am

i was hoping you could help with the repair of my laptop antenna it’s
torn and sticking out. it’s an hp db 1000. thankyou

4. Ben says:
Tuesday 14th April 2009 at 2:03am

My daughter has a sticking arrow key. when you are typing, it carriage
returns up one row. Any ideas to fix? I have inspected the key and
cleaned it – no dirt or evidence of any debris.

5. Dave says:
Saturday 11th April 2009 at 3:09am

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For the wireless lan, I had a similar problem, it seemed it would

randomly connect and disconnect from the router and stop showing up
in available networks. Finally, I solved the problem with a tech rep from
my ISP, and aparently my laptop (as is most HP’s) ‘channel surfs’ for
internet, meaning switching channels looking for signals, and since my
ISP router only broadcast on one, i would lose signal… the tech rep
walked me through how to fix my laptop to a single channel. Solved all
my problems!!

BTW, I have a HP Pavilion zv6000 and use Verizon FIOS for internet

6. Phil Withington says:

Monday 30th March 2009 at 11:55pm

Dear Sir Lonewolf,

Need some assistance in your “How To Dismantle and Clean an HP

Laptop” instructions… My wife gave older model ze5468CL to our 10
year old, and yes the cooling fan never stopped, wife said it had
shutdown on her a year earlier. I did a quick clean, which helped, but
did not stop the fan altogether. So using your instructions to get to the
heatsink, I did, it’s cleaner than it’s been for 5 years, but… now it does
not boot up, the hard drive shows not life and the display doesn’t even
show the bios starting up. I take it that the ze5400 in your display was
an AMD model, the Reassembly of the laptop picture doesn’t resemble
our Intel, there were no pins or solid connector between upper and
lower. The function panel, and power on button still light up but no life
after please email me back if possible. I was into radio astronomy for
10-15 years as a Jet Propeler, if you know who we are. Thanks for your
web page and time.
Sincerely,
Phil W

7. Phil Withington says:

Wednesday 25th March 2009 at 1:42am

Great instructions, step by step, very well done. I think I must have
shorted something… Power button works for the lights, but screen
does not show the bios but, and the hard drive shows no life. Is there a
fuse that may have been blown? Thanks for the instructions…

Phil

8. Renee K says:
Saturday 14th March 2009 at 1:46am

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I was wondering if the above will work for the HP Pavilion zv6000? If
not could you email me a site where I can get this unit cleaned up. We
have a dog that sheds and I am sure it has gotten into my computer
thanks. R

9. John Howe says:

Wednesday 4th March 2009 at 11:36pm

I have just printed out these instructions and am going to tackle my HP

tonight. It will not boot up even with the battery removed and the AC
power cord plugged in. I know that’s good because it’s output is 18V
D.C. Lets see where it goes. If anyone has had this problem also I’d
welcome some input.

10. Vince says:

Thursday 19th February 2009 at 7:54am

Thanks for this guide it was really helpful, I almost ripped the laptop in
half not knowing there were screws hidden under the power panel.
Fixed my overheating issue and my broken DVD drive and saved me a
bundle from taking it to the shop.

11. Matthew Bilski says:

Tuesday 17th February 2009 at 12:16am

this procedure was extremely helpful! what i need though is a

procedure to remove the mother board so that i can replace the dc
jack. do you have any idea where i might find this information? thank
you.

Robert White says:

Monday 2nd March 2009 at 6:35pm

Here is the link that will help you step by step.. It’s work for me.

http://h20181.www2.hp.com/plmcontent/NACSC
/SML/results.htm?SID=376999&MEID=2DCB45BD-1648-4DA9-
B7D0-D121A3BA05E4

Good luck.

12. Dale says:

Saturday 31st January 2009 at 6:37pm

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Excellent Instructions, worked well on my HP ze4430us. My problem is

the laptop doesn’t see the hard drive. The bios does however even with
a new hard drive when I try to install XP the setup doesn’t see the hard
drive. The laptop was bought 8/03 so I guess it’s time for a upgrade.
Must be a motherboard failure.
I’ve never taken a laptop down to the bare bones and your instructions
made it painless thanks again. Anybody know where I can find a
Pavilion ZE4430us motherboard.

Martin says:
Friday 20th February 2009 at 7:00am

Befor you run out and change your mother board

try a new stick of ram or if you have 2 try 1 at a time
my desktop gave me the same problem when instaled new hard
drive
as soon as i changed my corrupt ram everything loaded fine

13. joe helfinstine says:

Saturday 3rd January 2009 at 9:38pm

Do you have specific instructions for a Pavillion dv7 series?

14. BillP says:

Friday 2nd January 2009 at 10:25am

THANKS for the tear-down instructions. HP doesn’t have the service

manual on it’s website, so it’s up to the intrepid adventurer to work
things out… In reality, I run a high-end computer shop/lab. and hate it
when a manufacturer doesn’t make basic information available. I can
work on a laptop without the manual, but it takes (extra) time to figure
out the order of parts removal. The faster I can get it done, the better
my customers like it!

DUST IS a common issue on older laptops. I make it a practice now to

clean out ALL older laptops that come through here. (No, I don’t
charge extra for this The “lint” that accumulates in front of the ‘air
ducting’ and radiator fins is sometimes thicker than the stuff I remove
from my clothes dryer(!).

NOTE – Broken power connectors on laptop motherboards are

common. When we need to replace quickly (single quantity) we order
them from ebay vendors. This can be a “major” job, as dis-assembly
and removal of the motherboard is required. Also requires ‘real’
electronics experience, as we must remove the old connector and
resolder in a new one, usually in a space smaller than 1cm. X 1cm.

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WITHOUT damaging any of the adjacent components! I sometimes have

to prepare the motherboard like a surgeon prepares his patient by
isolating the area to be worked on…

HINT – we put the screws in piece of stiff foam so we don’t loose them.
We label them by area (removed from…). We also use stiff plastic tools
for the “prying” operations (like removing the trim panel over the
switches/lights). Metal prying tools (like a screwdriver) have a
tendency to scratch and “bite” into the plastic. We make them from old
toothbrush handles(!). Best wishes to all!

Mark says:
Thursday 16th April 2009 at 12:42pm

Hey there,

was wondering why you think HP doesn´t have the manuals on

their website…
go to Hp.com -> support -> type in the name of the laptop-> click
on Manual.

Has step by step dismantling and cleaning guides

Just though I should throw that in.

15. Edderic says:

Friday 26th December 2008 at 3:48am

Hey!
I enjoyed reading this. I will perform your instructions on my ZE5000.
Right now, I am trying to overclock my Pentium IV 2.4 Ghz through
CPUFSB. I need to figure out the “vendor and the version number of
the PLL IC that is responsible for the FSB frequency,” according to the
author of CPUFSB to overclock through SystemManagementBus.
Please let me know how to figure out who my vendor is and what is the
version number of my PLL IC. A picture would be more than
appreciated.

Thanks!
Edderic

Edderic says:
Tuesday 30th December 2008 at 5:10am

More screws, these took a while to find the correct ones. There
are three at the top and one down a little shaft. With everything
unplugged and unscrewed you can now remove the top part and

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the screen from the base.

….”There are a few clips at the front which can be prised off.”

What do you mean by this? I am at this step but I am not sure

what you are really talking about. Please help me ASAP.

Lonewolf says:
Tuesday 30th December 2008 at 9:42am

Hi Edderic, once all the screws are removed (on my 5400ea)

the rear end was loose but the front was held together with
small clips. Starting from the rear, gently pull the top and
bottom parts away from each other, working round to the
front. If it wont come away easily then there may be
additional screws still to be removed

16. John Ross says:

Wednesday 3rd December 2008 at 8:30pm

I experienced the dreaded “trip over the power cord” maneuver, and
yanked loose the power connector from the mother board on my HP
Pavillion. Using your instructions, I was able to disassemble the
computer to expose the top of the mother board and to verify that the
connector was indeed loose. Thank you!!! However, continuing with the
complete removal of the mother board to expose the solder pins looked
way too daunting for my taste, so I chose a much more brutal, but
straight-forward approach. I broke out my trusty “MotoTool” and with a
25cm diameter saw blade, cut a small rectangular shaped access hole
through the bottom of the plastic case case to expose the connector
pins protruding through the board. I also had to cut through a bit of
the aluminum shield that was partly in the way, but was able to do so
without any difficulty. While holding the connector tight to the board
from the top, I gently pulled and straightened each pin then gave it a
twist of about 20 degrees against the board for strength. I used a
stubby needle-nosed plier for this operation. I then carefully soldered
each pin with eutectic (63/37% tin/lead) solder, leaving a small bead of
solder on each pin to act as a nail head to hold it in place. I was careful
to not overheat each connection, but got it hot enough to guarantee
that the solder melted at each layer of the board. 100% success!! The
connector is again tight, and all is well. I used a bit of kneadable art
eraser to fill the hole, and the repair doesn’t show from the top or side.
I WOULD like to get my hands on the dull fellow who put a right-
angled plug on the cord… I since made an adapter that pulls straight
out if the cord gets accidently yanked again!

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17. Donna Chen says:

Wednesday 3rd December 2008 at 1:21pm

Can’t thank you enough for the step by step! Would never have been
able to pull my laptop apart w/o your site. Unfortunately my machine
stubbornly insists it STILL has no hard drive.
Thanks again for the excellent resource!! – Donna

18. Jerry DeMas says:

Monday 3rd November 2008 at 11:54pm

I would like to install a external wifi antenns jack in my HP Pavilion

ze4805us.Any idea how to go about this?

19. boredmatt94 says:

Saturday 25th October 2008 at 6:28pm

i jus finished and i have extra screw lol xp

20. Lonewolf says:

Saturday 25th October 2008 at 11:32am

On my ze5400ea any of the “quick function” keys along the top (email,
tv, internet etc..) also turn the unit on as a work around for the faulty
power switch. Hope that helps.

21. Bruce says:

Saturday 25th October 2008 at 2:42am

Hi Lonewolf: Great instructions, TNX. ze5400 – power button: took

longer and longer to turn on holding it down. Now it doesn’t turn on at
all. Used your instructions to take the thing apart, successfully, and
put it back together. No change. Might do it again and dig all the way
down to the power jack, but suspect it’s either that top board that we
initially saw when taking off the panel above the keyboard, or the
motherboard. Unit’s too old to replace the motherboard, so if I don’t
find anything on the second try, guess I’ll have to scrap it.

TNX again for the great instructions.

-Bruce

22. class1c says:

Thursday 23rd October 2008 at 12:20pm

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hey all. just letting you know, hp power sockets in lap tops are prone to
snap. careful when fixing

23. Ray says:

Wednesday 22nd October 2008 at 4:48pm

Thanks very much for your web site. I was just taking a laptop apart
and got really stuck. I would never have found out how to get the
keyboard off without your help.

It is all back, clean and working. I deliberately left out the three screws
holding the DVD drive so I can slot in a replacement later. That
accounts for three of the left over screws but not the other five. Still
you can never have too may spare screws can you?

Ron says:
Friday 27th March 2009 at 3:16am

No, you can never have too many extra screws! LOL

I work for Dell and HP doing this in the field, and I’ve gotten to the
point where I can replace a m/b in about 45 minutes and not have
anything left over.. but in the early days, I was thinking, if i left off
one DIFFERENT part from every laptop I replaced a m/b on?? Well,
in about a year or so, I could have an ENTIRE laptop from the
extra parts! But one day, I needed the LCD screen, so i left it off..
and the customer noticed… just barely noticed, but noticed.

24. Rick says:

Wednesday 15th October 2008 at 8:04pm

Brilliant stuff!! you have saved me a lot of money, my pavilion ze5300

was cutting off when it warms up and it was impossible to use
anymore, and i found this excellent page and followed the instruction
carefully, I found the fans dirty and the processor had signs of
overheating, so i cleaned all the dust and changed the processor and
now my pavilion is working as good as new

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