So, I took my laptop apart...

By +MJK
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Grand Master

+MJK

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Opening up the guts of your PC can be a truly daunting task, especially for the uninitiated, like yours truly. With the laptop I own being not just the only one in my possession but also my sole means of connecting to the internet for both work and play, I wasn't particularly hopeful when my 3-year-old Dell XPS 15 started to madly overheat.

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"I can't even sell it," I thought. "Who will buy a laptop that gets so hot I need to shut it down every half hour?" I was going to go ahead and scrap the laptop in lieu of the new PC I've been planning to build for ages - You know what they say about waiting for new parts and an infinite cycle of repetition? It's all true! - but, luckily for me, our resident Hephaestus, Chris Dupres, helped me diagnose the problem and suggested that either my fan had departed the world of the living or it was simply a matter of dust accumulation creating too much friction for it to work.

Instead of going to the nearest tech store to have the fan replaced, my first instinct, he suggested I first try to open it up and see if a thorough cleaning would do the job. This, however, required me to open up the laptop and - this is when I knew that Fortuna had truly withdrawn her favour from me - in the case of this model, that was quite literally the least accessible part, requiring me to tear apart the whole machine.

A DIY virgin, I obviously didn't want to go ahead and do that. Necessity, though, is the mother of invention. Due to a lack of technicians around where I live, and the fact that none of them would give me a proper quote for how much a new fan would cost and when they'd be able to procure one (if they even could), I decided to brace my heart and, with Lord Dupres and a YouTube video's help, perform surgery, after all.

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I consulted a YouTube guide on how to remove my fan and got to work. The start was, of course, not particularly fun. While removing the screws from the bottom base or removing the RAM sticks was easy enough, when the time came to finally detach the palm rest from the rest of the laptop, I lost all the confidence I had acquired thus far. It just wouldn't budge. A testament to Dell's quality control, I suppose. Regardless, I was quite hesitant to proceed any further in fear of breaking something or shaking something important loose: laptops are, after all, fickle creatures that are far more fragile than their mostly-modular desktop counterparts.

Still, I persisted and with the help of a bunch of screwdrivers and pliers, and with my heart beating out of my chest with every loud crack that accompanied one of the teeth detaching itself from the main frame, I was finally able to pry it open. Once I did, I had no idea how on earth those freaky looking cables were to be detached. I mean, aren't cables supposed to be round and thick, not looking like paper torn off someone's notebook?

Thank the YouTube gods, then, for showing me the light when I was mired in darkness. Anyways, after removing the palm rest, I also took care of the keyboard and removed the hard drive caddy. The next thing, to my surprise, was removing the display. Thankfully, all I had to do was remove a few screws to remove the display assembly from the base. That I had just replaced the LCD two months ago didn't help matters and simply removing the display cable had me rethinking the whole thing.

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Since you're reading this, I obviously soldiered on. A few screws later, it was finally time to disconnect the palm rest frame (is that even what you call it?) from the bottom base. Like before, parts of the thing just wouldn't budge and I had to involve far too many tools before it finally let go. When it did come off, there was such a loud 'click' that I was sure one of the teeth broke and I'd have a hard time putting it together.

By this time, my laptop was quite literally in pieces, with the bottom base, RAM sticks , network card, display, keyboard and palm rest all laid out separately. But, lo and behold, there, at the end of the road, at last lay the fan and total access to the interior. The first thing I noticed was that the interior was just filthy! I've been using this machine for almost 3 years now and it has never been opened before (except the aforementioned LCD replacement, which was done by someone else) so that was to be expected. Dust was clogging the air intake and the fan just... Anyway, I cleaned it up with tissues (before some of you mention compressed air cans, I couldn't find one anywhere I looked) and even resorted to homebrewed remedies like this, involving bread, tape, a lot of spitting and horrible CGI (it's almost like I'm describing a Micheal Bay movie, eh?).

I also cleaned the fan as best as I could but it was protected by a cover so the entirety of it wasn't really inaccessible. Trying to make it spin presented a lot of friction, thus confirming my fears that it was probably dead. Still, I put it all back together and turned the PC on. Within 15 minutes, the bottom of the laptop was searing hot. Problem not solved.

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The shenanigans of the repair shops mentioned above meant I had to use it this way for one more week before I finally had enough time off from classes to go to Kuala Lumpur and find a fan. The first shop I went to told me I'd have to special order the fan, wait for 2-3 weeks, and it would cost me RM 200! Luckily for me, I was in a hurry and decided to find another shop that could do it a little bit faster. And my prayers were met, with the patron of arguably the smallest store in the mall, who not only got me the fan within a few minutes but also charged me only RM 80 (less than half the previous quotation).

Going back, I took the laptop apart again - by this time, I was almost a pro, requiring the video guide only sparingly - and installed the new fan. Putting the PC back together and turning it on led to my next big heart attack: I was stuck on the boot menu as the keyboard was unresponsive. Given my prior apprehension about the fragility of the cables, I feared I was too rough in the installation and maybe broke one of the tiny pins on it. I had to take it apart once again and reconnected the keyboard cable. Bullet averted! The next time I booted, it was all peachy!

Putting the PC through a bit of work, I could finally hear the musical whirring of my resurrected cooling system and feel the oh-so-pleasant warm air rushing out of the exhausts. Who knew hot air trickling out of your system could bring such joy?

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All in all, my experience was rather pleasant. I found most of my fears to be just that, fears. Every loud 'click' I heard was just a few pieces realigning themselves and, despite all my apprehension, nothing actually broke. Figuring out how to take the PC apart was actually quite easy courtesy of the YouTube gods. Of course, the first time took me over an hour to fully tear down the laptop and my heart was leaping every time I encountered something new but all of that was not only worth it for having my PC rejuvenated once again but also for the sheer satisfaction of having accomplished something I had always wanted to try but never got around to. Not only did I save quite a good chunk of money by doing it all myself, but I also got to know my machine better and will be better prepared the next time my hardware goes haywire.

Of course, there were still some dark spots, like tech stores trying to rip me off with exorbitant charges, but that's the beauty of DIY. You might make some mistakes, but you're better off with the experience you've gained. Moreover, if I had just trusted them to make the repairs for me, I'd probably end up paying even more.

As a result of this endeavour, I am more confident around hardware and have also gained a better appreciation of how everything actually comes together in a PC. I'll still be trusting a professional to build my gaming PC because, after all, it'll cost mega bucks, but at least I know that the next time I want to add a new GPU to my rig or replace an ailing hard drive, I won't have to go running down to the nearest tech store, or have to pay for stuff I can easily do on my own.

A virgin, I am no longer.

Image credit: parts-people.com

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Grand Master

+MJK

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Congrats, I guess, haha!!

So how many screws did you have left over after you pieced it back together? :p 

None! When I started, I took out a piece of paper and meticulously labeled different parts as the 'storage space' for different screws, with innovative titles like, after right hinge and before battery cover. (If you watch the video guide, they'll make a lot more sense!) :p

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Tantawi

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Congratulations on your achievement! I have been around and building desktop PC hardware since 15 years and my hand still shakes in the very, very few times I had to open a laptop. So to lose your hardware virginity to a laptop, it is a true achievement! :)

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BinaryData

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None! When I started, I took out a piece of paper and meticulously labeled different parts as the 'storage space' for different screws, with innovative titles like, after right hinge and before battery cover. (If you watch the video guide, they'll make a lot more sense!) :p

They make magnetic pc mats that you can write on. iFixIt.com has a nice mat, just wish it was bigger. I used to do this, now I just record myself while I work. Though, not everyone is as ****-retentive as I am when it comes to pulling things apart.

Congrats on your work bro! Super satisfying isn't it?

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compl3x

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In my experience, one of the most important aspects of doing work like this is allocating yourself enough time. Too many people try to do stuff like this after work or at some other point where there time is limited then rush and break stuff. Even basic maintenance tasks I allocate two or three times the amount of time I think I'll need. If I finish early it's beer time.

Another issue of over confidence. I've seen people who, because they have a reasonable amount of experience, go at a task like this somewhat recklessly.

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Anibal P

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In my experience, one of the most important aspects of doing work like this is allocating yourself enough time. Too many people try to do stuff like this after work or at some other point where there time is limited then rush and break stuff. Even basic maintenance tasks I allocate two or three times the amount of time I think I'll need. If I finish early it's beer time.

Another issue of over confidence. I've seen people who, because they have a reasonable amount of experience, go at a task like this somewhat recklessly.

So true, heck gave myself a couple of hours Saturday just to swap out the video card in my PC, didn't need it but you never know till you're elbows deep how long it will really take 

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BinaryData

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In my experience, one of the most important aspects of doing work like this is allocating yourself enough time. Too many people try to do stuff like this after work or at some other point where there time is limited then rush and break stuff. Even basic maintenance tasks I allocate two or three times the amount of time I think I'll need. If I finish early it's beer time.

Another issue of over confidence. I've seen people who, because they have a reasonable amount of experience, go at a task like this somewhat recklessly.

Time is your friend, also, not wearing socks while working on a PC helps too. :D

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binaryzero

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So would you drink a beer while gaming? How can you not...

Wait, with 4 graphic cards, your beer will get hot pretty quick. ;) 

MJK - wait till you can build a desktop, and you only need to turn it on once to get the thing up and running. 

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zhangm Supervisor

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For a cheap and easy replacement to magnetic screw mats, you can use a piece of cardboard. When I do disassembly, I mark out where things are straight onto the cardboard, then take the screwdriver and punch holes for screws, corresponding to where they're located on the device, then stick the screws into those holes as I take them out.

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Mr. Gibs

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Tbh you have a Dell laptop. Most of their laptops are actually pretty easy to disassemble and put back together. Other OEMs...not so much. Hell:

1. The entire disassembly manual with pictures is posted on their website for anyone to use. Just go to support.dell.com and look up your laptop model.
2. They don't void your warranty if you take it apart / open your case w/e.

Good job not losing any of the screws though, that's always the worst...you put it back together and then you see theres a screw left over...do you open it back up or throw it away and pretend everything will be fine...

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+MJK

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Tbh you have a Dell laptop. Most of their laptops are actually pretty easy to disassemble and put back together. Other OEMs...not so much. Hell:

1. The entire disassembly manual with pictures is posted on their website for anyone to use. Just go to support.dell.com and look up your laptop model.
2. They don't void your warranty if you take it apart / open your case w/e.

Good job not losing any of the screws though, that's always the worst...you put it back together and then you see theres a screw left over...do you open it back up or throw it away and pretend everything will be fine...

Moreover, this was a 3-year old XPS 15 (at which time the XPS line was more desktop replacement than Ultrabook) so the thing is quite thick and has loads of room, which obviously meant that Dell didn't have to shove too many things together, making repairs a lot easier.

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T3X4S

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None! When I started, I took out a piece of paper and meticulously labeled different parts as the 'storage space' for different screws, with innovative titles like, after right hinge and before battery cover. (If you watch the video guide, they'll make a lot more sense!) :p



I have probably taken apart 500 laptops over the years - I still do the little map guide - I draw the laptop and place each screw where I found it  - makes re-assembly go real fast

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Mr. Gibs

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Moreover, this was a 3-year old XPS 15 (at which time the XPS line was more desktop replacement than Ultrabook) so the thing is quite thick and has loads of room, which obviously meant that Dell didn't have to shove too many things together, making repairs a lot easier.


That's one of the reasons why I like Dell. While some of their laptops aren't as sleek as ones from other OEMs, they're so much easier to fix if something were to break and they all use standard screws. Other OEMs go for the thinnest possible laptops and use proprietary screws and glue and it's just such a pain to do even basic things like clean or replace a fan.

I also like that they give you the disassembly manuals and don't void your warranty for opening up your laptop. One of the things I always do is open it up, replace the thermal paste and put it back together because Dell, like every other OEM, tends to use crappy thermal paste and puts wayyyyy too much on. Every other OEM would void your warranty the instant you did that making it a rather risky endeavor. 

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Steven P. Administrators

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I worked for a laptop repair company 12 years ago (forget the name) that mainly dealt with Sony, HP and Canon laptops and I had to replace all sorts of different things, they can take quite a beating lol (when you are on allotted time to repair it) when I applied, the instructor that dealt with hirings hired me because of how I laid out everything and made use of the screws tray 'properly'. I wasn't the quickest, but definitely hirable. Needless to say after that experience, I have had no trouble in looking for problems with laptops since :)

Good write up Jarir :)

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FiB3R

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I have probably taken apart 500 laptops over the years - I still do the little map guide - I draw the laptop and place each screw where I found it  - makes re-assembly go real fast

I poke the screws into the paper, so they cant roll away if it gets knocked. Even tape them down if it turns out I need to wait for a part, and also need to clear the work space.

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adrynalyne

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I poke the screws into the paper, so they cant roll away if it gets knocked. Even tape them down if it turns out I need to wait for a part, and also need to clear the work space.

Yep. Did a layout of screws once, then the AC kicked on and it was all over but the crying.

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