So, I took my laptop apart...

[+Heartripper Subscriber¹]

I did something similar some years ago to replace the LCD panel of my laptop

[Tidosho]

I love having service manuals available. I pride myself on doing things the way the factory would, so a machine I've disassembled and reassembled is indistinguishable from one straight from the factory.

I have a massive archive of thousands of repair manuals for all sorts of things, but not publicly available, only my staff can access them, if anyone here would like one, PM me and I'll sort you out. I had to do it because the lawyers came knocking, especially Toshiba, they were a right arse about it, intellectual property and all that nonsense, even though I'm Toshiba certified.

The amount of end users that think laptops don't need servicing is shocking, until something isn't right, they either chuck it in the bin or bring it to me!

[Steven P. Administrators]

 

You forgot the name of the store/ company where you worked?

Yes, it was some sweatshop based in a warehouse in Amsterdam Airport industry sector that contracted for the brands I mentioned, I was only there for 5 and a half months, I was let go because if I had made the full six months they would have had to contribute to my job seekers allowance. Nice people. Found a (good) job anyway after that

[PsYcHoKiLLa]

Well done! Done this quite a few times with my own, relatives and friends laptops. It's always similar to take them apart, just the layout changes, memory and wifi is usually the easiest to get to.

My only tip when doing this would be to order a pill holder box from Amazon or somewhere else, they're cheap, they have separate compartments so you can keep each set of screws separate, just go from left to right as you go into the laptop then when you're putting it back together you can go back through the screws in reverse, they're kept nice and safe and organised so you know you're not going to lose any

This kind of thing...

They literally cost just a pound/dollar or so and make everything so much more organised.

[Raa]

I've had to pull apart one of these to do cleaning, and boy they don't make it easy!

Sony Vaio have been the hardest though. Had to do a keyboard change in one of their ultrabook models, had to take the whole thing apart including the motherboard.

[binaryzero]

^ Well some OEMs build their machines so they are difficult to pull apart. 

[+MJK]

 

 

My man! A true Fallout (or just Inkspots?) fan right there! 

(Forgive the weird quotes, cant figure out how to remove them on the phone.)

Edited November 27, 2015 by +MJK

[Jolo]

Hi!

I'm having the exactly same problem with my nearly 5-year old Dell XPS 15: overheating, possible dead fan.

The problem is a damaged screw that I can't get off on the battery place.

And, the other important: I cannot get a new fan here. Not available part.

[BinaryData]

Hi!

I'm having the exactly same problem with my nearly 5-year old Dell XPS 15: overheating, possible dead fan.

The problem is a damaged screw that I can't get off on the battery place.

And, the other important: I cannot get a new fan here. Not available part.

Might be able to just drill it out. There are tools that are specifically designed to remove tough screws. We use them at my work when some idiot decides to tighten something down that requires Hulk like strength to undo. They make these reverse thread screws. You drill a hole into it, then use the reverse thread screw, and drill it in, then you flip it in reverse, and it SHOULD pull the other screw out too.

Just a thought

[Jolo]

Might be able to just drill it out. There are tools that are specifically designed to remove tough screws. We use them at my work when some idiot decides to tighten something down that requires Hulk like strength to undo. They make these reverse thread screws. You drill a hole into it, then use the reverse thread screw, and drill it in, then you flip it in reverse, and it SHOULD pull the other screw out too.
Just a thought

Nice! Thanks! I'll try this...

...once I can get another working fan, new or used...

[x.iso]

I've recently opened up my laptop to clean the dust (not that it was getting hot, just didn't do it for quite a while) and then found out that the battery got inflated. Might be from that one time Windows 10 decided to randomly turn it on and install updates while it was in backpack (which made it quite hot). Now using laptop without it until the new one arrives. I wonder how bad it can get with older laptop batteries that are packed in plastic casing.