Advent 6441 - Taking apart and removing the motherboard
I'm posting this not because it'll help any of my clients but, if I have to do another of these, it'll help me! This describes how to strip down an Advent 6441 laptop in order to remove the motherboard so the power jack could be replaced.
This is not totally detailed... things which should be obvious have been left out!
This is not totally detailed... things which should be obvious have been left out!
Start be removing the two covers on the bottom and taking out the battery and disk drive.
1. The first step is to open the screen fully and unclip the panel above the keyboard. Unclip from the top and remove the ribbon cable connecting it to the motherboard below.
2. Unplug the three connectors exposed and remove the four screws holding the keyboard.
3. Disconnect the ribbon cable from the motherboard
4. Remove two screws from the disk drive bay and another two from the battery bay
5. Remove all 16 screws holding the bottom case and push out the CD drive
6. Starting at the CD edge of the case, at the back, start detaching the case bottom from the laptop and remove it. It needs to be done from this side in order to release it from the PCcard holder.
7. Underneath, remove the antenna connector from the WiFi card. There's no need to remove the card itself.
8. From the top, remove 5 screws which hold a metal frame in place under the motherboard.
9. Underneath, remove the 3 outer heatsink screws and undo the 3 main captive heatsink screws and remove the heatsink. For convenience, also remove the 3 screws holding the fan and remove it (not shown).
10. Unfasten 3 connectors on the motherboard; 2 plugs and 1 ribbon.
11. Peel back two black plastic strips which cover two ribbon cables
10. Unfasten 3 connectors on the motherboard; 2 plugs and 1 ribbon.
11. Peel back two black plastic strips which cover two ribbon cables
12. Remove two hex standoffs, one on each side of the video connector
13. Remove motherboard screws, including 2 hex standoffs, and slide motherboard out (there may be more screws than those shown!)
14. Flip the motherboard over and remove the two ribbon cables.
15. Slide the motherboard out!
Putting it all back is a matter of reversing the procedure however a few things to watch (from experience!) are
- Remember to bring out the WiFi antenna before screwing the motherboard in place.
- Make sure only screws which were removed from the motherboard are replaced. The are some places where the screw comes down through the case.
Replacing the screen looks like it MIGHT be simple, though not actually tried. The potential problem may be the fact that in order to free the WiFi antenna cable, the motherboard needs to be removed. If this is not the case then just removing the top panel and unfastening the three sonncetors (Video, Mic, Webcam) should be enough to gain access to the lid fastenings.
posted by Ken @ 6:15 PM
11 comments
11 Comments:
i have advent 6441, and it is requesting for a Bios password, its system disabled code is 08235, can u help me open it up,am so stuck! help me find a default password for that laptop
As far as I am aware there isn't A realistic way of discovering what a BIOS password is but if it really has been set what you will need to do is reset it which should happen if you remove the internal battery. I don't mean the ordinary battery but this is the one which is actually inside the laptop itself, connected to the motherboard!
This means, of course, taking the whole thing apart and I can't remember exactly where the battery is but it should be obvious once you get it open.
But are you really sure the password has been set? If you did it then you should know what it is and if you didn't set it, who did? Maybe they can tell you! It'd be a lot easier trying to find out what the password is than opening up the laptop.
BTW, I don't understand what you mean by its system disabled code is 08235.
I followed your instructions to the point of removing the motherboard but need some help with removal/replacement of the jack. The owner tried resoldering the jack before requesting my help and bodged it up. Im not sure if hes buggered one of the capacitors right next to the jack as it has a burnt mark on it. Hopefully i can unsolder the jack and clean it up or would it be wiser to get a replacement?
It's worth while replacing the jack to see if it still works. It's very cheap and getting a replacement motherboard might be difficult.
Certainly if you put a monetary value on your time it is better just to replace the motherboard because you may be able to pick one up for £30-40 and replacing the jack could well take a couple of hours to get the old one out and the motherboard cleaned up. Generally I start by breaking apart and cutting out the old socket and then cleaning out the holes.
Generally I've found the motherboards to be surprisingly resilient and capacitors are fairly robust so there's a chance that it's not dead.
I decided to rip out the old jack anyway as on closer inspection the back of it was melted and the pin at the back of it was snapped off. Ive looked at replacement boards and cheapest ive found is £80 on ebay. Owner wasnt too keen on paying that and would rather i try soldering a new jack on. Problem being is that he put so much solder on it, it could take forever to remove it. It also looks like the board has been burnt too as theres a few brown patches around the area of where the jack sits.
I agree that £80 is too much. Might as well buy a new laptop.
If you've got a solder sucker (very cheap) you should be able to get most of the solder off and some of that copper de-soldering braid might be helpful too.
I must say that this is the one job I hate most!
It wouldnt be too bad if i had a decent soldering iron for starters. I did try using a solder sucker and got some off but the iron had trouble melting the solder. Im not the best at soldering as my poor old ps2 found out but this is a challenge. Ill try the copper braid and see where that gets me.
Hi again Ken. I managed to clean up the board and solder on the new power Jack. I'm not sure whether I've either soldered it on wrong or it's a problem with the board but when I plugged in the charger for it, the connection started sparking at me. I've done a few soldering jobs in the past and never had anything spark before. What for you reckon?
Many thanks for your excellent 'how to' on the Advent 6441 Laptop.
I've just bought one on eBay and might need to use your instructions.
Wish me luck . . . . .
David Thornton
Just a note to Darren, if the board is sparking when you connect power then all is not well - but you knew that! It suggests a short circuit somewhere and the chances of finding and fixing it are very remote. It sounds like the owner had been a bit slp-happy with his own attempts to mend things and probably made things a lot worse! This is a case of new motherboard or new laptop now.
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