How To Open A Laptop

[Jaf]

I recently bought a Laptop, second hand. It is quite an old one, I just wanted a cheap one for student work, and thats it. Its a Toshiba Satellite Pro 430CDT. There was no book that came with it. Is there some sort of way that works with all Laptops to open them to see inside. Or does each laptop have a unique way to open. I cant see any screws. There is a switch on the back which unlocks the CD-ROM. I ttok out the CD-ROM Drive and i cant see any way of getting in through there. But Im not sure how to get in at all. So any ideas would be appreciated. The reason I want to open the laptop is beacuse it seems to be getting extremely hot. I just wnated to see what may be causing this.

Cheers

 

[Rick]

Each laptop is very different, although you may find a disassembly guide on the manufacturer's website.

 

[alphnumeric]

Usually if you drop it so it lands on one corner it will pop open. j/c
Sorry couldn't help my self. Some heat is normal, laptops get hot. The screws are probably hidden under the rubber feet on the bottom. Even then you may have to gently pry it open to release the clips that hold it together, hoping you got all the screws first. Not for the faint of heart. I have opened a couple, it was a major pain in the a$$.

 

[DBeam]

Dells are the easiest to open usually screws on bottom, Ibm same
way, Compaq a little worse they like torx screws and are good at
hiding them. Been awhile since I tore into a toshiba. If it has
rubber feet they might pull loose to reveal screws underneath. If
not it probably has plastic catches around seam. They tend to break easily when disassembling. I would chk mfg site for svc
manual.
Don

 

[bakertime361]

I hate to be a pain...but why do you see a need to open it up? The idea about the screws being under the rubber feet is a good bet, but make sure that you can't solve your problem in another fashion that DOESNT involve the prying apart of your laptop

 

[SmAsHeR]

why do you want to open it. everything is so crammed in there that you would have to take a ton of pieces out just to see whats under them.

 

[snowman]

to solve the heat problem just prop the back edge up on a book so some air can flow under it. because the laptops are small and have everything crammed in there they tend to get a little hot.

 

[alphnumeric]

Originally posted by snowman
to solve the heat problem just prop the back edge up on a book so some air can flow under it. because the laptops are small and have everything crammed in there they tend to get a little hot.

I've seen trays advertised that do the same thing, some have a couple of fans mounted underneath to give extra cooling. The book should work, a lot cheaper too, unless it's a library book.

 

[Wooptidoop]

Mine heats up too

I have the overheating problem with my Dell Inspiron 5100 all the time. If I'm not carefull and put it on a dusty place or on a blenket or something like that, it takes in all the junk through its bottomside fan and jams the CPU fan. When the temperature hits 50 degrees Celsius the computer gets really sluggish and irritating to work with, not even to mention gaming.
I've taken it to an authorized service for the uncloging of the fan three times in two years, and I'm getting sick of it....thus I tried to open it...but there are two screws right under the screen which I can't get to unless I take off the screen, and I dunno how to do that....:/

 

[StormBringer]

I5100 LCD removal

Removing the LCD on your I5100 isn't difficult, its the same as on an I1100. You simply have to remove the keyboard and keyboard bezel, then there are four screws that need to be removed(two on each hinge)

disconnect the LCD cable, then remove two more on the back of the chassis, just below the hinges.

 

[Tedster]

wouldn't recommend newbies try this. Too easy to break stuff.

 

[bennetdc]

laptop overheating fix

One thing that worked really well for me was to spray compressed air into the fan vents. I used a bicycle pump with an attachment and it blew alot of dust out of the fans. You can also buy compressed air in a can, useful for cleaning all kinds of electronics. This allowed my laptop to breathe normally, and the loud annoying fans do not need to run out of control anymore. Hope this helps.