Have you ever taken it apart or built a notebook? Share your experiences, please!

i had to do it with my Compaq CQ60-210US. According to some mobile PC forums, it is one of the most difficult to take apart. It is an inexpensive Vista 32 notebook with a 2GHz Athlon X2, a GT 8200M, 2x2GB PC 5300 and a 250GB 5400 rpm HDD. It started to overheat back at CES 2010 and the only thing that saved it was a Cooler Master notebook cooler which i fortunately reviewed about the same time.

Well, there is NO way to blow out the dust. If you used compressed air, you just disturb the dust and move it around inside the notebook. And opening it means a complete tear-down just to get to blow out the dust. Naturally, that meant that i waited until this week when the CPU hit 107C and the graphics garbled and it kept shutting down even after a cold start.


It works fine now .. i have a couple of leftover screws

- but the temps are over 20C cooler !!! (not to mention the KB feels brand new again)
(best of all, my toothache is better)


Next time - if there is a next time (as cheap notebooks seem to have trouble even surviving 3 years - which can't be accidental, can it?) i will take a dremel or a precision saw to the case and cut some access holes.

The notebook manufacturers do this on purpose. They make it a sealed user-unfriendly self-contained unit that needs to be tossed out just after the warranty ends - just because you cannot clean it



At any rate, i will probably be able to do my notebook "makeover" article now - i already upgraded from 2 to 4GB RAM and next will be to Vista 64 and a 128GB Kingston SSD. And i can now get back to work. Expect ABT's "Freedom" contest to begin at midnight tonight and a new SSD review out on Monday! 3D Vision evaluation next weekend!!

Remember debi's Toshiba laptop?

It is known to have power problems with the connector and motherboard.

A couple of weeks ago her laptop wouldn't run on AC power anymore.

I took it apart and put in a whole different connector. Managed to get it back together.

It doesn't look pretty but it will never have that intermittent power problem again.

I'll take some pics and post them.

I had the same problem several months ago, I knew my notebook was dirty because I use mine in a dusty chicken coop with 3-4,000 hens and 4 roosters So, I soaked my notebook in a tub with 3-4" of water, and a quart of denatured alcohol, let it rest in this solution for let's say 24-36 hours depending the the ambient temperature, slosh back and forth (GENTLY) if you use too much force you can really screw up the stupid thing!

Now the insides should be pretty much clean and you don't have to disassemble the fn P.O.S.!

Try this technique at your own risk, and REMEMBER "BUCKLEUP" because it's the law

i hope you remembered to leave the battery in and also left it plugged in when you submerged it.



From your above post, it's clear you remembered to "FUCKLEUP"




Bad advice even from a comic

The most annoying thing with my laptop is the Turion X2 CPU it uses appears to be socketed, so its potentially upgradeable, except that AMD never released anything better than what I already have that would be compatible.

Mind you the laptop only has a 15" 1280x800 screen, I'd want a larger screen (and less crappy too) in a new laptop.

Anyhow, never had much trouble cleaning it out (only had to once) or upgrading it, been a good little computer for something I didn't personally build.