Replacing a Motherboard on a Laptop

[Reephdweller]

Recently my laptop died on me, by all appearances it seems the main culprit is the motherboard. It powers on and gets past the HP logo and then shuts right down. I ran various tests including powering it up without the battery inside, swapping the adapters, etc, trying various outlets and even brought it to the store for them to see what was wrong. The main consensus is that the motherboard is likely shot and needs to be replaced. I looked around and found one for $110 which isn't too bad. I wondering if it would be worth it to get it and try and bring the laptop back to life. It was a very good laptop and relatively new.

My question is, would it be too much trouble to try and fix? I have experience replacing motherboards on desktop pc's and have added memory to laptops, but I've never done that kind of work on a laptop. I'm worried that it may be too intricate to try. Does anyone have experience with this or advice on what I should do?

[Liverspot]

If your motherboard is fucked I think you are as well. If the mb is soldered in it is more expensive to fix it (unless under warranty) than to just replace the computer. You may just not be able to replace the board on a laptop.

I sent my daughter off to college with a new hp and her motherboard failed. I think it was 6000 series, some models have a notorious failure rate.

so yeah, a lot of the laptops get intricate and need solder or other parts changed to meet the new board.

[boosterp]

One, are you sure that it is not the hard drive?

If you are certain, even though it goes through the BIOS check then it is not as daunting of a task that you may think. The only major obstacles are the components that add to the MB. I would advise you to be careful because I think you need to remove the keyboard as well which adds to the dozens of screws you have to remove. The screws are hard to keep up with where they go. Other than that it is fairly straight forward.

[Radioguy]

Laptop mobo's are often replaceable. Sometimes even the GPU can be replaced or upgraded. The cost often dwarfs the price to replace the whole thing, however.

[Reephdweller]

One, are you sure that it is not the hard drive?

If you are certain, even though it goes through the BIOS check then it is not as daunting of a task that you may think. The only major obstacles are the components that add to the MB. I would advise you to be careful because I think you need to remove the keyboard as well which adds to the dozens of screws you have to remove. The screws are hard to keep up with where they go. Other than that it is fairly straight forward.

It's definitely not the hard drive, I was luckily able to extract it from the laptop and put in an enclosure to get all my personal info off of it.

I'm somewhat concerned about all the screws and the intricacies of everything between the keyboard and the motherboard over all about getting lost or forgetting something vital.

[ecobag2]

throw it out. but remember all the subhuman africans that've died to mine the ore for the circuitry.

[KingGeno]

Most times you take a laptop apart to work on the mobo, you end up with leftover screws and parts when you are done putting it back together.

The motherboard is replacable but it can be a REAL pain in the ass. Some motherboard fold onto themselves, and tons of connectors are placed together that way. I'd google your laptop model and motherboard replacement. You may find a picture by picture walkthrough for doing it.

[Chip196]

HP's have step by step instructions on how to get to each part of the latop on their website. I've done it about a dozen times on half a dozen different models and it's not the worst job ever. Definitely have a large, clean workspace, and as you take stuff out, put it on sticky notes labeled clearly and you'll be fine.

I wouldn't attempt it if you cannot find the documentation for your machine though.

Good luck

[JustJon]

You haven't said what kind of laptop you have beyond it being an HP, but I would almost say just get a new laptop. It's not too hard to replace any parts in a laptop, but the cost differential probably isn't that much, and you may make up the difference putting the laptop on eBay "as is".

[Reephdweller]

Sorry here are the specs on it, it's a HP Pavilion DV6704NR Dual Core Laptop, I've seen it online for about $500 still so it may be worth it to plunk the $110 down and give it a shot.
HP Pavilion DV6704NR Dual Core Laptop Computer

http://ak.buy.com/db_assets/large_images/407/208353407.jpg


160 GB hard drive
15.4-inch widescreen display
Windows Vista Home Premium
AMD Athlon 64 X2 TK-57
2 GB DDR2 SDRAM (supports up to 4 GB)
DVD±RW DL LightScribe drive
NVIDIA GeForce Go 7150M graphics
Integrated audio with built-in Altec Lansing speakers
56k modem
Integrated 10/100BASE-T Ethernet
Integrated 802.11b/g Wireless LAN
Built-in 5-in-1 digital media card reader
Keyboard with TouchPad
15.4-inch WXGA High-Definition BrightView LCD (1280 x 800)

[boosterp]

I'd certainly do it; for one it will be a learning experience and two it will extend the life of the lappy until you are ready for a new one. Plus, if you screw up you are not out a ton of money and still have all your data on the hard drive.

[Chip196]

Here's a link to the manual for that machine.

Component Replacement Procedures begins on Page 45.
Replacing the system board begins on Page 82.

read through this to determine if you want to try it. (http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01295877.pdf)

[Reephdweller]

Here's a link to the manual for that machine.

Component Replacement Procedures begins on Page 45.
Replacing the system board begins on Page 82.

read through this to determine if you want to try it. (http://h10032.www1.hp.com/ctg/Manual/c01295877.pdf)


That is awesome, thank you. I may just give this a try.

[Chip196]

That is awesome, thank you. I may just give this a try.

No problem ... seriously make sure you have PLENTY of room to work and label EVERYTHING and you should be fine. Let us know how it goes. Good luck!

[EastBay.CTS]

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/DocumentIndex.jsp?lang=en&cc=us&taskId=101&prodClassId=-1&contentType=SupportManual&docIndexId=64179&prodTypeId=321957&prodSeriesId=3632100

HP DV 6700 or DV6740 series laptops - HP laptop repair manuals here - HP technical manuals here

Go down to the third section called "Service and maintenance information"
and download the .pdf file . . .
You can get any technical repair manual from this site for Compaq or HP.
Just follow the directions to the letter, and no problem, it will work.

[OGC]

Just a thought but maybe you could set up a video camera on a tripod to record the disassembly and an oral description of what you are doing. Then if you have any questions when putting it back together, just watch the video.

[KC2OSO]

I'd certainly do it; for one it will be a learning experience and two it will extend the life of the lappy until you are ready for a new one. Plus, if you screw up you are not out a ton of money and still have all your data on the hard drive.
Great point. If you can afford to do it, then why not. It will be a good learning experience. Sounds like you are out of warranty. I agree it's a shame to let an old friend die like that.

I hope it really is the mobo. You sure that's is? It may well be but it seems like a pretty general diagnosis.

One thing you might do before you break the whole thing down is, after you get the cover off, re-seat as many of the connectors as you can get to, including the memory, hd, etc., and try a boot. Something may have wiggled loose.

Somebody recently gave me a Dell that they dropped and cracked the shell. Got a new shell off ePay and dug right in. Basically a full transplant. What I learned in addition to all of the good advice above:


Try to do the swap in one sitting. If you take it apart one day and try to reassemble it some other time, you might forget miss something/lose parts/etc.. Mine took about 2 to 3 hours.
Take pictures as you pull the thing apart. You may need them later.
Get a good Phillips screwdriver with a fine point if you don't already have one.
Keep very good track of which screws come from where as others have said - maybe have some Dixie cups around to organize them or bag and tag the screws. You may wind up with 20 screws or more.
I wound up with one extra. Fuck it.
Don't drink (too much) while doing this.
Don't force anything. Disassemble connectors by the connector. Try not to pull on wires to get a connection undone. If something won't come apart, you may have missed a screw. Take your time. Have fun.


I love the way a lap CPU is cooled. Silly but it works.

Good luck! :thumbup: