Compaq Armada M700: How to Disassemble a Laptop Completely

The System

  I think it's best to start with a few words about the system itself. In this Compaq Armada M700 works a Pentium II processor with 366 MHz. It has 128 MB RAM, a DVD drive and a 14,1" display.

 

First Steps - Precautions

  It is really important to remove the battery and all other power connections. It is also a good idea to remove the DVD drive / floppy disk drive first. Mind that the notebook consists of various screws! Not every screw fits in every hole.

 

Laptop Disassembly

Laptop HDD

Removing the hard disk drive is really easy: Remove the single screw in the centre of the underside of the notebook and pull out the HDD. Ready.

Laptop Modem

  There are two screws at the left-hand side of the bottom of the notebook. Remove them and open the cover. Now you can easily remove the modem by lifting the one side of it, which was next to the HDD. Now pull out the two remaining wires and you're done.

 

 

Laptop Keyboard

  Removing the keyboard is easy, too. There are four little holders at the top of the keyboard (between ESC and F1, F6 and F7, F12 and PageUp, Ins and Del). Pull them back and you can lift the top of the keyboard. Be careful, there are two wires, which can easily be broken. You can remove them from the mainboard. Pull up the upper side of the plugs. They will take off a few millimetres, which will loosen the cables. Now you can remove the wires without any violence.

 

 

 

Laptop RAM

After removing the keyboard you can see the RAM. It's the green thing with black chips on it at the left side. You can lift up one side as shown in the picture. Now it's easy to remove the RAM.

Laptop Display

  There are four screws at the backside of the M700. - Remove them. Then fold up the notebook as far as possible. Now you can remove the plastic ledge between the display and the keyboard. There are three cables which go from the motherboard to the display. You can remove them by pulling the plug out of the mainboard. Now it is possible to pull the display out of the rest of the notebook.

Laptop Cover

  Under the plastic ledge you just removed are three screws. - Remove them. Then turn around the laptop and remove further six screws. Turn it around again and separate the upper part from the lower part of the case. The best place to do it is at the backside of the system. It is a bit fast, but it works. Be careful, there are four wires from the upper part to the lower part of the case. Don't damage them! You can easily pull them out. Now you divided the case of your notebook into two parts. Important: The little plastic cover of the infra-red adapter is loose now. Don't lose it!

 

 

 

 

 

Graphics Card

  The graphics card is the thing which is wrapped into black tape at the centre of the mainboard. Just pull it up. That's it!

Mainboard

Removing the mainboard is a bit more complicated. First: disconnect the cable you see in the hole, where the modem was put in.

Remove the upper RAM bank by pulling it up and remove the screw underneath it.

Remove all eight screws from the backside of the notebook. Use pliers.

Disconnect the cable near the USB port.

Remove the screw near the USB port and remove the small part of the mainboard which provides the TV-Out ports and the USB port.

Remove the two screws at the left and right side of the PCMCIA ports. Remove the remaining screws which hold the mainboard.

Grab the serial port at the backside of the notebook and lift it up. There is a connector which will loose.

  Now you can pull out the mainboard.

Removing the CPU Cooler

  Disconnect the plug near the RAM banks. Turn around the mainboard and remove the three screws underneath the CPU. Get rid of the triangle, too. Don't lose the wearing parts underneath the screws! Now you can remove the whole CPU cooler including the fan. Don't touch the white thermal compound, which is applied to the CPU. If you want to open the cooler, just loose the screws.

 

 

Put the Laptop Together Again

You disassembled your notebook successfully, now you can put it together on your own. The photos on this site might help you. Remember: Violence is not necessary and there are several kinds of screws. Good luck!

Other Resources

• Here are some more COMPAQ laptop and notebook repair guides.

Disclaimer and Copyright

Warning: These instructions are given without any warranty. They don't have to be complete or correct. Don't do any of the following steps if you're not sure of what you're doing. You could damage your laptop and you WILL lose your warranty. Everything you do will be at your own risk.

All the pictures and explanations are a courtesy of Michael Kupsch.