How to disassemble Asus Laptops

In this guide I explain how to diassemble an Asus K53U laptop.
I’ll go though the following major laptop disassembly steps:
STEP 1-4: Accessing and removing laptop memory, hard drive, DVD drive and wireless card.
STEP 5-11: Disconnecting and removing the keyboard.
STEP 12-16: Removing the palmrest assembly. Accessing the CMOS battery.
STEP 17-21: Disconnecting and removing the motherboard.
STEP 22-24: Accessing and removing laptop cooling fan and DC power jack harness.

By the way, in the second guide I’ll explain how to remove and replace Asus K53U laptop screen.
OK. Let’s take it apart. Make sure the laptop is turned off before you start.
STEP 1.
Unlock and remove the battery.

STEP 2.
Remove two screws securing the hard drive and memory covers on the bottom of the laptop.

Under those covers you can get access to the hard drive, wireless card and two memory slots.
In my Asus K53U laptop I found only one memory module installed.
I’ll leave the wireless card and memory module connected to the motherboard.

STEP 3.
Slide the hard drive to the left to disconnect it from the motherboard.
Lift up and remove the hard drive.
Asus K53U has a regular 2.5″ SATA hard drive installed.

STEP 4.
Remove one screw securing the optical DVD drive.
Slide DVD drive to the left and remove it from the laptop.

STEP 5.
Remove two screws securing the keyboard on the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 6.
There are three spring loaded latches securing the keyboard on the top.

Push on the latch with a small screwdriver.
When the latch pushed in, the keyboard will lift up a little bit and the latch will not move back into the locked position.
Unlock all three latches.

STEP 7.
Now you should be able to lift up the upper side of the keyboard and turn it upside down on the palmrest.

STEP  8.
The keyboard connector has to be unlocked in order to release the cable.
In the following two steps I show how to unlock the connector and remove the cable.

STEP 9.
Carefully lift up the left side of the connector retainer with your fingernail.
The retainer will open up at a 90 degree angle.

STEP 10.
Now you can pull the cable from the connector.

STEP 11.
Remove the keyboard.
By the way, new replacement keyboards for Asus K53U laptops available here.

STEP 12.
Remove all marked screws from the bottom of the laptop.

STEP 13.
Remove three screws securing the palmrest assembly.
Disconnect the power button board cable (upper arrow) and touchpad cable (lower arrow) from the motherboard.
You’ll have to unlock the touchpad cable connector same way you unlocked the keyboard connector in steps 9-10.

Here’s how to unlock the power board cable connector and remove the cable.
Carefully slide the white cable retainer to the right about 1-2mm. Do not apply to much force! The retainer must remain attached to the connector base.

On the following picture the connector shown in the UNLOCKED position. As you see, the retainer still attached to the connector.
Now you can pull the cable from the connector.

STEP 14.
Start separating the palmrest assembly from the laptop bottom cover.

STEP 15.
Remove the palmrest assembly.

On the bottom part of the palmrest assembly you can access the power button board and touchpad.
NOTE: the left and right buttons are not part of the touchpad. In Asus K53U both touchpad buttons soldered to the motherboard (you can see them on the next picture).

STEP 16.
When the palmrest assembly removed you can access the CMOS battery.
It’s a regular coin battery which can be easily removed and replaced.

DISCONNECTING AND REMOVING THE MOTHERBOARD.

In order to remove the motherboard it’s necessary to disconnect the power jack cable and wireless antenna cables first.
STEP 17.
Unplug the power jack cable. This connector located on the bottom of the laptop close to the memory module.

STEP 18.
Disconnect both antenna cables from the wireless card.

STEP 19.
Remove one screw securing the motherboard.
Disconnect the video cable, speaker cable and USB board cable from the motherboard.

The speaker cable has a regular male-female connector. Unplug the speaker cable from the motherboard.

Unplug the USB board cable from the motherboard.

Lift up the video cable connector by the black belt on the top and disconnect it from the motherboard.

STEP 20.
Start removing the motherboard from the laptop bottom cover as it shown on the following picture.

STEP 21.
Remove the motherboard.

STEP 22.
The cooling fan is mounted on the bottom part of the motherboard.
Yes, it’s necessary to remove the whole motherboard in order to access and replace or clean up the cooling fan.
Disconnect three screws securing the fan to the motherboard.
Unplug the fan cable.

STEP 23.
Lift up and remove the cooling fan.
You can search for a new Asus K53U replacement fan here.

STEP 24.
The DC power jack harness mounted in the upper left corner of the laptop.
After the motherboard removed, the DC jack harness can be easily accessed and removed.
New DC power jack harnesses for Asus K53U laptops available here.