How to disassemble Dell Inspiron Laptops

In this guide I explain how to disassemble a Dell Inspiron N4010 laptop.
My goal is removing and replacing the hard drive.
Dell Inspiron N4010 laptop doesn’t have easy access to the hard drive. It’s mounted deep inside the laptop under the motherboard.
In order to remove and replace the hard drive I’ll have to disassemble the entire laptop and remove the motherboard.
In this guide I’ll go through the following major disassembly steps:
STEP 1-3: Accessing laptop memory and removing laptop DVD drive.
STEP 4-11: Disconnecting and removing laptop keyboard.
STEP 12-15: Removing top cover assembly.
STEP 16-18: Disconnecting and removing laptop cooling fan.
STEP 19-23: Removing laptop motherboard and hard drive.

If you need to remove and replace the LCD screen, check out my second guide for Dell Inspiron n4010 laptop.
STEP 1.
First of all make sure the laptop is turned off.
Unlock and remove the battery.

STEP 2.
Remove one screw securing the memory cover.
Lift up and remove the cover.

STEP 3.
Remove one screw securing the DVD drive.
Pull the DVD drive from the laptop and remove it.

STEP 4.
Remove two screws securing the keyboard on the bottom of the laptop.

On the front side the keyboard secured by three plastic tabs.

STEP 5.
Insert a thin object (I’m using plastic stick) between the keyboard and top cover assembly.
Slide the keyboard towards the touchpad about 1-2 millimeters.

STEP 6.
Lift up the keyboard.
Continue removing the keyboard with your fingers.

STEP 7.
Carefully lift up the top side of the keyboard and move the keyboard towards the screen.

STEP 8.
Now you can access the keyboard cable connector.

STEP 9.
Before you pull the cable it’s necessary to unlock the connector.
Lift up the left side of the retainer with your finger nail. The retainer will open up at a 90 degree angle.

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

STEP 11.
Remove the keyboard.
If you need a new replacement keyboard for your Dell Inspiron N4010 laptop it’s available here.

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

STEP 13.
Disconnect the power button board cable (1) and touchpad cable (2).

Use same technique as for disconnecting the keyboard cable. Unlock the connector and pull the cable.

STEP 14.
Start separating the top cover assembly from the bottom case. I’m using the guitar pick for that.

STEP 15.
Remove the top cover assembly.

Here’s the bottom side of the top cover assembly.
Here you can access the power button board and touchpad.

When the top cover removed you can get access to the following internal laptop components:
- Cooling fan.
- Wireless card.
- Bluetooth card.
- CMOS battery.

STEP 16.
Disconnect the I/O board cable from the motherboard.

STEP 17.
Remove two screws securing the cooling fan.
Unplug the cooling fan cable from the motherboard.

STEP 18.
Remove the cooling fan.
If you need a new replacement fan for Dell Inspiron N4010 laptop it’s available here.

STEP 19.
Disconnect the following cables from the motherboard:
- Video cable (1).
- DC jack cable (2).
- Speaker cable (3).

The video cable connected the same way as the keyboard cable.
Unlock the connector and pull the cable from the connector.

STEP 20.
Carefully lift up the right side of the motherboard and separate it from the daughter card.

STEP 21.
Remove the motherboard from the laptop.

On the following picture you can see the laptop base without motherboard installed.

STEP 22.
Turn the motherboard upside down.
Now you can access and remove the hard drive.
Remove two screws securing the hard drive assembly to the motherboard.

STEP 23.
Remove the hard drive assembly.
Now the hard drive is ready for the replacement.