How to disassemble Dell Inspiron

1420 or Vostro 1400

In this guide I explain how to disassemble a Dell Inspiron 1420 or Dell Vostro
1400 laptop.
I will completely disassemble it and show how to remove the motherboard.
Dell Inspiron 1420 is very similar to Dell Vostro 1400. If there are any
differences, they should be very minor.
Before you start, make sure the laptop is turned off and battery removed.
STEP 1.
Loosen eight screws securing the hard drive, memory and heat sink covers.
Remove all three covers.

STEP 2.
Lift up the hard drive assembly by the black tab to disconnect it from the
motherboard.
Remove the hard drive assembly.

STEP 3.
The hard drive connected to the laptop motherboard via connector.
Dell Inspiron 1420/Vostro 1400 uses a regular 2.5 SATA hard drive.

STEP 4.
Both memory modules can be accessed on the bottom.
Remove both memory modules.
Dell Inspiron 1420/Vostro 1400 can handle up to 4GB RAM. You can install
up to 2GB RAM module into each slot.
You should use PC2-5300 DDR2 or faster DDR2 memory modules.

STEP 5.
Remove one screw securing the DVD drive.
Pull the DVD drive to the left and remove it.

STEP 6.
Loosen four screws securing the CPU heat sink.

STEP 7.
Carefully lift up the heat sink and remove it from the motherboard. If the heat
sink is clogged with dust you can clean it with compressed air.
NOTE: before installing the heat sink back on the motherboard dont forget to
apply new thermal grease on the CPU.
After the heat sink is removed, you can access and remove the CPU
(processor).

In the following six steps I explain how to remove the keyboard.

If you just replacing the keyboard, its not necessary to go though all previous
steps.
STEP 8.
Carefully lift up the right side of the keyboard cover with a screwdriver.
Continue removing the keyboard cover with your fingers.

STEP 9.
Remove two screws securing the keyboard.

STEP 10.
Lift up the keyboard so you can access the cable connector underneath.
You can remove the keyboard only after the connector is unlocked and cable
released.

STEP 11.
In order to unlock the connector lift up the right side of the blue locking tab at
a 90 degree angle.

STEP 12.
On the following picture the keyboard connector shown in the unlocked
position.
Now you can pull the cable from the connector.

STEP 13.
Remove the keyboard.

In the following eight steps I explain how to remove the display

assembly.
STEP 14.
Remove two screws securing display hinges on the bottom.

STEP 15.
Remove two screws securing display hinges on the back.

STEP 16.
Lift up and remove both hinge covers.

STEP 17.
Lift up and unplug the video cable connector from the motherboard.

STEP 18.
Remove one screw securing the 7-button board and remove the board.
You do not remove the board completely, you just put it aside so you can
remove the wireless card antenna cables.

STEP 19.
Disconnect both wireless card antenna cables from the wireless card.

STEP 20.
Now you can remove one screw securing the wireless card and pull it from the
slot (optional step).

STEP 21.
Lift up and remove the display assembly.
In order to remove the LCD screen you can follow this Dell Inspiron
1520/Vostro 1500 guide.
Its a different model but LCD screen removal steps should be very similar.

By the way, the screen can be removed and replaced while the display still
attached to the laptop base.

In the next eight steps I explain how to disassemble the base and
remove the motherboard.
STEP 22.
Remove all remaining screws from the bottom.

STEP 23.
Remove three screws securing the top cover assembly.

STEP 24.
Lift up and remove the top cover assembly.

STEP 25.
In order to remove the motherboard, youll have to remove the modem card
first.

Remove one screw securing the modem card, disconnect modem cable from
the left side and remove the modem.
By the way, the CMOS battery is hidden under the modem.

STEP 26.
Remove three screws securing the motherboard.
Disconnect three cables.

STEP 27.

Carefully lift up the motherboard.

There is one more cable on the bottom which has to be disconnected.

STEP 28.
Remove the motherboard.

STEP 29.
On the other side of the motherboard you can access and remove the cooling
fan.

Simply remove two screws securing the fan, disconnect the cable and remove
the fan.