MyComputingArt

Opening notebook Toshiba Satellite Pro SP4270

Introduction

The CPU fan of my old notebook, a 2000 Toshiba Satellite Pro SP4270, stopped working: cpu and motherboard temperatures raised above 70�C and 60�C, while they usually were about 40-45�C and rarely reached 50�C.
The most likely cause is dust on the fan, so I decided to open the notebook to make some cleaning.

Steps

Here are the steps to dismount the notebook:

Unscrew all the bottom and side screws; near each screw there's a number which identifies the type of screw; it's a good idea to group the screws with the same number and write down that number, to make the remounting process easier.
Remove the hard disk from the right side unscrewing the metal safe and pulling the tongue with a little bit of strength: the HDD must unplug from EIDE connector.
Gently detach the narrow plastic panel near the keyboard with a screwdriver, then unscrew and remove the strip of metal (see 2nd, 3rd and 4th pictures).
After doing that, remove the keyboard: two openings in the plastic will show the internal hardware and will allow the fingers to reach the keyboard and display plugs.
Unplug the keyboard cable pulling the little white plastic head just to release the cable; to unplug the display just pull the cable through the other opening.
Then remove the upper half of the notebook, the one with the display attached; the motherboard, cd, modem, PCMCIA reader and floppy will be uncovered.
At this point I unscrewed the fan duct from the motherboard and I used an air compressor to clean it from the dust.

I also caught the opportunity to clean the keyboard under the keys, which you can imagine how much dust was hiding after 8 years of use; so I took away every single key, pulling it towards left and then towards right. Removing and cleaning the keys is quite risky, in fact a key has broken in two parts while cleaning it, and another one lost one of the plastic pins that fasten the key to its support. I had to use some glue to repair them, and the one without the pins now is loose; fortunately it's the Fn key, which I seldom use.

Pictures

Inside 199.87 KB	Mounting kbd 263.38 KB	Mounting kbd 233.73 KB	Mounting kbd 224.08 KB	Kbd slot 181.34 KB	With cover 207.74 KB
Opening 213.68 KB	Opening 200.65 KB	Opening 209.32 KB	With fan 263.37 KB	Detail 263.73 KB	Detail 304.76 KB
Without fan 286.99 KB	Celeron 500 229.10 KB	Fan 213.08 KB	Fan exhaust 130.31 KB	Monitor 200.67 KB	Naked kbd 224.22 KB	Keys 226.87 KB