How the heck do you open the case of the 1410?

Ok, so I decided to give the PLL mod a try so I can overclock to 1.7GHz in my 1410. I got ahold of a soldering iron and an old motherboard that I practiced on, and it doesn't seem too bad once you get the hang of it.

Now that I've decided to go ahead, I try to take the case of my Aspire 1410 apart, and with all the screws removed, hard drive, memory, wireless card, I can pry the front of the case open ok, but as I get near the back (fan exhaust one side and lock/ethernet other) It seems locked in place somehow and don't want to break anything.

Is there a guide or service manual or something?

Thanks.

 

I suppose you didn't remove the keyboard? There are scews underneath. There is a dissassembly guide in Timeline Tweaks. But a strong advice, if you are not 100% sure you shouldn't attempt to solder yourself. Practicing on an old motherboard won't help, because on that Acer mobo is the tiniest stuff you could imagine. I mean _really tiny_.

 

Alright, I guess I'll have to just let it be and hope I find someone eventually that'll do the mod for me. I don't want to fubar it. I toyed with some pretty tiny components, and hoped those weren't the size of the ones in there, but apparently they are (or worse!)

 

everything in life, someone has to make the first leap. i'd say go for it hywingnunt. lol i'll cheer you on!

 

Thanks, but will you front me $400 if I fubar.

 

Err, why do you want to take the whole laptop apart? You can leave RAM, HDD, etc, inside. Just take off the palm rest, do PLL mod and put it back together. No need to take it all apart.
1. Unplug from power, take out battery.
2. Remove ALL screws on bottom (leave ones that hold HDD and RAM covers)
3. Use small screw driver to push on small black locks that are right at the top of the keyboard. There is 3 of them. Press on one and then slide credit card to lift keyboard a bit and then press on the other 2. Keyboard should snap off.
4. Disconnect keyboard from motherboard (the small black lock should be carefully lifted)
5. Disconnect touchpad from motherboard.
6. Remove ALL screws that you see.
7. Carefully lift palmrest off the base.
8. Et viola!

Now you can cover screen with some newspaper to protect it from bits of hot solder. And do the mod!
Right after the mod, simply place palmrest back, connect touchpad and keyboard, connect power cable, turn on the laptop and see if mod worked (don't forget to quit RMClock)!
If everything is fine, turn off laptop and assemble it back. If something went wrong, well, either try again, or solder it back and call Acer saying "my computer stopped working"

Also, if you haven't already done so you can check out the photo of the finished mod here

Anyway, good luck and don't chicken out! It is worth it! Just remember not to keep the SMD on the soldering iron for too long so that you don't fry it and DO NOT BREATHE on the thing. It will blow it away so easy!

PS: You should probably do hardware undervolting mod too since you are there! It is much easier too.

 

Ok, thanks so much for the info!

I need to find some much smaller wire too. Probably would have found that out once I got in there. Not sure where I can get it, but I'll find something. Radio Shack is good for stuff like that. Or I can strip apart some old computer peripherals and see if I can salvage something.

How come everyone is in a different country that has done this. Nobody in the US?

If I mailed this to you would you do it for me? Looks like I can get a flat rate box shipped for $13. I would pay for round trip and a little extra for your efforts! Check your PM please.

 

once i get mine, i will be more than happy to do this mod to mine. i love tinkering with stuff that ain't broke! . i'll post my results whether it's bork or successful

 

Ugh! Well, I have a not success but not catastrophe (yet). All was going well. I got the SMD free by poking at it with the soldering iron, and holding it with fine tipped tweezers. Well, you'll never guess what happened! I friggin SNEEZED! I felt it coming a split second ahead, so I pulled the iron away and did my best to steady my tweezer hand. I looked down and the SMD was GONE! I was working on a hard clean surface too and it is nowhere to be found.

I thought, what the heck, I put it back together, and the laptop seems to work fine.

What's the worse that can happen now?

One other thing though, is that my chip is not listed in SetFSB. Mine is:

ICS 9LPRS365BKL

 

LOL

S* happens
Don't worry about the lost resistor. Inteks had a great idea for a better MOD. He suggested to get rid of that resistor and connect the two test point pads. You should drop him a PM and ask if he measured the other resistor yet and if he did try the MOD. That clock generator is the one I have too. ICS9LPRS365BGLF works in SetFSB.

 

LOL...

I thought about just connecting the two pads directly too, because, what did I have to lose? Then I thought as long as the laptop still works. At least I can wait for him to let me know if it's a go or not. Now it should be pretty straight forward. LOL.

You are right though, those components are SMALL But the ones I practiced with were about that small, a little bigger maybe. Hardest part was focusing to see what I was doing. I don't have a magnifier or anything.

Thanks for the tip though.

And @ prikolchik - for the keyboard, I had four tabs on top and one on the right side, otherwise directions were very good, thanks.

 

Is it hard to open up the keypad?

I will be getting my AS1410 next week and I want to put in the Bluetooth module I bought from ebay.

 

No, once you figure it out, it's not too bad. I used a flat head screwdriver, pushed in one of the tab locks and pulled the keyboard up at the sametime. Then used a credit card to wedge in there to hold it up and slid it along to each lock until they were all up.

First lock is a little tricky. After that not too bad.

Although doesn't the BT module go underneath where the RAM is at? Maybe not, I didn't bother to check.

 

I read the tab locks is 4 at the bottom and 2 on the side?

The tab lock is easy to see?

Just push it in?

 

Well, they're both black, so use good lighting so you can see them. You need two very fine tipped (i.e. thin) flat head screwdrivers to make it easy. One to push in the tab, the other to lift the keyboard. Once you get one popped, either run your other screwdriver or a credit card along the way, and each tab you push in the keyboard should just pop up at that location.

 

OK, I will look for it.

Did you put a bluetooth module on it?

 

No, no bluetooth. No need at the moment.

 

htwingnut, which micro soldering iron did you use and where did you buy it? i have one but it's too long and big. the only micro ones i've found costs over $100. seems kind of costly for me to just do this simple mod.

 

I just bought a cheap one from Micro Center ($15 I think) that had interchangeable tips and borrowed one from a friend. It was still probably a bit big, but as long as the tip could touch the pad, I was good.

 

Did you leave any scare or bent mark anywhere?

I think I am going to put in a 500gb hd and the BT module to get it over with all at the same time.

 

I give up!

I opened up the case again. Thanks to Inteks for trialing it with removing R146 and connecting direct to the pad next to R147. It worked for him. But I don't have a steady enough hand or the right tools. Hopefully I can find someone to do the mod for me so I can overclock. I don't understand why manufacturers have to lock it like that. OH well.

 

yes really small this pads. i needed also the right tools first

http://www.reichelt.de/?;ACTION=3;LA=0;GROUPID=4138;ARTICLE=88366;APE=0

this one does the trick..... 2x for soldering and the 4x for check that everything is ok. with led light ! really a nize tool

 

You guys

As a TV Tech who repairs loads of TV's on a daily basis...who can solder properly....right tools etc...and Eighteen years experience

Working with SMD devices is a no go area for me. SMD's are NOT meant to be changed or replaced. Even for me, it's a no go area.....

Unless, a hot air soldering station is at my disposal. Otherwise, everything ends up in one hellava mess.

And even with a hot air station, it's still a risky affair.

That's why my Acer is stock standard still after 3 years. And totally reliable and good to last another 3 years at least

 

Did you test the notebook with setfsb after you lost the resistor?

Might be worth doing.

I remember when I did my PLL mod I had some problems too.
First I just took a breath, then as I exhaled the small resistor went flying.
Took me a solid 5 mins to find it.

My hands were shaking, I didn't have the right tools. But I had a lot of practise (never through away any old computer stuff just for this reason alone).

Then after the mod, I got a black screen and the notebook wouldn't boot.

Turned out that I didn't do a good job with the solder and there was no signal to the TME pin.

I tried it again and it finally worked.

That is why I test my work with a DMM every time I try something just so I dont have this problem again (though I did recently short out a motherboard because I was too lazy to test with a DMM before I turned it on).

Good luck with it.

 

I made the mod with my ancient 40W iron with an ordinary tip that I grinded a bit thinner. If I had a good cam I would make a photo of it. You would LYAO

 

i used this one ->
http://www.reichelt.de/?;ACTION=3;L...wQARoAAEFyW@E1049f5dcfe87b314d0e32bc5365fbcfd

a bit of something called entlötlitze to remove the resistor

and a bit luck