Breakdown of XPS L702x w/ Cleaning & Repaste

As some of you know, I have just done a recent trade-in for my XPS for an Alienware, since Dell does not produce XPS and up leveled laptops. I was requested by a member (Bubloo) to make this teardown and repaste for members who are either not under warranty any longer, or members who do not want to deal with horrible Dell service techs (remember, you always have the option of DIY'ing your laptop, just takes persistence, or else you'd end up like me.... with a dead laptop for almost 3 weeks!). Please keep in mind, I am no professional computer builder, but I am a technician for a living and all the machines I have worked on have never had any heating complaints so far . Feel free to make any comments along the way, and I will put you in the 2nd post wherever deemed plausible!

P.S. I also forgot, the teardown literally took me 10-15 minutes of time. So don't fret if you think this is time consuming! It's actually a lot less screws than I thought it would have. I also reccomend categorizing screws from steps you've used to take the laptop apart, so that there is no confusion and every screw is put back! I also used larged pictures for easy detailing and labeling of parts needed to be removed, it was taken on my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone, so forgive me if the pictures aren't up to par like regular camera's

Dont forget to READ, READ, and REREAD before attempting to take apart your laptop, I am not responsible for anything bad that happens to your laptop, I would be more than happy to help troubleshoot whatever is broken and try to help you fix it, because let's face it. Sh*t happens . I will however be more than happy to do the repairs for you for a small price if you feel uncomfortable doing this, we can discuss this in PM if anyone is interested.

Here goes:

Find a newspaper or static free bags (try to hesitate from using towels as towels contain static cling, damaging the board with static if something happens). I used two old Vietnamese magazines that just happened to lay around. Take your laptop, flip it on its lid, and let's begin the dissection!



Start by taking 6 screws out of the laptop, all 6 are labeled on this picture (sorry for the sideways picture, have no idea why imageshack decided to get retarded and upload sideways).



Take out the battery (I'm sure if you're taking apart the laptop, you should know how to take out the battery), and unscrew these two screws located under the battery.



Take out these 5 screws located in these area's, don't forget the 4 screws to take the hdd's out! (I didn't include the HDDs as the technician had accidentally taken the HDDs and Ram sticks and put them in the shipping box to send back to Dell, sorry guys!). If you have a hard time removing HDD1, my only tip is to slide it all the way back, then pull from the SATA connector end upwards, and then slowly slide the harddrive off. Some patience on this part will help you get that harddrive out in no time!



After you have taken the 5 screws out, you can start taking the DVD/Blu-ray Drive out!, just take your hands, put it between the wedge and pull the drive out. Underneath the drive, (pointed in the picture) is three screws that need removing.



Now here's the tricky part, underneat HDD1, you'll see a black square tab, try to pry and poke it, to initiate the popping process of the palmrest bezel. Within the next 3 pictures, I cannot stress enough to try to be gentle, yet a little rough while pulling it up. If you want to use a screwdriver, then take the screwdriver's end up with clear tape or painter's tape, so that you do not scratch and damage the palmrest. It will click open and sound like you broke something, but you really didn't, so don't be afraid!









At this part, pull the two tabs upwards, I will demonstrate how it looks so you get the gist of how it looks when opening the tabs in the next three pictures.









Once again, I do not know why the stupid imageshack did it again! Sorry guys. At this point, you have 5 screws under the bezel, get to work and unscrew it! Since you are at your halfway point, i'd like to add, that you should group together the screws, in the order of how I pictured them, that way you know how many, and what type of screws go back into the laptop! It would suck if you had to unscrew everything back to scratch, to get the screw that was suppose to go in part 1! So keep track of everything in each step, as I've stressed this in the very beginning of this tutorial!



At this part, start unscrewing the VGA cable's ground, and pry the keyboard out, there's no honest pretty way to do it, so I just gently, but assuringly attempted to pry the laptop's keyboard somewhere in the middle (so that it would unpinch itself from the hinge on the left side and rightside of the keyboard. If anyone has a better method, please let me know, so we can help other users get this out. By the way, after reinstallation, there was no flex on the keyboard, so dont be worried about keyboard flex if you have to bend it a little bit to get it out!



Taking the keyboard off, keep note that there are two tabs underneat, DO NOT PULL THE KEYBOARD OFF RIGHT AWAY, make sure you unhook these two tabs like in the previous one with the mousepad and (i'm assuming) light for the mousepad.



Attached here is a picture to remind you of what it looks like when popping the tabs.



Here's the tricky part, and don't forget that screw all the way on the right! You have 6 screws in this section, make sure to catch it all and put'em in place!



Right here is the Speaker cable, my only reccomendation here, is to not pull by the wire, DO NOT PRY by the top, and that if you have the tools, use either a needle nose plier to pull from the two sides (a trick my dad taught me) OR two flat heads, one on each side to pull the connector out.



For the wifi card, unplug the wire by just popping it upwards, and like how the ram sticks come out, you simply just push the wifi cards upwards, and pull it out.



For the VGA cable, DO NOT pull by the cable, pull by the blue tab provided, there is a reason where that tab/tape is there! Providing picture below, just for reference .





Here's a picture with it removed, for reference.



At this part, you have 4 screws, remove them and you can lift the screen off! (don't forget that before you lift the screen, you remove the wlan wires and VGA cable from the tabs holding them to the bezel).



Almost forgot! Don't forget to remove the subwoofer lead, or else you'd be without a subwoofer! (Yikes) Remove with the same method as the speaker wires above!



Ready for liftoff! Pretty simple at this step, right? RIIIIIIGHT



Remove the Fan wires right here, removal process of this is just like the subwoofer lead and the speaker wire leads, just use a tweezer to the connector, or two flatheads on the sides. DO NOT do a prying motion to get it out, as you damage the housing.



Remove two screws to remove fan (run an air duster can to the fans in there and clean out the dust, I had no dust because this was a completely new fan).



Remove these screws in the orders of 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, making around (i'd give a good guestimate of) 3 full rotations on each screw until you've completely unscrews the whole thing. The reason for this is so that you do not flex the heatsink, causing damage to any of the heatsinks and housing!



Here's the fun part!, gather your rubbing alcohol and cotton swabs and let's begin the cleaning fun!



As you can see, the tech SLATHERED on the CPU paste, it was smeared up everywhere which isn't good, you're suppose to actually keep it clean (this might look clean on this end, but on the heatsink is the world's biggest slob of heatsink compound, one that I paid $25 for the tube and he just wasted a quarter of the tube slathering it on the CPU =\..... Will never let a tech take care of my laptop again).



Clean the GPU up too! (see all that goo everywhere? looks like utter crap, he squirted another quarter of my tube up all on the GPU also) *no comment*



See the big chunk of paste on the top right? that's WAAAAAAAAY to much heatsink compound, stupid tech! I could scrape that off like peanut butter! As for the left one, most of it was on the GPU! Never suppose to slather on this much paste people!!



Okay people, this is literally how much you use! My spreading skills weren't going so well this day, because my house was really cold (70C), the thermal paste seemed like it was near the end of its shelf life as it was get too thick and pasty, and I was out on the tube (thanks mr tech!). Literaly a drop, then you spread it out evenly, with a card or spreading card.



Once again, just a drop, you dont need much.... you're trying to make as much quick contact between the CPU and the heatsink, the paste is just to fill in unfinished gaps, REMEMBER THAT! Just a drop .



Here's with it spread (using my fingers, sorry... It's not perfect, but it will suffice for a tutorial)



This one looked more promising, although a spreading card should be used to make nice, even spreads on the chip!



Here's the optional vent you can remove (it's stuck on like a sticker). It gives more airflow to the fans but does allow dust to get in there a lot easier. Do this at your own risk, when you're out of warranty, as I am not 100% positive, but it may void warranty.

 

*Reserved for plausible insight from other members*

Thanks for pointing this out, as it's a great point! higher alcohol content is better, as it's exactly how you've described! And thanks for telling people the location of this stuff!

 

Great guide gok, clear and concise

 

Thanks Sam! Hopefully this helps other members take their laptops apart with minimal casualties.... I've seen people attempt their own DIY, I ended up having to replace motherboards (HP's and Compaq's).

 

Wow, this is amazing, pretty descriptive and loads of pictures

Next will, i will thoroughly clean this baby, any compound or cloth recommendations for cleaning purposes? I dont have canned air will use bare hands and cloth only

 

Nice guide!

I've previously removed the fan vent and TBH, I'm not sure if it does a whole lot but it makes me feel better about the cooling!

And yes, I can't believe how poorly the paste is applied in these machines (straight from the factory and local techs)

 

Use cottonball and alcohol, refrain from using cloths, unless they're anti-static cloths. Usually MOST cloths are static-clingy. You dont want to damage anything through static. Very costly

If you don't have cottonballs in your area, aim for cotton swabs, if no cotton swabs, I'd reccomend a last resort as some toilet paper... try to use the less fluffy toilet paper though, if that's is your last resort. Also remember, when cleaning, really soak your paper or cottonball up with alcohol, as alcohol repels away static

You won't believe how uneducated some of these techs are. I am absolutely apalled at how something so simple can be screwed up by someone who's one of many main JOBs is to apply thermal pasting. It's as if they went to school for nothing =\.

 

Sorry, but what sort of alcohol are we talking about here??

I will use cotton but not sure about the alcohol

 

Isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol just like you use to clean wounds. You can buy it at any pharmacy.

Personally, I prefer to use the 91% vs the 70% in gokou's picture. It's a little harder to find but I feel it works better as a solvent and evaporates faster.

Gokou: congrats on the replacement lappy (sounds like you earned it) and thanks for the guide.

 

Right on the dot! Thanks for taking the words right out of my mouth Kevin! Fortunately, that bottle is filled with 91%+ alcohol (one of my family members owns a nail supply store, so I get the hookup!)

As for the laptop replacement, thank you! If there's anything else i'm missing Kevin, please let me know! Will put your input in Post #2

 

will go to the pharmacy and look for isopropyl

 

will go to the pharmacy and look for isopropyl

 

So, I'm curious, did the updating of the thermal paste increase your performance? Specifically did it decrease the operating temperatures? While idling, or surfing the web, my L702X reaches insanely hot temperatures of 75C, and has reached 88C while playing Guild Wars 2. Dell has had it in their shop twice, replaced the motherboard, heat sink, and fan 3 times now (both at different times and 1 time all at once) and never been able to solve the heat issue. It seems that they are just ok with it being hot enough to fry an egg on...

Other than the heat (and once the touch-screen was replaced with a non-touchable screen) the laptop has been a great laptop, but for me to keep the laptop past it's warranty I need to find a solution to this heat issue (aside from "not running programs that cause it to heat up" as suggested by a dell rep) So I'm curious as to the difference this has made?

 

Sorry I did not answer back so quickly. My laptop was a dud, it was a dead unit so I could not test. I can't guarantee you, but I'm pretty sure with a good thermal pasting, you will achieve 3-5C difference in heat. Please dont expect this stuff to be AMAZING, as temps can only go so low as there's more contributions other than that. I was offered a different laptop, you might get lucky and have the same, as Dell CAN NOT deny us the right to use our laptops to our heart's content. I've dealt with overheating issue 3 times before a tech fried my CPU (you can refer back to this a few pages back in the L702x thread) and then I was offered a better laptop (I'd reccomend addressing this to Mourin via PM).

Either way, with a GOOD thermal paste, you honestly can't go wrong at all.... So far the only amazing product I've come across (without testing, but I will in one year with my Alienware) IC Diamond Thermal Compound.

IC Diamond Thermal Compound Review - Hardware Canucks

The one I used in this tutorial was Arctic MX-3 or MX-5, that stuff's damn good too! In an Core Duo Intel chip I managed to take temps of 55C down to 45C with the Arctic stuff, this was only factored because the factory chip had horrible pasting. So don't expect 10C decreased results.

 

I would also like to add a video for reference for everyone to go by! Here's a PERFECT example of the many ways you can spread thermal pasting... Just keep in mind that our MOBILE chips are like, 1/4th of the size of those DESKTOP CPU's.

How Thermal Compound Spreads - YouTube

 

Man. Those 3 screws that are near the cd.....the 3rd one wouldn't come out and now the top of the screw is all messed up and now I can't unscrew it even if I have the right head! arghhhhhh

 

OUCH (( any idea how to remove the old thermal compound? Is it removable using the the isopropyl alcholol? or something else is also required

 

Thanks for the step by step instructions. You asked for other methods to remove the keyboard, I have one. Simply lift the keyboard at the top near each corner, then you simply slide the keyboard up until the left and right tabs are clear of the frame. Thanks again.

 

Registered on the site just to say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. It was a long process but this guide got me through it