6860 is the devil - Was: Disassemble Guide

Ok i give up.

After attempting the disassemble of the 6860-FX for the past hour or more all i have managed to do was to break two of my lock tabs and make my speaker plate loose after putting the whole thing back together.

I think gateway puts these things together with black magic and hatred

I have never seen a computer so oddly pieced together.

I can get 3/4 of the base apart but then i get stuck at the speaker plate. It looks like it should just slid out (as the speakers look to be a separate plate) but i think i could have hooked my truck up to the thing and it wouldn't have pulled apart.

I want to freaking scream I'm so frustrated at the bloody thing.

I'm going to give Gateway a call and ask them for a guide. I'll have to figure out something though. I'll probably tell them that i need to clean out the system with air due to dust or that something is rattling around inside and i want to make it stop.

Or if anyone else has any ideas I'm willing to try them. I've already broken/scarred enough of the cover that I mine as well toss it down a flight of stairs and just get a warranty claim on it



There is a trick to taking this thing apart I'm sure, but at this point i'm at a loss as to what that trick is.

 

There was a person here who took his 6831FX apart...any1 remember his name?
I need to take my 6831 FX apart too

 

Rep'ed for your hard work. Thanks!

 

Well I'm now on my wifes desktop having successfully cracked my case. Luckily it still boots though so i can back everything else i need off of it up to my externals HD's.

I guess that was a waste of my time and of a perfectly good computer.

For a laptop that cuts corners by doing things like not bracing the screen and what not, they did a really good job of making the 6860 a virtual fortress of unassembly-ness.

Sorry everyone.

Now i have to figure out how I'm going to convince my wife to let me get another lappy since my retarded arse destroyed this one.

I'm going to try and see if i can sweet talk my friend at best buy and see if she'll just "accept" that the laptop was dropped. But somehow i doubt that will work

If not though i'll bring it back home and save up for the next one and just finish ripping this one apart and try to reverse engineer how its "supposed" to come apart...because obviously doing what looks normal is completely wrong

 

My P-6831FX also is in bad shape. I left it in a laptop suitcase and a screw was sticking out a little and started to scratch the sides of my laptop.

Now, both sides of the laptop are scratched up and the screw managed to pry part of my speaker cover off. Now that it is snapped back into place, the cover is looser on one side than the other.

I've had my fun with a big and powerful notebook, I think I'm going Lenovo for their stronger laptops.

 

well u get what you pay for...and to be perfectly honest these are not expensive laptops for whats included in them.

 

Ouch. Sorry about your laptop . I hope you can get them to exchange it!

 

You should have called Gateway instead of ripping it apart and now expect BB to replace it
If they refuse, you'll have to take a loss and maybe try to sell it on EBAY and get something back for it
or you can take out your frustration on whats left of the 6860

 

Thanks buddy, did you take a class on kicking someone when their down or does it just come natural.

And I'm not expecting anything from best buy, I said I was going to ask. If they wont then no worries. As i said i'll save up for a new one and finish ripping this one apart (one way or another) so everyone else can at least have a guide on how to "actually" do it with out damaging their laptops. Especially the ones that want to get to the GPU to apply thermal paste and what not.

And go ahead and contact gateway. They'll give the same run around. "Only our service department is authorized to actually take apart the computer"

geez

 

If BB won't change it, than a guide would be really good, since I have to take it apart too

 

I know, right? What a dick thing to say to someone who was just trying to help the community out.

 

how about asking gateway to fix it?
tell them you dropped it, it is working just little broken plastic and ask them how much it will cost to fix it. i am sure much less than a new one.

i was really sorry to hear it didn't worked out, hope all will turn out well.

 

All I can say is thanks for trying to help the community with a little intel about how to disassemble these laptops. Sorry to hear you may have sacrificed it, but hopefully Bestbuy will replace it.

 

I wish the person who allready pulled a Gateway FX (a 6831 if I remember right) apart, would post here a guide to how to do it ...

 

probably wont happen at this point im sure if he had made a guide he would have posted it along time ago .Taking pics is really the only guide that the average person can follow and taking pics step by step for tearing down some machines can be a daunting task to say the least .

 

Than at least write it down, I'm sure he can remember what did he do.

 

Here

I've taken mine apart 2 or 3 times with no problems. Using that guide, of course.

 

Thats just a very basic guide to take off the keyboard and other panels on the bottom but is in no way a total break down of the machine . i dont think there is a service manual out there for the 6831 ive even looked for the 6825 manual cause its the same exact chassis only last years unit and figured there was a better chance to find something abit older but to no avail.

 

Thats way not a full guide...could you please add the missing parts, since you taken your laptop apart 2 or 3 times, you must really know what to do

 

I've removed the front to access the keyboard and other internals and I've removed the back panel. I've had no need to completely disassemble the laptop, all the components are accessible through that guide.

 

I don't think you really understand..let me put it this way: we wan't to acces the GPU! You were able to acces the GPU too?

I removed the keyboard, but I still don't know how the remove the whole back..yes the whole back, not just the back of the CPU/RAM and HDD, the whole back of the laptop! If you really removed the whole back to acces the GPU, did u removed all the srews on the back+which screws did u remove at the other side (at the keyboard), besides the screws which holds the keyboard?

 

I hear ya. Shame this notebook does not have a single back cover that allows you to access everything...like, ahem, some other brands.

I heard of at least three other promises of a full disassembly guide in the past but, it never happens

I did pull several things apart, way back, to see if the GPU was soldered in. After one poster sent pictures of his soldered in GPU, I stopped, and put things back together..and bought the extended warranty. With fans that require total disassembly and a soldered in GPU, I saw no need to damage the case in my fumbling around.

I'm sure the GW warranty service center has the manual, in time, we may see this leaked...or do as Dell, post the thing on their web site!

 

Gateway is retarded they dont post new things...for example they didnt even released a new BIOS yet, with bug fixes...

 

The thing that bugs me with cleaning this laptop is how isolated the GPU fan is. I can get to the CPU fan fine, yet I will have to take the whole cover off to get to the GPU.

What was Gateway thinking when they made this notebook for the enthusiast?

 

Well on the up side I'm getting a new laptop. Best Buy has some good people, and apparently the geek squad member i dealt with was more curious about how far i got into the machine rather than anything else. Got it wrote off as a fall damage.

I guess it rocks to deal with someone thats got the same machine and the same questions about how to take it apart. I told him about this forum so hopefully he'll be showing up in a day or so.

On the disassembly side i did figure out alot of where Gateway cuts corners in their builds. Solder... some of my components weren't soldered together at all. The media bar controls hub (the hook up to the motherboard) wans just stickied in. I don't know how else to describe it, as it wasnt really glued as much as just had a thin adhesive layer that could be removed quite easily. I found other components like that as well. it seems neat and all until you realize that you have NO margin for error when putting them back together. it took me about 20 tries to get the media bar lined up correctly.

Also the easy to remove clips for the keyboard and what not... well they're anything but easy to remove. Apparently there is a specialized tool needed, all i had to work with was a VERY small set of flat head screw drivers... not very fun.

As to getting the case apart.

You have to remove the Hard drives, the battery, the optical drive, the "fake" cards, the screen and lid, and all of the screws in the back, and the media bar and keyboard. After all of that you need to remove the speakers (which are tiny and should be bigger).

Now you can start prying the case apart. Mu biggest problem at this point, and incidentally where i had to stop. Was i for some reason could not get the back 1/4 of the case to separate. I got a really good look at everything by lifting the case apart the best i could and looking around. But i couldn't get it to fully separate.

it might have been as simple as some lock tab that i couldn't see, but it was at this point i split my case and had already broken 2 lock tabs...i gave up.

I honestly think theres some screws holding this part of the case together, but i could not find them or where they would have been hiding.

If someone can figure out this last little bit then you would basically be at the motherboard as everything would completely separate and you would have almost total access to anything you wanted.

For words of note. You have to be very careful wien prying things apart. These cases scar very easily (i had more than one pretty bad scar after it was all said and done) And i would recommend trying to find something about 1in wide and very thin (preferably made of plastic or plastic coated metal) to assist in prying everything apart. the screw drivers and small pry tool i used were ill suited for the job and left many (i feel) un-necessary tool marks where i feel a better tool wouldn't have done.

If anyone else attempts this be careful at the keyboard and media bar disassembly/reassembly step. The clips and connector wires are very easily damaged and be prepared to go through the keyboard stage at least 2 or 4 times to make sure you have the thing lined up properly...if not only a few keys will work and you'll have to take everything apart again and reposition the cable ribbon.

I wish anyone else that tries this disassembly luck... but once i get my new system, i think i'm sticking with the simple things like hard drives, Ram, and CPU's

 

i would rep BB for this

 

now thats bad ass. thanks for your effort Kamin, i guess this is kind of your reward, huh?

 

Sorry about the bad experience Kamin, but I want to thank you for your work, since I bought my P-6831FX used and the spacebar has been messed up since I got it and have to order a new keyboard... Not very cheap, but at least there is a guide to replacing it and I know where I have to be delicate... I probably would have used a screwdriver or something to pry with because I'm not very smart sometimes and made some ugly scars. So thanks!

Thanks to mrsamsa also for posting that Disassemble guide from Gateway.

 

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I know, right? What a dick thing to say to someone who was just trying to help the community out.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Kamin_Majere
Thanks buddy, did you take a class on kicking someone when their down or does it just come natural.
:

__________________
~Gateway P-6860FX~
Intel C2D T9300 Penryn 2.5GHZ Stable at .950 Volts
(2) 320GB 5400RPM WD Scorpios in RAID 0//4GB RAM//8800 GTS//17" WXGA+ 1400x900//Vista Ultimate 64bit
Logitech G5

~Acer Aspire 4720Z~
Intel PDC/C2D 2370 1.73GHZ Stable at .975 Volts
120GB 5400RPM Hitachi//3GB RAM//Intel X3100//14.4" WXGA 1280x800//Vista Home Premium 32bit

I wanted to point out that what this guy did was not the right thing to do
If you really want to help the community, try to keep prices low by giving NOT returning every single screw up to BB by lying about how it happened

my OPINION is that He should have called Gateway fromthe very beginning instead of ripping it apart-it was under warranty! so... again, not too smart

This will only drive up future pricing of notebooks and mess up return policies for the rest of us (it is my opinion....I work in retail......)

I think BB would have replaced your notebook for a legitimate reason (noise, doesn't work, overheat, etc...)
I get returns from customers which looked like they ran over it with their car and they say to me: "I don't know how that happened....... I opnened the box...etc....etc.....
So you see my point of view

 

Be glad I didn't work at BB that day, LOL...

 

Um I didnt lie. Me and the geek squad guy sat there and talked about what i had done to the machine and how i did it and how far i got into it for about a half an hour. As i told you specifically before, i didnt expect anything from them, i just asked to see if it was an open option. I probably could have spoken with another one that day and been told no... i was fine with either option.

do you read anything else... i already told you i have spoken to gate way and they WILL NOT give you a disassembly guide. It would have been great, and very helpful, but every rep/tech i spoke to gave the same speel "only gateway service people in the factroy can offically take the notebook apart" (in one form or another)

I doubt it, out of the 7 laptops i own and the warrenties i bought with each i have only actually used this one. And with the new system i bought another 3 year warrenty, so 8 warrenties and 1 use... i somehow doubt thats going to skew numbers meaninly on the business end of either bestbuy or gateway.

But if you would like to discuss the market loss of the 6860-FX with one unrefundable return than i'm more than willing to. But since as you stated you work in retail i assume you can come up with the margins for the product and the total units sold so we can do a true break down.

Just my "uneducated guess"(not having a MBA or anything like that /sarcasm)
that total price increase for a unit such as this for a single unrefundable return with a purchased warrenty, will be around the range of $0.0027, maybe a bit more or less...as you know its just my uneducated guess.

So everyone i am so sorry... i have cost you 27/10000ths of a cent more when you purchase a 6860-fx... can you ever forgive me

probably, but i would have returned it to gateway directly if that were the case... no use wasteing a 3 year warrenty when its something thats the OEM's responsibility to correct

i'm sorry... though i really dont know what your looking for here

LOL LOL LOL LOL
i'm going to stop there though, its not worth getting reprimanded on these boards that i like just to make fun of you... and i try to be a nicer guy than that.

 

Its gonna be hard, Kamin. You really hurts us all with that 27/100000ths of a cent extra we had to pay for our $1400+ laptops. Our families can hardly eat now.

At any rate, thanks agian for the effort. We all appreciate it.

 

Your original reason for taking the machine apart was due to a noise from the system
You had a valid reason to return to BB, but you opted to destroy the parts and now they can't be reused
Figure out how much it will cost to reship back to Gateway, take the parts that were not destroyed by the user, pay someone to do that, recycle the parts and repackage........ mulitiply this by the number of other people who try this and now it will become clear that Gateway may just raise the price to BB and thus DOOK in the Urinal will now ***** over the price of his $2000 laptop which he can't afford now

 

This Kid:


...thinks youre being overly dramatic.

 

Methinks this kid is overly freaky.

And play nice, you all.

 

...I never had a sound problem (except the power block but it never really bothered me) the only thing i can think your talking about was another members post i was replying to that did have a sound problem. I told him I was already going to take the machine apart and that there was no use in them doing it until I could get a guide up (you know no reason to destroy 2 machines if something goes bad)

My rig worked perfectly and had no problems what so ever...except the videocard refused to overclock even by small margins...but again not a problem to me as the 8800 stock did everything i needed it to and more.

I "destroyed" my machine in the vain hope that I would be able to help the others that wanted to take it apart do it correctly with out damaging their rig and further upgrade/tweek the system than was possible before.

There were already 3 or 4 other threads posted at the time by people that seemed determined to take their machine apart. Knowing how difficult it was to do (and knowing i could afford it, better than most, if I couldnt get a refund) I decided to bite the bullet and try.

As to your 2000 dollar laptop... you might want to get a business degree before you decide your math is gospel. I was being sarcastic... i thought you would have got that i actually do have an MBA (i know i know its a largely useless degree, but it helps at times) and my estimate would be a bit closer than yours. I would have to know bestbuys mark up on the product to give an exact number, but i can assure you it would take thousands of people if not tens of thousands of people doing this for it to make a diffrence.

if the mark up is even 30% that means they purchase them from gateway at 945...even selling them at 1250+379 warrenty = 684 gain per laptop so for them to lose money it would take 1 out of every 2 people doing this. Now this is horribally simplified and i havent even taken into consideration the vast overheads these retail chains have, but just using fuzzy math i would say they would actually lose money on the product if 1 out of every 10 did this...which is a figure that is large enough that would be noticed even to the untrained floor workers. But I seriously doubt even 1 out of 1000 people will do this so it wont be noticable.

Also not that i repurchased the warrenty with this notebook so even now bestbuy has made money off of the original sale...not much mind you but still a gain over their cost. Not counting the credit they will get for the parts if they do sell it refurbished back to gateway (sans case of course) all of the componets of the laptop worked perfectly with the exception of the case and the keyboard. I'm pretty sure gateway has a few cases and keyboards lying around somewhere that they will slap the componets in and sell refurbished for 900 or so dollars.

So rest easy that the 6860 will not jump 800 dollars simply because i tried to help everyone figure out how to disassembly this computer that is glued together with the darkest of magics and hatred itself

 

Hey Kamin, I'm in agreement... One question though, what happened to your keyboard? In taking off the spacebar key this keyboard seems VERY delicate... not a problem if a key never comes off but if one does... it's an expensive fix. At least for those of us without a warranty

 

When the case split the keyboard ended up collaterial damage in my fury

But after holding the keyboard in my hands i will agree with you its a bit on the delicate side and you need to be very careful when removing/installing them due to the very weak connector points and the fact theres no aligning marks

 

i just got done disassembling and then reassembling my 6860.i got bored and i have a couple of pics but they are crap quality.







that the gpu/heatsink on the far left, which i decided to slap some AS5 on while i had access.

the only problems is that i lost 2 screw on the bottom of the laptop, but i still have to look on the dark rug i have, also does anyone know the order for the wifi card.i just put it(from left to right) white,grey,black.

 

Kewl. You managed a complete disassembly! While you have it apart, could you please identify the PLL? Here's a URL to a guide for identifying this component: http://cpu-cool.de/FSB.HTM

Thanks much.

 

i want to have your babies!

How did you manage the last back quarter of the casing (the part where mine desided to break) Were there screws hidden or was it just a retardedly strong lock tab that i couldnt see?

And reading back a few posts... how close was i to actually getting it apart. To me it seemed like all i needed to do was get the back to come apart and i had it (except the mother board screws) but not being able to get the back to split apart i really couldnt tell

 

Impressive work there N00d13s. Would have been better if the pics were clearer. Great job though.

 

I would be scared of having my laptop all apart like that... I have no problem with ripping apart a desktop computer, but a laptop.... scary.

 

well for the back part it seemed like it was clipped on, so i grabbed the back and pulled it out and lifted up and it was fine.

i can't get better pics, the only camera i have is a couple years old and has a crack in the glass.

the only part i found hard was getting the mobo out cause there was a screw hidden under some tape, and then sliding the ports out of the case while lifting it.

i was going to open it again later, cause those two bottom screws i'm missing, i remember putting them in a different place.it runs great still, but i'd rather have those back on the outside of the case.

 

i am not going to make a guide, but what i did is:

take the piece off with the media buttons, then the keyboard.

go on the bottom and loosen all the screws(i put tape over the hole so they don't fall out and i know where they go),even the cpu heatsink cause it makes getting the mobo out.and take the disc drive out.

then i took the lcd off to make thing easier,and found some more screws and loosened those.

then took off the top that goes around the keyboard,this is where it seems clipped on in back.it seperates at the orange and bottom.

then just took out some mobo screws, be careful because there are some hidden screws.

thats pretty much it, as long as you use common sense it isn't that hard.i am only 16, never taken a laptop apart, and i found it pretty easy, like your moms!

 

So you went through all the trouble of taking it apart and putting it back together... and you didn't get the PLL #?

 

no, i just wanted to see what was so hard about it.i will check later when i open it again tho.

 

i can't find the crystal on the board. some chips i found are an LSI one and Taimag and one that says imt(or something like that) and a silicon image chip.

 

Good Job! Sound like the same with my old HP. I think most will find that getting things apart is no big deal..getting them back together with no left over screws is another

 

imi maybe? That's a known PLL manufacturer. If you can provide manufacturer IDs and part numbers, perhaps with a little luck, I can help find the PLL.