At times some or all of a Dell Inspiron 1150's motherboard may go bad. The motherboard itself could fail or the components that are part of the motherboard (such as USB ports) could fail. In this case, you need to replace the motherboard. Replacing a motherboard on the Dell 1150 requires near complete disassembly of the laptop. You should be careful to document what parts and screws go where so as to properly reassemble the laptop after replacing the motherboard.
Instructions
1. Turn the laptop over so the bottom is facing up and the hinges are facing you.
2. Push the battery-release latch down and hold it while you pull the battery away from the laptop. The battery latch is black and is labeled with a white picture of a battery. The battery is at the top of the right side of the laptop. There are a couple of ridges on the battery along the bottom edge that you can use to grip and pull the battery to the right and away from the laptop.
3. Remove the hard drive from the laptop. The hard drive is in the bottom-left corner of the laptop. Remove the screw in the bottom-left corner, along the left edge, as well as the screw about 1.5 inches above that one. Use the ridges on the hard drive to grip and pull the drive to the left and away from the laptop.
4. Remove the two rectangular plastic covers that are clearly visible on the bottom of the laptop. Each cover is held in place by a single screw at the bottom. Remove each screw and cover from the laptop.
5. Remove the two memory modules from the middle slot you opened up by removing the plastic covers in Step 4. The memory modules are held in place by two metal clips at the left and right of each module. Push the metal clips away from each other at the same time. This causes the memory module to pop up at an angle. Remove the memory module by pulling it out of the slot. Repeat this step for the other memory module.
6. Unscrew the single screw located just above the center of the top of the memory module slot, then push the lever located along the top edge of the memory module slot to the left. This causes the CD drive to stick out slightly on the left side of the laptop. Grab the part that is sticking out and pull it to the left to remove the drive.
7. Remove the modem and mini-PCI card from the slot located in the upper-left side of the laptop (this is the other slot opened up by removal of the plastic covers). There are two small circuit boards. The one on the top is the modem; the bottom one is the mini-PCI card. Disconnect the black-and-white cables from the bottom of the mini-PCI card. Push the metal clips on each side of the mini-PCI card apart, then pull the card away from the laptop. Remove the two screws securing the modem to the motherboard (one is on the left side of the modem, the other is on the right), then disconnect the modem cable by pulling the small tab up. Remove the modem from the laptop.
8. Remove the remaining 13 screws from the bottom of the laptop. There are four screws along the top edge, four along the bottom edge, four across the middle and one about an inch under the screw in the upper-right corner of the laptop.
9. Turn the laptop over and open the display as wide as it goes.
10. Remove the hinge cover, which is the plastic piece with the power button on it located above the keyboard. Insert a flathead screwdriver between the right side of the hinge cover and the laptop, then pry the cover up to separate it from the laptop. Gently pull on the cover from right to left to detach it from the laptop.
11. Remove the four screws holding the keyboard in. The screws are located along the top of the keyboard, above the first and last keys, as well as the F5 and F12 keys. Lift up the keyboard slightly to reveal a cable connecting the keyboard to the motherboard. Pull up on the motherboard-side connector (located under where the spacebar used to be) to disconnect and remove the keyboard from the laptop.
12. Pull up on the pull tab at the top and center of the laptop to disconnect the display from the laptop. Remove the four screws on the hinges (two on each side), then lift the display up and remove it from the laptop.
13. Unscrew the single screw located in the direct center of the laptop, then remove the EMI shield (looks like a metal sheet) from the laptop.
14. Remove the four screws holding the cooling assembly in place. The cooling assembly is located beneath the EMI shield you just removed. Unscrew the screws in numerical order according to the etched number next to each screw. Pull up on the white connector just below the bottom-left screw to disconnect the cooling assembly from the motherboard. Lift up on the plastic handle to lift the cooling assembly up and away from the laptop.
15. Remove the processor from the laptop. The processor is located beneath the cooling assembly you just removed. It is square, with a black tab on the left side. Turn the screw on the black tab counterclockwise until it cannot turn anymore, then lift the square processor out of the socket and away from the laptop.
16. Remove the palm rest. Remove the two screws located along the top edge. Each screw is about an inch toward the center from each hinge. Disconnect the touchpad connector, located next to where the keyboard connector was, by lifting up on the white connector. Separate the palm rest from the bottom half of the laptop by gently running your fingers between the two sections.
17.Disconnect the speakers by pulling up on the white connector located at the bottom center of the laptop. After disconnecting the speakers, remove them by pulling each speaker out of its plastic slot.
18. Remove the 10 screws from the motherboard. There are two screws near the top and center of the laptop. One screw is to the bottom left of where the processor was. Two screws are along the bottom edge of the laptop just above where the left speaker used to be. Three screws are in the bottom corner of the space where the hard drive used to be along the left edge of the laptop, and two screws are along the left edge of the space where the battery used to be.
19. Remove the two hex screws on each end of the blue, trapezoidal VGA connector on the back of the laptop.
20. Lift out the motherboard from the bottom of the laptop and insert the new one. Reverse Steps 1 through 19 to reassemble the laptop.
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