The Right To Repair

[ZiprHead]

We need pictures and name of the notebook. What you describe is some weird shit. daughterboard?

Yes, daughterboard. The page that showed the layout had a small separate board shown as connected to the main board with wires. Typically laptops have a board and then things like hard drives, batteries etc in another layer--I assume there was a gap in that layer and they put a small circuit board there. I couldn't see any way to access it, though, and I couldn't find disassembly instructions. It was very annoying to be thwarted by something so trivial.

The CMOS battery in my laptop was easily accessible under the keyboard.

 

[ZiprHead]

If you need instructions for disassembling a notebook then you should not.

This.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

If you need instructions for disassembling a notebook then you should not.

The problem was that the only screws I could find came at it from the wrong side. There was already a panel that had to be pried up to get it apart, I found that information. I'm sure there was something else that had to be pried to get in, but without directions you most certainly go trying to pry up random bits.

 

[barbos]

Among devices that may need occasional disassembling, notebooks are the easiest.
Small boxes like routers/modems/remotes are not intended to be disassembled so they use plastic clips which are harder to not break, but it can be done. And it's not a big deal if you break some.
In notebooks if you see a panel it's usually easy to guess why it's there and in which order it got there.
In most cases these panels can be fairly unceremoniously pried, they are designed for disassembly and repair.

And I can't believe you have a notebook which does not have at least 10 youtube disassembly videos.
It has to be older than 15 years to not have videos.

 

[barbos]

Speaking of youtube videos and repairs.
Few years ago I found an old LCD monitor, which appeared not broken and worked fine in the beginning. But then it started to malfunction, so It became clear why it was thrown out. I googled what it was displaying and found a fix. It turned out it was a common problem with easy but completely non-obvious solution (put a resistor in certain place). I am still using this monitor. I also used youtube video to blindly change bios settings in a notebook without screen. Still use this screenless notebook with ..... that monitor from trash. Notebook is also from the trash
There are youtube videos for literally any remotely common problem one might encounter.

 

[barbos]

The CMOS battery in my laptop was easily accessible under the keyboard.

This is a good, but in most cases it's not intended to be ever replaced. Lithium batteries last >10 years. I have a 16 year old notebook and wristwatch with original batteries. However it's a problem with some expensive devices which supposed to last longer.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Among devices that may need occasional disassembling, notebooks are the easiest.
Small boxes like routers/modems/remotes are not intended to be disassembled so they use plastic clips which are harder to not break, but it can be done. And it's not a big deal if you break some.
In notebooks if you see a panel it's usually easy to guess why it's there and in which order it got there.
In most cases these panels can be fairly unceremoniously pried, they are designed for disassembly and repair.

And I can't believe you have a notebook which does not have at least 10 youtube disassembly videos.
It has to be older than 15 years to not have videos.

It was older than that.

 

[barbos]

Among devices that may need occasional disassembling, notebooks are the easiest.
Small boxes like routers/modems/remotes are not intended to be disassembled so they use plastic clips which are harder to not break, but it can be done. And it's not a big deal if you break some.
In notebooks if you see a panel it's usually easy to guess why it's there and in which order it got there.
In most cases these panels can be fairly unceremoniously pried, they are designed for disassembly and repair.

And I can't believe you have a notebook which does not have at least 10 youtube disassembly videos.
It has to be older than 15 years to not have videos.

It was older than that.

And what would be the purpose of fixing >15 year old notebook? Just for sport?

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Among devices that may need occasional disassembling, notebooks are the easiest.
Small boxes like routers/modems/remotes are not intended to be disassembled so they use plastic clips which are harder to not break, but it can be done. And it's not a big deal if you break some.
In notebooks if you see a panel it's usually easy to guess why it's there and in which order it got there.
In most cases these panels can be fairly unceremoniously pried, they are designed for disassembly and repair.

And I can't believe you have a notebook which does not have at least 10 youtube disassembly videos.
It has to be older than 15 years to not have videos.

It was older than that.

And what would be the purpose of fixing >15 year old notebook? Just for sport?

It wasn't ancient when the problem arose.

 

[barbos]

I guess problem "resolved" itself with time

 

[ZiprHead]

If you need instructions for disassembling a notebook then you should not.

The problem was that the only screws I could find came at it from the wrong side. There was already a panel that had to be pried up to get it apart, I found that information. I'm sure there was something else that had to be pried to get in, but without directions you most certainly go trying to pry up random bits.

Google your make and model number and what you want to do. Someone has probably already done it and made a video of it.

 

[ZiprHead]

The CMOS battery in my laptop was easily accessible under the keyboard.

This is a good, but in most cases it's not intended to be ever replaced. Lithium batteries last >10 years. I have a 16 year old notebook and wristwatch with original batteries. However it's a problem with some expensive devices which supposed to last longer.

Standard replaceable button cell here.

 

[barbos]

The CMOS battery in my laptop was easily accessible under the keyboard.

This is a good, but in most cases it's not intended to be ever replaced. Lithium batteries last >10 years. I have a 16 year old notebook and wristwatch with original batteries. However it's a problem with some expensive devices which supposed to last longer.

Standard replaceable button cell here.

Not always. Sometimes it's a soldered real time clock with a battery inside.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

If you need instructions for disassembling a notebook then you should not.

The problem was that the only screws I could find came at it from the wrong side. There was already a panel that had to be pried up to get it apart, I found that information. I'm sure there was something else that had to be pried to get in, but without directions you most certainly go trying to pry up random bits.

Google your make and model number and what you want to do. Someone has probably already done it and made a video of it.

This was too long ago--Google got me to the screws hidden under a panel that had to be pried off but it didn't get me to the battery.

Sometimes manufacturers are not interested in making something repairable. I'm thinking of the extra battery pack for the UPS I used to have--there were 6 screws that appeared to let you in--nope, they did need to come out but at that point there were still two clips holding it together and the only solution was to pry with considerable force. Crap like that should be downright illegal--those clips added nothing of value, they just made it harder to repair.

 

[ZiprHead]

Google your make and model number and what you want to do. Someone has probably already done it and made a video of it.

This was too long ago--Google got me to the screws hidden under a panel that had to be pried off but it didn't get me to the battery.

Sometimes manufacturers are not interested in making something repairable. I'm thinking of the extra battery pack for the UPS I used to have--there were 6 screws that appeared to let you in--nope, they did need to come out but at that point there were still two clips holding it together and the only solution was to pry with considerable force. Crap like that should be downright illegal--those clips added nothing of value, they just made it harder to repair.

I've had two UPSs. The batteries cost more to replace them than buying another new.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Google your make and model number and what you want to do. Someone has probably already done it and made a video of it.

This was too long ago--Google got me to the screws hidden under a panel that had to be pried off but it didn't get me to the battery.

Sometimes manufacturers are not interested in making something repairable. I'm thinking of the extra battery pack for the UPS I used to have--there were 6 screws that appeared to let you in--nope, they did need to come out but at that point there were still two clips holding it together and the only solution was to pry with considerable force. Crap like that should be downright illegal--those clips added nothing of value, they just made it harder to repair.

I've had two UPSs. The batteries cost more to replace them than buying another new.

Buying batteries with a slightly lesser rating I could replace them for less than half of new.