Gateway ZX6971 Rear Body Panel Disassembly

ID: 149419

Description: [THIS GUIDE IS A WORK-IN-PROGRESS! ANY HELP IS...

Steps:

  1. Turn off the computer & unplug all cables and attached peripherals (such as USBs).
  2. Lay the computer down flat on its screen and rotate the kickstand flat to the back.
  3. For safety, perform a "power reset" by holding the power button down for about 15 seconds.
  4. Take a look at the hinge of the kickstand. Squeeze the plastic hinge piece on both sides into itself and wiggle it around a little bit. It should come out fairly easily.
  5. Remove the 3 screws holding the stand in place.
  6. Remove the kickstand.
  7. At the top left side of the computer, gently pry off the CD-ROM drive bay cover. It should pop out very easily.
  8. At the bottom of the case, you'll have to peel off the 2 rubber feet to access & remove the 4 screws total located underneath them.
  9. Use picks or an opening tool to get under at the plastic clips that surround the entire crevice of the case.
  10. Once the clips are loosened, the back should be able to just come off.
  11. If you're looking to just access the hard drive bay, it would be the metal cage on the bottom right. The cage is being held by only 1 screw.
  12. The motherboard is being covered by a large vented metal shroud, you'll see it takes up about 1/3 of the space.
  13. Remove the shroud by removing the surrounding screws and it should just lift right off.
  14. You'll see that on the top left is the optical drive, and in the middle is the fan & heatsink for the CPU.
  15. You can remove the DDR3 memory sticks by pushing apart the silver levers on both sides and it should pop up, same as most laptops.
  16. To access the CPU, you want to carefully peel off the aluminum tape that's stuck onto the end of the heatsink, and then removing the screw securing the heatsink as well.
  17. Remove the 4 screws holding down the heatsink to the motherboard, and lift the heatsink.
  18. If you're refurbishing this computer and you find the thermal paste to look very dry, it's a good idea to replace the thermal paste to significantly improve CPU temperatures, which improves the performance of the computer.
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