Dell XPS 15 9550 Touchpad Replacement

ID: 199664

Description: The touchpads of the Dell XPS 15 9550 line may...

Steps:

1. Lift up the system badge door.
2. Remove the two 8 mm screws using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
3. Remove the ten 3 mm screws around the edge of the back case using a T5 Torx screwdriver.
4. Remove the back cover.

5. Internal and sensitive components will now be exposed for the rest of this guide. Please exercise precautions, as provided by the introduction, including grounding yourself regularly.
6. Remove the four 4 mm screws that hold down the battery using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
7. On laptops with full length batteries, you may find 7 of these instead.
8. Unplug the cable connection between the system board and the battery, then remove the battery.

9. Remove the hard drive bracket's four 4 mm screws using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.

10. Unplug the cable in the upper-right corner of the hard drive connected to the system board.
11. Remove the hard drive.

12. Remove the single 4 mm screw from the bracket in the upper left corner using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
13. Remove the bracket.

14. Unclip the antenna cables attached to the top of the wireless card.
15. Slide the wireless card out from its slot.
16. The antenna cable sockets are small and fragile; do not exert excessive force when pulling on the antenna cables. If you have difficulty disconnecting them, you may choose to use tweezers.

17. Solid-state Drive (SSD) cards usually have a bracket protecting them. For this step, you may simply unscrew the bracket and remove the card.
18. Remove the single 3 mm screw using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
19. Remove the SSD card.

20. Unplug the small white cable connection from the fan to the motherboard.

21. Remove the two 4 mm screws from the fan using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
22. Remove the fan.

23. Remove the single 2 mm screw from the bracket below the fan on the right side using a Phillips #0 screwdriver.
24. Remove the bracket.

25. Unplug the LCD cable connection.

26. Unplug the cable from the right-side fan that connects to the motherboard.

27. Remove the two 4 mm screws from the right-side fan using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
28. Remove the fan.

29. Remove the six 3 mm screws from the heat sink using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
30. Remove the heat sink.
31. Your device's heat sink contact with the CPU should contain thermal paste during use; this ensures efficient heat exchange between your CPU and the heat sink during runtime. You can choose to clean away the thermal paste and replace it with a fresh application when you reassemble your device.

32. Remove the three 5 mm screws from the left display hinge using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.

33. Remove the three 5 mm screws from the right display hinge using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.

34. Remove the display from the palm-rest board. You may need to adjust and re-adjust the hinges in order to remove the display.

35. Remove the single 3 mm screw from the DC jack using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.

36. Unplug the white DC jack cable connection and remove the entire DC jack.

37. Unplug the speaker cable connection.
38. This plug connection is small and difficult to pull off. Just like the wireless card antenna cables, you may choose to unplug this connection with other tools, such as tweezers.

39. Remove the four 2 mm screws from the speakers using a Phillips #0 screwdriver.
40. Carefully unwind the speaker cables from the palm-rest board and remove the component.

41. Disconnect the two ribbon cables connecting the motherboard to the palm rest.

42. The system board is integral to your device's primary functions and can be easily damaged. Handle with extreme care and ensure you take pre-cautions such as grounding yourself prior to touching the component and storing the component in a clean environment.
43. Remove the five 4 mm screws from the motherboard using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
44. Remove the motherboard.

45. Lift up the black tab of the backlight connection and unplug the backlight cable.
46. Lift up the white tab of the keyboard connection and unplug the keyboard cable.

47. Lift away the yellow tape connecting the keyboard to the palm-rest board. It is not necessary to remove the yellow tape completely.
48. The Mylar covering the middle of the keyboard has stencil tabs; each stencil tab marks a screw under it. Lift up each stencil tab using a razor.

49. Remove the 31 1.5 mm screws from the keyboard, including the screws under the yellow tape and Mylar, using a Phillips #0 screwdriver.
50. Remove the keyboard.

51. You are left with the entire palm-rest board component. At this stage, you may choose to replace your touchpad by replacing the entire palm-rest board. If you choose to replace only the touchpad itself, move to the last step.

52. Remove the two screws above the touchpad using a Phillips #0 screwdriver.
53. Remove the touchpad.