This week’s laptop disassembly guide will be to disassemble a Dell Latitude D620, a slight upgrade of the previous model the D610. This guide is made possible thanks to a friend of mine Cklim.

This guide will explain detailed step by step way on how to dismantle a Dell Latitude D620 notebook.

READ ME

Advices taken here are taken at your own risk. AhWee.com will be held no responsibility if you break any of the hardware and lose your warranty.

NOTE: Even though Dell said disassembling laptop yourself would lose your warranty, but I haven’t void anybody’s warranty in any possible way yet.

Tools You Need For Dismantling and Cleaning

1. Philips Screwdriver (M2.5 will do)
2. Flat Blade Screwdriver (usually a test pen)
3. A brush (about 1 inch or 2 cm wide would do it, not too big)
4. Hex Nutdrivers (about 5 mm)
5. Thermal Compound

I usually have 2 Philips screwdrivers, big one for more unscrewing force, small one for less screwing force (so that I don’t spoil the screws), then a test pen for prying up parts and a brush for cleaning.

For this guide, because disassembling the motherboard is necessary, that is why you’ll need a hex nutdriver. A pair of pliers could do the job perfectly as well.

Before You Start

Here are a few things you’ll need to do before you start disassembling your Dell Latitude D620.

1. Clear your Table
   Ensure that you have plenty of space (1 meter square would be great) to put all the components so they won’t go missing or falling off the table.
2. Prepare a Small Container for Screws
   Every single screws taken out from the laptop has their own job in keeping the computer intact. Don’t lose them.
3. Disconnect all the Cables & Components
   It’s wise to disconnect all usb cables, pendrives, power cords.
4. Put Some Cloth or Thin Sponge Under the Laptop
   To make sure that the rough table surface would not scratch your laptop.
5. Remove the Battery
   To remove the battery from your Dell Latitude D620, unlock 2 of the latches and remove the battery out from the battery bay.
   
6. Ground the Motherboard
   When the battery is removed, simply ground the motherboard by pressing on the power button for a few seconds.
7. Ground your Hands
   Ground your hands by wearing a wrist grounding strap or touching an unpainted metal surface from time to time.

Are you ready now? Before you move on any further I have to warn you that the D620 is not easy to disassemble. To clean the fan (which is my main purpose of disassembling this notebook) I have to disassemble even the motherboard. Don’t risk it unless you suspect something is wrong with your fan (not functioning, dust clotting the air vent, etc).

Step 1 : Remove The Harddisk

A wise move when disassembling laptops is to remove the harddisk first to protect your data from possible bumps during the disassembling process. Store the harddisk inside an antistatic bag if possible.

1. Search for the “Container” labeled screws.
2. Unscrew 2 screws.
3. Slide the harddisk out from it’s compartment
   

Step 2 : Remove The Hinge Cover

Compared to removing the motherboard, the hinge cover should be considered easy. However, this will still pose a challenge to first timers.

1. Note the indentation at the right side of the hinge cover, that’s the place where you start.
2. Pry up the hinge cover using your test pen.
3. Slowly lift up the whole thing from right to left.
   

NOTE: Be gentle to the hinge cover as it’s very fragile. Trust your instincts.

Step 3 : Remove The Keyboard

1. Unscrew all the 3 screws located at the top of the keyboard.
2. Lift the keyboard up slowly because the keyboard connector is still connected to the motherboard.
3. Unlock the locking arm (blue color) by pulling the retaining bracket (black) sideways.
4. Disconnect the cable by pulling the pull-tab.
5. Remove the whole keyboard.
   

Step 4 : Remove The RAMs

These 2 RAMs are located at opposite sides of the laptop. DIMM A is located at the top of the touchpad and DIMM B is located right behind it.

Removing DIMM A

As soon as you removed the keyboard, DIMM A is reachable from there. Just push the pins sideways and the RAM will pop up.

Removing DIMM B

DIMM B is located at the back of the laptop, so you will have to reach in from the base of the notebook.

1. Note the small compartment above the battery.
2. Unscrew it.
3. DIMM B is inside, use the same method of RAM removal with DIMM A.
   

Step 5 : Remove The DVD/CDROM

1. At the bottom of the DVD/CDROM, remove the screw if it is there.
2. push the CDROM as shown from the picture below.

   

Step 6 : Remove The LCD Screen

1. Disconnect all the cables from the WLAN card and the display cable.
2. Unroute all the cables linked to the LCD screen.
   
3. Turn the laptop around (bottom), unscrew two M2.5 x 8-mm screws labeled “D” .
4. At the back of the notebook (where all the ports resides), remove two M2.5 x 8-mm screws.
   
5. Lift the LCD screen from the base of the laptop.

Step 7 : Remove The Palm Rest

Note that this is also quite a hard part to disassemble. Be extremely careful and not to break any parts.

1. Remove three M2.5 x 8-mm screws labeled “P” from the palm rest.
2. Disconnect the Coin Cell Battery cable, Touch Pad cable and the Bluetooth Card.
3. Loosen 2 captive screws at the hard drive compartment.
4. Unscrew seven M2.5 x 8-mm screws located at the bottom of the notebook.
5. Starting from the back of the laptop, carefully separate the palm rest from the base of the laptop.
   

Step 8 : Remove The Speaker & Modem

Removing Speaker

Just disconnect the speaker cable and your speaker is out. There’s no need to remove any screws.

Removing Modem

1. Remove the M2 x 3-mm screw that secures the modem.
2. Disconnect the modem cable
3. Pull the modem out using the pull tab (star labeled).
   

Step 9 : Remove The Card Reader

1. Unscrew four M2 x 3-mm screws.
2. Pull the card reader out using the blue colored pull-tab
   

Step 10 : Remove the Heat Sink

I am sorry that I do not have a proper picture of the removal of heat sink. But I do have pictures of the heatsink when I was removing the palm rest though, that should be enough.

1. Remove four captive screws according to the sequences 1, 2, 3, 4 written on the heatsink.
2. Lift the heat sink assembly out from the motherboard
   

NOTE: Can you see the blue substance in between the processor’s core and the heatsink. Those are called thermal compound that helps heatflow from the processor’s core to the heatsink. It’s always better to scrap it off and replace it with new thermal compound.

Step 11 : Remove the Motherboard

You are almost there, just the last piece of component (the motherboard) that is the most fragile due to the amount of chips on it. Please, anything you do, don’t break any of the microchips on the motherboard.

1. Disconnect the fan cable.
2. Disconnect the other two cables circled in the picture below.
3. Remove 4 hex screws on the serial ports.
   
4. Remove four M2.5 x 5-mm screws as shown below.
5. Gently and slowly lift the motherboard out from the laptop.
   

Step 12 : Remove & Clean the Fan

Congratulations you have disassembled one of the hardest notebook disassembly process. Well, the most tedious I would say.

1. Just remove one M2.5 x 5-mm screw for the fan
2. Remove the fan from the base of the laptop

Damn I spent my whole afternoon writing this guide. I seriously hope it will help those D620 notebook users. Alright, this is all for How To Disassemble Dell Latitude D620.

Please inform me if I missed any of the crucial steps during the disassembling process.

More laptop disassembly guides at the Laptop Disassembly Archive.

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