Dell surgery - advice?

Hi,

I'm getting ready to dive into my daughter's Dell Studio 15 laptop to replace the motherboard. She took it to a shop where she lives and they diagnosed a short in the motherboard. My strategy is to replace the motherboard, possibly the battery, if necessary, and reload the OS and programs. This is my first laptop excursion after having built several desktops for my studio so I'm not unfamiliar with working on computers, but there might be nuances I'm not aware of, so.................

Any advice before I start taking this thing apart?

@Jumbicat  +100

To the OP get yourself one of those little boxes with all the compartments, or some egg cartons and keep track of what screw goes where.

Most will fit in multiple locations, but the LENGTH will be different.

Take pics with your digital camera.

Have plenty of good light, a magnifying glass and an ESD strap if you have one.

Be VERY gentle with the ribbon cables. Most require you to slide/pull little locking tabs before you slide them out.

See if you can locate a service manual or how to on the net before starting because sometimes there are "secret latches" where you need to press on a certain part of the case in order to release a latch inside.

Think pads are notorious for that.

Good luck!

I do a lot of support on the Dell users forum.  I was going to link you to a "Studio 15" laptop but that is not the correct designation.  But go to www.support.dell.com and you can download the Dell manual which will include instructions on how to replace the motherboard (in most model manuals).

Fireberd - thanks for the link. It's always best to get the info straight from the source.