Ten years later, this is still the best disassembly video for this laptop! I used it ten years ago, and I just used it again today. It's really helped me! Your tutorial is easy to follow and you're really good about reminding to not forget about certain important details. This laptop is a bit tricky to work on; I just replaced the thermal paste on mine. It's a bit of a hassle to get into, but this ol' laptop has served me well. Thanks again for this video; it's saved me twice now!
Hi i have same laptop, dissasembled it as well, and also noticed the wifi is connected to only one wire, in my case it is the black wire, while the white one is not there, and the black one is connected the the lowest pin... im not sure if this is intensionly designed so or something else
@@antoniosroumanos4155 It's possible they had different revisions of the machine, some with only 1 antenna. Saves cost--a few cents per laptop adds up to a whole bunch of free money for them. Unlikely, but also possible: 1. The machine was never assembled correctly in the factory. 2. If the unit has ever had a screen replacement, it's possible that's when that happened. The antennas are in the screen assembly.
@@jaykay18 oh my i didnt expect you to reply so fast, thx... i have just noticed, the other wire is there, so it is my fault, but also not connected on purpous... buuut, back in the days this laptop was fixed by someone else, not sure why they did not reconnect it
That's great to hear! I'm very glad it worked out well for you! It was my pleasure to provide this video. I am a computer person, of course, but I'm not a mechanic, yet I managed (with some help) to replace the timing belt on my 2000 Camry. It wasn't really hard, just a lot to do, and accessibility was the hardest part. Anything i possible when you put your mind to it, and help doesn't hurt either! Congratulations. Please like the video and make sure to subscribe!
Well done video on the full disassembly/reassembly. Best one out there. Shame on you Dell for burying the hard drive requiring a full motherboard removal. Totally uncalled for.
Thank you. I saw the others out there, and decided that RU-vid needed a better video. I've excelled at that. I did this professionally, so I'm quick and efficient, and also a good teacher. This job I once clocked myself at work, 8 minutes total for disassembly and reassembly. Granted, yes, if there was a hatch, it would be more like 2 minutes, but still, 8 minutes isn't bad.
You did a great job! There's a lot of little "hangups" in this project, that's why there was so much detail. Without it, you might only get so far, and then what? Thanks for watching.
I needed to replace the CMOS battery on my Dell 5110 and used your great video to learn how to take the machine apart. Your video empowered me to do it, having never taken apart a laptop before. It was the most helpful video for dis-assembly. Thank you for helping me save my laptop.
+Jason Crigler From one Jason to another, my pleasure! Glad this helped you out. This is a fairly straightforward job to take apart, but there's still a lot to do. If you can do this one, there's a lot of other simpler laptops that you'd consider to be child's play. I'm very happy that I was able to give you the tools and knowledge you needed to get the job done!
You are a NINJA, that is a fact!!!!!!!! Today, 5/24/2020, I prepared, had a clean we lit work space, with very few distractions. I first had to place the recovery on a flash, the hard drive was toast, and after a couple bumps, that went well. I did EXACTLY as you describe/demonstrate. However, it did take me more time than the length of the video, so of course, there were more than a couple pause and rewinds :). Finally, I turn it on, with the thumb drive in &...... SUCCESS!!!!!! YOU ARE A ROCKSTAR!!! Thank you for sharing your skill and talent, this project has made my weekend!! & with that said, my mom doesn’t have to buy a new puter, as this one is hers. Again THANK YOU, All the best,
Thanks very much! I do this professionally, so it was nothing to me. I'm very happy that someone out there still has and wants to use this machine at this point in time. Thanks very much, enjoy! That laptop should run for a long time to come!
Thanks so much! I am still in complete shock that I just did that and it actually turned back on. I was really preparing myself for an earful about following youtube videos from the computer repair store. I was even more in shock when it worked! Thank you so much for making that so easy.
A big thank you for helping me disassemble and reassemble this PC. Hard drives should be easily accessible and here that's not the case, thanks for the precious help!
Thank you very much! Would have never been able to do this without a clear and thorough walk-through. This model Laptop is insanely complicated to change the hard drive. You Are a fn Ninja!
just successfully completed a hard drive swap thanks to your video. Very pleased. Thanks for making the video. You made a daunting task doable without the anxiety of doing this the very first time.
No problem Michael! Glad this helped you out! I've done so many of these, it's certainly a lot more complicated than the old hatch on the bottom, but a very straightforward repair nonetheless.
You, sir save me some money with your great wisdom.I started to take it apart and when I could not see my next move I found you on youtube. Thanks again young man.
I appreciate your efforts on starting to take it apart yourself! I'm really glad you found this video and it was able to help you out! (If I may boast, I learned to take this apart by doing, and did not refer to any videos out there). The only thing--young man? Maybe, based on what your age might be, but I certainly don't consider myself young anymore! Like I always say, "When I was young and stupid...now I'm old and stupid"!
I also should have told you the laptop of my wife is up and running again. People like yourself making these videos really help.I was never a reader of books, but I can watch and learn.Thanks
gary steinker That's great, Gary! Sometimes seeing is believing. I have seen service manuals for some machines, and there's really only so much the diagrams show. There's nothing like "the real picture". Plus, those manuals usually state "remove the top cover assembly", but don't explain how, they just show some screws and such. Glad it's back up and running, hopefully it will continue to serve you well for some time to come.
I replaced mine this past weekend and your video was a great help. I also upgraded my memory from 4 gig to 16 gig (Dell says it can only be upgraded to 8 but I proved that wrong). At you marker 7:08 was a great help because when I got down to the bottom, I found 3 clips floating around in the bottom and for the life of me, I couldn't find where they went until I saw that section. They went around that rectangular space and I had to glue them in as the little plastic nubs were gone. So thank you for the really good instructions and also the fine visuals throughout.
First things first when I saw you I thought: Oh it's R. Stallman doing a laptop disassembly. But man going through your video I have to say: you rock, disco, techno, country, pop all together. Awesome walkthrough, easy to follow and a piece of cake to disassemble the lappie and assemble right back. Thanx.
Thank you very much. I've just removed my damaged hdd and placed a new ssd. The laptop is performing amazingly. This video encouraged me to do it with my N5110 by myself. Thanks again!
So I just fixed my dell machine and replaced the damaged HDD with a brand new 1 TB toshiba HDD (with just some minor problems and an extra screw because of a broken socket) all thanks to your video. Thanks a bunch for your help :D
Thank you! And from someone who not only watched but listened carefully! Thank you for your astuteness! The answer is a definite maybe. Cloning/imaging is great when it works. When it doesn't you're out of luck. When you clone, bear in mind you not only back up all of your data, programs, and operating system, but also any problems. Sometimes cloning just doesn't work, without reason as to why.
Thanks! It really is quite the process! I had a little trouble figuring out how to unplug the LCD cable at first and got hung up for a few minutes when I put one of the hard drive brackets on wrong, but other than that it was smooth sailing, which is not something I ever thought I'd say about completely disassembling my laptop! :)
This was exactly what I needed! Followed along step by step and was able to have the job done in about 45 minutes. Thank you so much for recording the full, detailed process; just the way I love to work!
Thank you for the compliments! Yes, hard drives are generally the most commonly replaced component in most computers; I also have no idea why Dell would build the entire unit around the hard drive. They could have simply put an access hatch on the bottom like most other laptops.
Finally got the courage to try this. Repaired two laptops following these directions - still have to find a way to hopefully get information off the old hard drives because I couldn't before hand. Thanks for this video, really helpful.
Thanks for watching. Glad I gave you the courage to do so! You can try a USB-->SATA adapter with the old drives to see if you can get the data. If the drive mounts up and it copies data, you're set. If not, you can try some commercially-available data recovery software if the drive isn't too far gone. If the drive is making clicking noises, it likely would have to go out to a data recovery service, but that will likely be a costly endeavor. Good luck!
Thank you very much for this video. I have been able to "fix" my computer without paying a enormous cost from the distributor for something little. You're a lifesaver !
Excellent video with perfect instructions. Was able to replace the drive in my wife's laptop and install a new image on it using Macrium Reflect with no problem.
Hey man. Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. I just finished. It is so much easier to follow along with a good tear down video than to open a machine blind.. You Rock
Thanks so much for this. I really appreciate the detail you gave this video and how you helped us put it back together as well. most don't usually do that so thank you
Best. Tutorial. Ever. Replete with proofreading remarks! A small suggestion: provide an annotated warning about the keyboard cable. The clip holding it down is *very* fragile. Breaking that clip means having to *tape* the ribbon down (an imperfect fix leading to keyboard dysfunctionality). The clip itself is irreplaceable ~ the only permanent solution: a new motherboard! (And yes, I am speaking from the land of prior experience.)
I don't know why. But this is just so amazing to me. I came wanting to clean my laptop fan and ended up staying for the entertainment and amazingness of it all.
Thanks PhotoFanatic! You don't really have to open the laptop to clean the fan; usually compressed air does the trick. Blow into where the air normally comes out of. Note that those "duster cans" usually don't have enough pressure, and can sometimes dislodge the clumps of dust and dirt into a ball that will actually stall the fan. Use air from an air compressor.
Thank you so, so much for making this video! You gave me the confidence to replace the hard drive myself, something which I would never have thought possible for someone who is not remotely clued up with computers.
That's quite a compliment! This is a rather difficult repair due to the amount of steps involved, so it's great to hear I was able to instill that much confidence in you!
Thanks for your post, unreal take down, seeing the system was in at one point for repair and the wireless never connected goes to show you how good Dell support is. This has been the longest , hard drive replacement in over 23 years of business - I guess its not hot swappable
Being the SATA controller is set to AHCI mode, *theoretically* it is possible to hot-swap the drive! You would first have to power the system on, then remove all the connectors. I know the LVDS cable for the screen is indeed hot-pluggable, I've done it many a time. The "Quick-Launch" buttons can definitely be disconnected with power on, and the power button board can as well. The touchpad can be unplugged as well as the keyboard, likely without damage with the power on, however they will not work if plugged back in with the power on as they follow the PS/2 specification. It would be very difficult on this system to do so, but again it is theoretically possible. Not necessarily something you want to do, and definitely not recommended, but possible. I will rarely power down a desktop system for anything, although it's not the best practice, it has been done for years. Systems nowadays are a lot more resilient to power spikes and whatnot, older systems not so much. On old mainframe IBM laser printers, you _never_ wanted to power down the machine when working on it unless it was absolutely necessary--the fuser could take over 20-30 minutes to heat back up! There was something to be said about a HUGE printer that would have to IPL off of a 5.25" floppy disk. Older ones used 8" floppies.
Thanks Sir. The Video was a great help. I opened up the dell today and the hd was previously replaced by dell and there was a screw that was taken off by dell that was not screwed all the way down. I think dell is slipping.
I am absolutely *honored* hearing that coming from you, Trixter! Yes, those "charger boards" do go bad. I don't know if there are any more of these units under manufacturer's warranty, but I can tell you that if you order the mainboard while under warranty, it comes with the charger board, wireless board, and bluetooth module in the same box. Perhaps they knew something we didn't... Anyway, thanks again, please subscribe, and send me a PM and we'll talk all things PCjr!
windows mobility center kept popping up so i used your instructions to take it apart. I put a piece of cotton under the 3 buttons on the right side because the metal was touching the contacts and that solved my problem. Thanks
Absolutely. For the processor just remove the heatsink screws (three, I think), use a flat-blade screwdriver to release the ZIF socket by turning 180°, install new processor and lock the ZIF by turning back 180°. Tip--unlock and relock the ZIF one more time to help clear/clean oxidation off the contacts if any. Whether or not it makes any difference, I have been doing it all these years, it's an old IBM trick I'm told.
Thanks, you save me a lot of money! My hardrive was good, but my machine wouldn't power up...no lights, no nothing, even when plugged in. I took it apart, removed the hard drive and got the data copied off. Just for fun I put it back together and it works now...something must have been loose.
Leonard Chasten You're welcome. I've said before, this isn't easy, but certainly not terribly complicated. I've seen keyboards and screens a lot more buried than this hard drive. Glad it helped out.
Awesome video and detailed step by step directions for changing an hard drive or SSD on a Dell Inspiron N5110. Just installed a new SSD. WORKED LIKE A CHARM. THANK YOU
Could you tell me please, which SSD you used? Because I see people using up to 64 GB SSD's, and someone said that N5110 BIOS wont recognize more than 64 GB of SSD?
FuryenLT I don't believe that to be the case. BIOS limitations, most times, are caused by size issues, in the case of "it works with drives up to xxxGB in capacity. Since these machines generally came with 500 or even 750GB drives, a 64GB drive certainly doesn't exceed that limit. There are extenuating circumstances where a particular SSD will not work. You must remember that SSDs are rather new technology (compared to traditional mechanical hard drives), so a lot of what they do emulates what a real drive does. Sometimes those emulations aren't perfect, and the machine can have problems with it. Usually a different brand or model will circumvent that problem should it arise.
Thank you very much! Your instructions helped me take apart my Dell Inspiron 5110 and repair monitor problems. Best video I have ever seen to help with disassembly. You saved a lot of time and money!!! Thanks!!
Just replaced the HDD for an SSD following your instructions, thanks a lot. Just a point about the first screws you removed from the bottom (with laptop turned upside down) the two back outermost screws were covered with rubber plugs on my model so I didn't notice them, I only realised this when I was unable to remove the trim at the back under the screen and couldn't get the corners out, hope this helps someone. Thanks again :)
Yes. It is *possible* to remove the mainboard to get to the hard drive by just undoing the left side of the screen and shifting it out of the way. However, you risk breaking the standoffs for the screen on the right side. And you must remove the small "charger" board at the top left of the mainboard as well. You're really better off removing the screen, it's 4 screws, the LVDS cable, and the 2 wireless antenna wires. Easier and simpler to do that than risk breaking the bottom case assembly.
Incredible walkthrough sir, I had no idea what I was up against. Many thanks and a virtual beer on me! Thank you Dell, for hiring Ray Charles to design the internals of your laptops.
+100 Internets for that awesome statement! And that virtual beer was _damn_ good, thank you! Stay tubed for next time when I fix a laptop with a heat gun!
Great vid, thank you! It's good to watch someone who knows what they are doing! The most likely failure of a laptop is the HDD. What a bunch of tedious crap you have to go through to simply get at the HDD!
+Bob Adkins Thanks, Bob. Yeah I've done a few of these, I guess it shows! While this procedure is time consuming and tedious, I've gotten the machine apart, drive replaced, and reassembled in under 10 minutes, so I guess that's what Dell was looking at when they designed it that way. But this really isn't difficult, it's these new ultrabooks they have now which are assembled upside-down; to change the keyboard on one of those (which would likely have something spilled on it) is murder, since you have to go from the bottom up; the keyboard is the last thing to take out!
it worked fine for me thank you for the tutorial very nicely done i also dont know what dell was thinking when they design this model laptop but its educational and you did well in teaching me.
Sir, thank you so much! You are a bliss! I so much appreciate your work! I have the same machine and was able to disassemble it myself after watching your video! Greetings and all the best to you from Bulgaria!
The keyboard is held in by 4 clips on the top cover (palmrest) assembly, you must push them in with a flat-blade screwdriver to release. The DVD drive is held in by a protrusion on the memory hatch on the bottom of the machine, there is no separate screw for it. Everything is exactly as shown in the video.
I love my Dell laptops but recently I came across this model (15r N5110 or Vostro 15) that had a hard drive failure. After explaining to my client what all would be involved, she opted for an SSD and more ram and a cleaning since I had the whole computer apart. It's a job. It's far from an upgrade friendly Latitude or Precision series. But the SSD combined with the existing i5 gave that thing a new lease on life. I am just a little shocked this is a 5000 series, even the 3000 is far easier to work on. But I thank you for making a video as it was helpful in pulling that off.
Thanks very much. I do agree, this is way over the top for replacing a hard drive. Perhaps Dell didn't consider the fact that hard drives fail on this model.
@@jaykay18 Well strangely enough we live in such a throw away society... margins on latops are typically small as it is, unless your Apple. Plenty of dolts pad their profits. I just find it strange that a 5000 series, a bigher end model would come built like this, I could expect this on a 3000 series, only the m5030 offers an arguably worse construction. But was a sub $399 laptop, not $699-$799 5000 series. Typically Dells are built better then say HP, arguably some of the worst laptops to work on. Some Vostros share the same idiotic case design.
@@PearComputingDevices I see what you're saying. Why Dell chose to do this, on this model, I don't know, and I never will. I can get this entire job done in 8 minutes flat. 8 minutes is not very long. Compared to another model, that has a hatch, where the whole job can be done in under 2 minutes, it's ridiculous. I would be quite pleased to own one of these machines, decked out of course with lots of memory and an SSD. They were very solid performing machines.
@@jaykay18 I liked the keyboard. Not quite Thinkpad or Latitude quality, but far better then that of say an HP stream of the same vintage. It was the first chicklet style I actually liked. My personal laptops an XPS developer edition has a decent keyboard, but it's not even close to either. My Latitude 5491 is the ultimate road warrior as far as modern laptops go.
@@PearComputingDevices Agreed! I only use a laptop when travelling, which is rare, so I just deal with it. On my desktop at home, IBM Model M all the way!
Definitely saving this video. I recently upgraded my desktop to an SSD boot drive and utility drive and love the startup speed. Looking to upgrade my N5110 soon so it's faster for school use. Great video.
***** The shipping costs would far outweigh the services you can do yourself! I gave you all the tips and tricks, all you need is a screwdriver and you got it made! Have faith in yourself, MissWinner247! It's in your namesake, for sake's sake!
***** Well I do the lawn too! If I was a bit younger I'd probably be changing the oil as well! There's nothing to screw up here, the worst thing to happen would be the antenna connection on the wireless card breaking, but as long as your careful, much of any pitfall can be avoided. Oh and you don't have to do the repair in 15 minutes flat like I did either. Just pause the video and come back later!
Oh the joys of wave-soldered parts. I have only ever experienced this on HPs. Usually when this happens it is because either too much force or the wrong angle was used to remove the wire from the connector, or the connector just wasn't soldered correctly during manufacture, but worked anyway. Usually I lift up on the wire closest to its plug and take it off at an angle. You will need to replace the WLAN card, only a screw or 2 and it's done. Otherwise you can use a USB WLAN adapter.
Thank you Kyle!!! I really appreciate your kinds words (and the sub of course!) I have a huge backlog of videos, please feel free to look through the videos I've already posted, and I post a new video every day. The subject could be just about anything under the sun. I'm sure you will find many interesting videos to watch on my channel--welcome aboard!
Thank you! Yes, I didn't give that info because it was not necessarily pertinent. The system still booted with the old hard drive, I was able to go to the Dell DataSafe Backup/Restore Utility on the machine and created the USB drive from that. Since yours doesn't boot, you'll need an OEM copy of Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. You'll need another computer and a flash drive to download the drivers required from Dell. Activate Windows using the product key sticker on the bottom of the machine.
The solution is to replace the drive. You can't magically make a bad part good again. I wouldn't say these things are made to fail, but they're certainly not made like they used to be! Hard drives are now cheap, though, a 500GB drive can be had for $60 or less. The labor to install it and the OS is the expensive part. This video shows you how to do it yourself and save a bundle! Good luck!
Thanks for watching. Although it is unfortunate Dell didn't design a hatch on the bottom to simply remove the hard drive, I have done far more complicated repairs than this for just a keyboard!
Brilliant video thank you jaykay18, Just upgraded my hard drive from 500GB to 1TB with the great instructions in this which made it really easy. Thank you again
This is quite possibly the best comment I have ever received! Thank you! Although, as long as computers continue to be Made-In-China, I'll likely always have a job. You are thusly cordially invited to Club Jay and Jay's Bar. I'll make you an honorary member. Subscribe for more beer-fueled repairs and fix-it videos!
With a properly-sized screwdriver with a tip that's not pointy, you can bear down on the screw enough to break the tension of it. Note if the screws are that tight to begin with it was not assembled properly. Philips screws and drivers are designed so that when the proper torque is achieved, the driver will cam out of the screw. Same happens in reverse--this is what is happening to you. By bearing down harder, you are preventing it from camming and allowing the screw to be loosened.
Thank you for your video, I'm not a novice at doing this but you did a Great instructional piece. I just cloned the old drive to a SSD laptop fired right up. Thanks again.
Best way is to start from scratch, install OS, patch and update, install applications, migrate data, then image when everything's perfect. Then wipe the drive, re-image back and make sure it all still works. If so, you're golden, and you can keep re-imaging when you make major changes. Of course, you should always keep a separate copy of your data JUST IN CASE. I should follow my own advice--watch my SHOUTcast Server hard drive replacement video. I got really lucky with that one.
You're welcome. If you watch the video in full you will see the fan, it is basically 3 more screws once the mainboard is upside-down. You will likely want to reapply thermal paste to the processor if you remove the thermal module. Should a novice do this? Well, if you feel inclined that you can do it and are good working with small screws, you can attempt it. Go slow, be meticulous, and it can be done. I'd say a good solid hour. Have a camera/video running in case you get stuck.
Thank you so much for sharing - very helpful indeed. Don't understand why there are 9 Dislikes!!! I love your sense of humour (Ninja). Thanks once again. Regards.
Thanks for watching! As for the dislikes, there are always sour beggars in the bunch. But I don't let them spoil my fun! I have a tendency to say things before I realize what I say, so that's how the ninja thing came about--it just happened. When I watched the video I cracked myself up laughing, and it stuck, so I'm now the ninja! And I have the "Ninjaneer" shirt to prove it! Thanks again for the kind words, enjoy!
+100 Internets for the kind words!!! Consider it done, I have placed an annotation in the video. Funny, these connectors are remarkable resilient, yet utterly fragile at the same time. The "flip-up" connectors as these units have tend to give if the cable is pulled. Other systems that use slide clips are worse if you break them and can't reinsert them. Worst case is the plastic backer on the cable to come loose, then the cable isn't thick enough to be held in place, good clip or not!
Yes, you should be able to remove it. How is the question. Usually when the connector breaks off the WLAN card, you'll see a square piece stuck in the antenna wire. Using the corners of that piece, you'll pry it out using a small flat blade screwdriver. If there is no square piece (or that didn't come off), it's going to take some finagling at best. Maybe a very small pair of jeweler's pliers. Otherwise you'll need the antenna (it may be a kit), which will require opening the LCD assembly.
Thanks for the great video. It came apart exactly the way you show, here. All I wanted to do was re-seat the hard drive, but it worked and my system booted. Got all my recent files backed up (been about two weeks, but there was a LOT of work there I could have lost). Had this problem intermittently for more than a year, more often now, but not sure if it's really a bad HDD or not.
+Robert Mertens Really glad this helped you out. To find out if the drive is good or bad, these machines have onboard diagnostics! Just power the system on, immediately when the Dell logo appears keep hammering F12 for the boot menu. Once that comes up select diagnostics, and let it run. It will ask if you want to perform additional memory tests, choose yes. It will take a good 2 hours start to finish. If that drive is going bad, the machine will most certainly tell you, probably by error 2000-0142.
+jaykay18 I think I got impatient after about an hour, running that diagnostic and stopped the test. I didn't know it takes two hours or I would have let it run. Thanks again. I'll try that next! I didn't mention that, because my puter was down, I watched this on my cell as I disassembled my machine. I knew it would be tricky, but you show all the little tricks. I would never have gotten the top off if I hadn't seen you do that. I wouldn't have had the nerve to pull on it that hard.
Robert Mertens It takes nerve to yank something plastic that hard. Oddly enough, this "He-Man" maneuver for the top cover only works for this model, if you try that trick on another laptop you're guaranteed to break something. The best way is to get a case opening tool, such as the iSesamo (check Amazon) and that will help you pry open the case. That's of course if you're going to be doing this stuff regularly. I made sure to show all the little tricks because each one is very important, and should be done in the order shown. One false move and you could end up with a bigger problem on your hands. Either way, I'm really glad this helped you out. In fact, you were the second person today to say nice things about this video, which made it even better. Any other questions let me know!
