Dell Inspiron 1545 Thermal Fan Replacement

Turn the laptop over to its back.

Slide the release latch while simultaneously pulling backwards on the battery.

Slide the battery out of the battery bay.

Flip the laptop to its back side.

Remove the screw (5mm Phillips #1) that secures the Optical Disk Drive on the back of the laptop.

Push the Optical Disk Drive out using a spudger tool as shown and pull from the front cover of the Optical Disk Drive.

Unscrew the four screws (3mm Phillips #1) that hold the base cover in place.

Carefully lift the base cover vertically away from the laptop.

Loosen the 5 screws (4mm, Phillips #1) that secure the CPU Heat Sink to the motherboard.

Pull up on the Heat Sink unit to remove it.

After removing the battery, remove the two screws (3mm Phillips #1) beneath it. These screws hold the Center Control Cover in place.

Flip the laptop over to the front and open the display as far as possible.

Pry the Center Control Cover from the laptop. On the right there is a small divot, it is advised that you start removing the panel from here.

Carefully lift the Center Control Cover away from the laptop.

Remove the two screws (5mm Phillips #1) at the top of the keyboard.

Slide the keyboard out and away from the laptop and lift it up to access the keyboard connector.

Lift the connector latch that secures the keyboard cable to the connector on the motherboard and remove the cable.

Lift the keyboard up and away from the laptop.

Remove the 11 screws (5mm Phillips #1) from the back of the laptop as marked. One screw is in the middle, by the RAM.

Remove black and white wires from the WLAN that lead to the display by pulling straight up.

Unwind the wires from the routing guides.

Turn the laptop back over to its normal resting position and pull the black and white wires previously connected to the WLAN through the hole.

Remove the 4 smaller screws (5mm Phillips #1) and one screw on the top left (3mm Phillips #1) from the palm rest.

Disconnect the Bluetooth card cable, Wed cable, Camera1 cable, power cable, and touchpad cable from the respective Motherboard connectors as marked. For the Bluetooth cable and Camera1 cable, pull the plugs towards the screen. For the touchpad and power cable, lift the black tab and then pull them out. For the Wed cable, pull the blue tab up.

Unsecure the wires from the routing guides so they are loose.

To separate the palm rest from the rest of the computer, use a plastic opening tool to lift up the plastic. It is best to start at one point and work your way around.

Remove the 3 screws (3mm Phillips #1) that secure the daughter board to the motherboard.

Lift the daughter board away from the laptop.

Remove the two screws (3mm, Phillips #1) on the left and the two screws (5mm, Phillips #1) on the right that secure the Motherboard to the laptop.

Disconnect the Thermal Fan cable, Speaker cable, and USB Board cable from their connectors.

To remove the Motherboard, pull away and up from the base of the laptop.

Remove the two screws (5mm, Phillips #1) that secure the thermal fan to the laptop.

Lift the thermal fan up and away from the computer.