Dell Inspiron 7500 Removing And Replacing Parts Manual

							Dell™ Inspiron™ 7500
REMOVING AND
REPLACING PARTS 
™
www.dell.com
support.dell.com 
						

							Notes, Notices, and Cautions
Throughout this guide, blocks of text may be accompanied by an icon and printed in 
bold type or in italic type. These blocks are notes, notices, cautions, and warnings, 
and they are used as follows:
NOTE: A NOTE indicates important information that helps you make better use of 
your computer system.
NOTICE: A NOTICE indicates either potential damage to hardware or loss 
of data and tells you how to avoid the problem.
CAUTION: A CAUTION indicates a potentially hazardous situation which, if 
not avoided, may result in minor or moderate injury.
____________________
Information in this document is subject to change without notice.
© 2000 Dell Computer Corporation. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of Dell Computer Corpo-
ration is strictly forbidden.
Trademarks used in this text: Dell, the DELL logo, Inspiron, 
Other trademarks and trade names may be used in this document to refer to either the entities 
claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Computer Corporation disclaims any propri-
etary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.
March 2000     P/N 679DC  Rev. A00 
						

							v
Contents
Precautionary Measures  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Recommended Tools  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Screw Identification and Tightening  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Exploded View of Computer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Exploded View of 15-Inch XGA Display Assembly  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Exploded View of 15-Inch SXGA+ Display Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Exploded View of 15.4-Inch SXGA Display Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Hard-Disk Drive Disassembly  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Combo Module Disassembly  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Keyboard Removal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
ZIF Connectors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Thermal Shield and Internal Modem Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Heat Exchanger/Fan Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Processor Board Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
LCD Removal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Palmrest Component Assembly  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Palmrest Assembly Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Palmrest Assembly Component Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
IR Board Removal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Touch Pad Assembly Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Hard-Disk Drive Heat Shield Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Speaker Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
PC Card Heat Sink Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
DC-DC Board Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Hinge Saddle Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
RJ-11 Card Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
System Board Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
PC Card Cage Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Audio Card and Audio Thermal Shield Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 
						

							vi
Latch Assembly Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Display Assembly and Display Assembly Component Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Display Assembly Component Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
15-Inch LCD Panel Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Exploded View of Base Assembly  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
FiguresFigure 1. AC Adapter  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 2. Port Replicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Figure 3. Batter y Compartment  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Figure 4. PC Card Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 5. Hard-Disk Drive Assembly Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 6. Memory Module Covers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Figure 7. Memory Modules  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Figure 8. Video Card Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Figure 9. Media Bay Module Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Figure 10. Computer Components   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Figure 11. 15-Inch XGA Display Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 12. 15-Inch SXGA+ Display Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 13. 15.4-Inch SXGA Display Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 14. Hard-Disk Drive Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Figure 15. Combo Module Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Figure 16. Side Mounting Bracket Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Figure 17. Keyboard Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Figure 18. ZIF Connector Release  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 19. Thermal Shield/Internal Modem Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 20. Heat Exchanger/Fan Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 21. Processor Board Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Figure 22. LCD Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 23. Exploded View of Palmrest Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Figure 24. Palmrest Assembly Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 25. IR Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 26. Touch Pad  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 27. Touch Pad Assembly Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 28. Hard-Disk Drive Heat Shield Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Figure 29. Speaker Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 30. PC Card Heat Sink Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 31. DC-DC Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Figure 32. Hinge Saddle Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 33. RJ-11 Card Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 34. System Board Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 35. PC Card Cage Components   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 36. Audio Card/Thermal Shield Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 37. Latch Assembly Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 
						

							vii
Figure 38. Display Assembly Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 39. Front Bezel Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 40. Base Assembly Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
TablesTable 1. Screw Identification and Location  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 
						

							viii 
						

							ix
Table 1. Screw Identification and Location  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 
						

							x
Figure 1.
AC Adapter   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 2.
Port Replicator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Figure 3.
Battery Compartment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Figure 4.
PC Card Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 5. Hard-Disk Drive Assembly Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 6. Memory Module Covers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Figure 7. Memory Modules  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Figure 8. Video Card Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Figure 9. Media Bay Module Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Figure 10. Computer Components   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Figure 11. 15-Inch XGA Display Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Figure 12. 15-Inch SXGA+ Display Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Figure 13. 15.4-Inch SXGA Display Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Figure 14. Hard-Disk Drive Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Figure 15. Combo Module Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Figure 16. Side Mounting Bracket Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Figure 17. Keyboard Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Figure 18. ZIF Connector Release  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Figure 19.
Thermal Shield/Internal Modem Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Figure 20. Heat Exchanger/Fan Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 21. Processor Board Components. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Figure 22. LCD Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 23.
Exploded View of Palmrest Assembly. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Figure 24. Palmrest Assembly Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Figure 25. IR Board Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 26. Touch Pad  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 27. Touch Pad Assembly Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 28. Hard-Disk Drive Heat Shield Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Figure 29. Speaker Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 30. PC Card Heat Sink Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 31. DC-DC Board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Figure 32. Hinge Saddle Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 33. RJ-11 Card Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 34. System Board Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 35. PC Card Cage Components   . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 36. Audio Card/Thermal Shield Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 37. Latch Assembly Components . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 38. Display Assembly Removal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 39. Front Bezel Removal  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 40. Base Assembly Components  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 
						

							support.dell.comRemoving and Replacing Parts 1
Removing and Replacing Parts
NOTICE: Only a certified service technician should perform the procedures 
for removing and replacing parts. The warranty on the computer becomes 
void if anyone other than a certified technician performs these procedures.
Unless other wise noted, each procedure assumes the following:
You have the recommended tools.
You have performed the steps in Precautionar y Measures.
The computer and any attached peripherals are turned off and the peripherals are 
disconnected from the computers input/output (I/O) panel.
You can replace or reinstall a part by performing the removal procedure in reverse 
order unless additional information is provided.
Precautionary Measures
NOTICE: Only a certified service technician should perform the procedures 
for removing and replacing parts. The warranty on the computer becomes 
void if anyone other than a certified technician performs these procedures.
WARNING FOR YOUR PERSONAL SAFETY AND PROTECTION OF THE 
EQUIPMENT
Before you start to work on the computer, perform the following steps in 
the sequence indicated:
1. Ground yourself by attaching an antistatic grounding strap to your wrist 
and to an unpainted metal surface on the computer’s I/O panel. If an anti-
static grounding strap is not available, periodically discharge static 
electricity from your body by touching one of the connectors on the I/O 
panel.
2. Turn off the computer and any attached peripherals.
3. Disconnect the computer and any attached peripherals from electrical out-
lets to reduce the potential for personal injury or shock. 
						

							2 Dell Inspiron 7500 — Removing and Replacing Parts
Precautionar y measures include disconnecting the computer from the AC adapter and 
port replicator and removing the main battery, PC Cards, hard-disk drive, memor y 
module cover, memory modules, and devices in the media bay.
To take these precautionar y measures, perform the following steps:
1. Determine the power state of the computer.
If the system is on, go to step 2. If you are unsure whether the system is on, shut 
down and restart the system, and then go to step 2.
2. Turn off any attached peripherals, and then shut down the computer.
3. Disconnect the computer and any attached peripherals from electrical outlets to 
reduce the potential for personal injury or shock. 
If the computer has an AC adapter, disconnect the AC power cable (see Figure 1) 
from the electrical outlet and then from the AC adapter; then disconnect the AC 
adapter from the computer or from the Inspiron Port Replicator.
Figure 1.  AC Adapter 
4. If the computer is connected to a port replicator (see Figure 2), pull both release 
handles on the sides of the replicator to undock the computer. 1AC  p owe r  c a b l e
2AC adapter
3AC adapter cable
4AC adapter connector