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Advent 7104 laptop

penneck
Aspiring Pro
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Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Advent 7104 laptop

I need to get at the motherboard on my wife's Advent laptop. I can take off a couple of "inspection hatches" but cannot expose any more of the motherboard. I have removed all  the screws I can see, but does anyone have any experience such that they can guide me where and how to deal with any hidden screws/clips, etc, please.
Thanks very much
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rongtw
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Re: Advent 7104 laptop

This May help  Wink

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penneck
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Re: Advent 7104 laptop

thanks rongtw. I've downloaded the video, and watched it. I'll try working on my laptop some time tomorrow. Will let you know how I get on
Cheers
picbits
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Re: Advent 7104 laptop

Often there are lots of plastic clips around the edges of a laptop - running a thin plastic wedge around the seams tends to either open them or snap the tabs of the case ......
Hidden screws under keyboards and screen hinges are another "gotcha"
penneck
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Re: Advent 7104 laptop

First an apology - the model number was 7105 not 7104, and now for a progress report.
I watched the video, and I tried to adapt the shown method of removing the cover at the top of the keyboard, but the one in the video appears to be very different from mine. In the end, I admitted defeat as at the moment I don't want to break anything. However, in the area uncovered by removing the inspection hatch over the uP, there was a mystery heatsink. It didn't seem to be suited to what it was attached to (some sort of bent metal part which doesn't seem to have a task), but was too firmly attached to be easily removed. However, it did go under the base cover, and after a bit of wriggling it came free. It was now obvious it wasn't where it was supposed to be, and it had signs of glue on it as if it should be stuck to a large ic. There is such an ic near the USB ports, so I've attached it to that (using the original glue, not fresh stuff). I don't know if that is the correct place so am just testing it. So far, it doesn't seemed to have improved the situation, but I may have overheated something in the early testing, so I am leaving the laptop to cool down.
Will be in touch
ReedRichards
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Re: Advent 7104 laptop

Be aware that Advent is not a real manufacturer, it's the 'own brand' of Currys/PC World.  Therefore it could have come from any number of smaller manufacturers and is likely to be poorly documented and poorly supported.  This independent site http://www.uktsupport.co.uk/advent/advidx.htm is quite good for information.
picbits
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Re: Advent 7104 laptop

Advent machines used to be built in Basingstoke - I used to help QC test them Wink
Some memories looking through those models in that list you linked to ReedRichards Smiley
penneck
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Re: Advent 7104 laptop

Sadly no progress with this laptop, though it does seem I was correct about which IC the heatsink had fallen off.
Have gone to that link that ReedRichards suggested, and found a user manual (it is a rebadged ecs 731 pc) but that doesn't show how to get right inside the machine. However, thanks to RR for that - it's a step in the right direction.
I guess I'm going to have to give up on this for now. If the worst happens, I can always remove the hard drive and mount it as an external drive on a new laptop
Thanks for your help
penneck
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Re: Advent 7104 laptop

I've blundered on, and now I got the keyboard off, and most of the screws out. I have the top and bottom halves of the base cover almost separated, but I have two problems now.
(1) there is something towards the front left corner keeping the two halves together. It is about 2 to 3 inches in from the corner, to the left of the pressure pad, and near the keyboard position.I cannot see any screws near there that I haven't removed, so any ideas? The video rongtw pointed me towards doesn't seem to have anything like this.
(2) the wireless mini-pci module (AzureWave AW-GM100) is rather like a laptop DIMM card but also has two wires attached to it, one grey and one black. They are mounted separately on the board on a connector type that I have never seen before. It looks like they need to be disconnected before the top half of the base can be removed. While investigating how to remove them, they seemed to be able to twist as if they were clipped onto pins on the module. The grey one came off - don't know what the secret was of getting it off, but now I cannot persuade it to  go back on. What is the correct way, or is this going to be a solder repair?
Thanks for any help
w23
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Re: Advent 7104 laptop

(2) the wire is a (wi-fi) antenna connection - normally a push-fit but very fiddly due to small size.
(1) no idea but is there an optical drive, have you slid it out (often one screw in the back of the laptop secures an optical drive at its inner end then it slides out of place), also have you removed hard drive - you often find additional screws lurking under removable items.
Call me 'w23'
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penneck
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Registered: ‎03-08-2007

Re: Advent 7104 laptop

Hello W23. Thanks for the info about the wire (problem (2)). With a bit of patience, I have been able to reattach it.
As for the suggestion about problem (1) - I had already removed the optical drive, the hard drive, and the battery. The point where there seems to be some sort of attachment between the top and bottom is roughly the area between the battery compartment and the hard drive compartment (not in them, between them). There aren't any visible screws anywhere near that, and any screws that are visible are on the motherboard itself so I suspect are motherboard mounting screws.
Regards