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Disassembling the 14" T61 LCD without breaking anything.

T60/T61 Series
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Glaurung-quena
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Disassembling the 14" T61 LCD without breaking anything.

#1 Post by Glaurung-quena » Wed Jun 05, 2024 2:04 pm

After a couple days struggling with the lid of a 4:3 T61 and cursing the engineers who designed it and the writers responsible for the hardware maintenance manual instructions, I think I've found a fairly reliable way to take one apart without ruining any of the plastic. The HMM is wrong on several points that almost guarantee you will crack the cover and/or break plastic clips in the bezel.

My procedure, for the benefit of anyone else working on one of these:

1. Remove the back cover, mostly as described in the HMM - pop the five screw covers on the bezel, unscrew the five screws. Use a spudger or something at the bottom edge to open a gap, gradually widening the gap along the entire bottom and up the sides. However, when it comes to the sides, it's *vital* to use a plastic opening tool and/or plastic pick to slide between the metal frame and the plastic cover, otherwise the cover is very likely to crack. Slowly, carefully, and gently are the watchwords. Once the cover is off, we can turn to the bezel.

2. IGNORE the HMM instructions regarding the bezel. Whoever wrote them was drunk. Instead, begin with a plastic pick or razor blade, and cut through the excessive amounts of 2 sided tape holding the inner bezel to the edges of the LCD. There may not be tape to the right side of the LCD, but it will be on all the other sides.

3. Continue to IGNORE the HMM. *Do not* start trying to free the bezel's plastic clips. Instead, turn the lid over and unscrew the antennas from the inner frame. You do not need to remove the tape holding the wires in place, just unscrew the three antenna thingies from the left and top sides of the frame so you can bend them away from the edges.

4. With the antennas dangling, you now can access three sides of the frame in order to unhook the many plastic clips holding the bezel to the metal frame on the right, left, and top sides. Using a pick, opening tool, or spudger, gently free the clips. If the adhesive is all cut, the bezel should lift easily once the clips are worked loose. If necessary use an opening tool or pick along the bottom edge of the frame to work the bezel free there, and it will come off.

5. With the back cover and the bezel removed, the rest is pretty straightforward. To extract the LCD, you need to remove two small silver screws holding the inverter in place, three larger screws holding the two hinges in place (two on the left, one on the right), and three more screws holding the lcd to the frame - top left, top right, and on the side at the bottom left. The HMM for 4:3 T61's claims the hinge screws are the same size as the rest - it is wrong. With all the screws off, lift the LCD out of the frame on the left, free the light at the top edge, then remove the LCD and its cables completely.

6. Once you've lifted the LCD out of the frame, there's nothing holding the right hinge in place - if you pick up the frame, it will just fall off. The left hinge has a thin metal bit that curves around the frame, so it won't fall, but if you need to remove it, it's a bit fiddly to get back together. Don't be like me - note how it goes before you take it off. It belongs outside the frame, inside a little bracket bit, and curving around to the bottom of the frame where it tucks into a gap there.

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Re: Disassembling the 14" T61 LCD without breaking anything.

#2 Post by TPFanatic » Wed Jun 05, 2024 6:31 pm

Just chiming in to say 14.1” 4:3 T61 was the WORST lid I ever disassembled.

14” T40 series is second worst
Stable of Unicorns: P71 4K 7700HQ 20H2 ~ T430 QHD 3632QM Server 2008 R2 ~ X330 WQXGA 3615QE 22H2 ~ R500 WUXGA T9400 7 Ult ~ T500 WSXGA+ P9700 7 Ult ~ R61i UXGA T9500 22H2 ~ X61s SXGA+ T8100 7 Ult ~ T60 UXGA T7400 7 Ult ~ A31p UXGA 2.0 SL6V9 XP Pro
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