Disassemble a gateway 7330

Answer 1

Removing the Gateway 7330 keyboard to get to the heatsink. Remove the battery for safety's sake. There is a panel with the on/off switch etc, next to the display. It does not look like it comes off, but it does. The first step is to remove 2 long screws from the bottom of the laptop. These are near the back edge, and are slightly staggered from each other. They are the middle two screws. After removing them, look at the back edge of the computer where the screen "hinges or pivots are. There are two silver plastic pieces. With the display approx vertical (in normal viewing position), carefully press in on the bottom of the two pieces and pry them up until the locking tab is exposed and sitting outside of the plastic. From the front of the laptop, pry these silver plastic pieces up (you may have to tilt the display backward). The plastic strip WILL come out, (it rocks upward toward the front edge of the laptop. Once it is up, there are two screws, one at each end of the keyboard, that secure it. Remove these screws and the keyboard lifts up, to expose a large sheet of metal.

There are two long screws and some short ones. Removing this, will allow the metal to be removed from the heatsink/fan assembly. Removing the 4 large slotted screws, and lifting the glued down flap of plastic (to free the cable going to the display), should allow you to manipulate the fans and heatsinks out of the laptop. In my case, it pulled the processor with it, and I had to carefully pry it off the heatsink and re-insert it into the socket. I then replaced the silver grease. HOWEVER:

to clean out the fans, you can used compressed air and blow down through the fans, and into the vents from the outside.

Leave the fans in place, with the heatsink screwed down, and you can put the battery back in, and power the laptop up. Observe the fans and if they are not running, they can be removed and replaced. (one comes out from the top of the heatsink, one comes out from the bottom of the heat sink.)