The following set of instructions will help you to remove and replace the keyboard in a Compaq Presario C761ES laptop. Note that this guide might also work for some other Presario models. Let’s start.

CAUTION: Before you begin any of the following procedures, turn off the laptop , unplug the power adapter and remove the battery. Note that computer parts are very sensitive to static electricity so ground yourself before touching anything inside you computer by using grounding strap or touch a metal faucet  pipe.

The first thing you have to do is to remove the power switch cover. To do this just remove five screws marked with red and three screws marked with yellow (securing the keyboard).

c761 underside

Then carefully lift up the cover.

c761 keyboard

Here you may encounter a slight difficulty because the power switch cover is connected to motherboard with a short ribbon cable that goes underneath the keyboard so if you want to reach the connector, you need first to remove the keyboard. Actually, you don’t really need to disconnect the power switch cover. Just move it slightly towards the display and using a flat screwdriver carefully lift up the keyboard.

c761 keyboard 2

c761 keyboard 3

After that turn it upside down so you can access the ribbon cable connector underneath. You need to unlock the connector in order to release the cable. This can be done by moving both sides of the locking clip about 2-3 millimeters to the direction shown on the picture.

c761 keyboard 5

Here you can see the connector in unlocked position.

c761 keyboard 4

Now you can disconnect and replace the keyboard with a new one.