In the following guide I will try to explain how to disassemble Dell Vostro 1500 and Inspiron 1520/1521 series laptops. The reason to disassemble this laptop is to clean up its fan and heatsink from dust and as you may know dust is one of the main reasons for overheating. Unfortunately the cooling assembly is mounted deep inside the laptop, which means that you will have to disassemble almost the whole machine.

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.

1.Open the display at approximately 180 degree angle, so that it rests flat on your work surface.
2.Insert a flat-head screwdriver into the indent to lift the hinge cover on the right side.


3.Carefully release the hinge cover starting from right to left, then remove it and set it aside.


4.Remove the two screws at the top of the keyboard, then release the keyboard from the two tabs on both sides of the palm rest. You can use small flat-head screwdriver inserted between the palm rest and the metal base of the keyboard.

5.Carefully lift the keyboard and move it up and slightly forward to access to the keyboard connector.
6.Lift the keyboard connector latch in order to release the keyboard cable.


7.Remove the keyboard.
8.Close the display and turn the computer over.
9.Remove two screws that secure the WLAN Card compartment cover, then remove the cover.
10.Disconnect antenna cables from any installed Mini Cards. In my case I have only wireless LAN card installed but there could also be other types of cards such as 3G modem.


11.Remove the two screws from the bottom of the computer.


12.Remove the two screws from the back of the computer.


13.Remove the screw that secure the grounding cable, then disconnect the display cable from its connector on the system board.
14.Disconnect the camera/microphone cable from the system board.
15.Release the display cable and antenna cables from the tabs on the palm rest.


16.Lift the display assembly out of the computer.

Now it’s time to separate the palm rest from the computer base. I will not remove the DVD and hard drive because the main purpose of my work is just cleaning the fan and heat sink. OK, let’s continue.

18.Remove the folloiwing screws from the bottom of the computer.


19.Turn the computer over and remove the four screws that secure the top of the palm rest.
20.Disconnect the Bluetooth and touch pad cables from the system board.


21.Important: Both the palm rest and the computer base are fixed together by plastic clips, that can be broken easily and therefore you have to split them apart very carefully by starting from left to right and moving along the edge.

Now that the lid is removed, you can access and clean the cooling assembly, but before that you will have to remove a few more components, one of which is the graphic card. This is necessary because in order to remove the fan you must first remove the graphic card heatsink. Since the CPU heatsink doesn’t impede the cleaning process you don’t need to remove it unless you want to change the CPU thermal grease.

22. Loosen the three screws that secure the graphics card to the system board, then carefully lift the card out of the computer.
23. Disconnect the fan connector from the system board.
24. Remove the two screws that secure the fan to the base of the computer and then carefully remove the fan.

Note: It’s possible that the fan cable that goes between the system board and computer base to be fixed by plastic tape.  If so, you must release it by pulling it very carefully, but not too hard because the cable is thin and can be damaged very easily. However, if you’re not sure you can handle it then most likely you will also need to remove the system board.