How to disassemble Toshiba Satellite P300 or P305 laptop
In this guide I explain how to disassemble a Toshiba Satellite P300 or P305 laptop. I’m doing this disassembly in order to remove and replace the cooling fan.
In a Satellite P300 or P305 laptop the cooling fan cannot be accessed from the bottom, it’s hidden deep inside the laptop under the motherboard.
At the beginning of the guide I explain how to remove the keyboard. Follow steps 1-5. Be careful with the keyboard cable connector on the motherboard.
The DVD drive is secured by one screw hidden under the keyboard. After you find and remove that screw, you can remove the DVD drive.
Steps 8-11 shows how to access and remove laptop hard drive, memory and wireless card.
Read through steps 12-17 in order to remove the top cover assembly.
Finally, steps 18-31 explain how to remove the motherboard. Now you can access and remove the cooling fan.
January 13th, 2012 at 6:26 pm
Hey there,
Recently I bought a second hand Toshiba P300 for my girlfriend, and she accidently had the fan air vent blocked so now the fan doesn’t work at all. So I thought that I would just buy another fan and heatsink, so I did. I Replaced the fan with the new one, but the fan still does not work! Is there any other reason for this?
Thanks
October 22nd, 2011 at 4:52 pm
Great Guide but…………
I reassembled my Equium P300-16T and now have no lights for HD activity, Charging state, Media control (pause, play, fast forward etc) no Mouse Pad or mousepad illumination, no built in speaker.
All that illuminates is “Equium” bottom right case and “Power” top right of case.
Does anyone know what I have not reconnected correctly?
It must be one of the 3 connectors under the key board….but which one?
Thanks in advance
August 25th, 2011 at 10:14 am
Hello
I have a P305D-S8828 Toshiba Sattalite Pro. I have never had any issues with my laptop until I stuck a sprint air card in the USB and as soon as I installed the software, my LCD went black. Now it works off and on but most of the time it just boots up and you see the Toshiba screen and the little windows icon screen but it never gets to the log in screen and if it does when I log in, it goes black. Any ideas if this could be the mother board or if I can change the Video card. I did do the toshiba disks (boot back to factory out of box) thing, but that didnt help anything. Please help.
July 23rd, 2011 at 3:01 pm
Tim,
had the same problem, black LCD screen. It appeared that I had bent a couple of pins while putting back the LCD connector. Ended up cutting a away some of the plastic of the male connector to be able to straighten the pins with a couple of needles and a micro screwdriver. I bit of a hassle, but eventually everything worked out fine,
George S
June 16th, 2011 at 6:19 am
For those wondering on the keyboard cable clip (P300) – the black section flips up towards the screen.
so if you slide your thumb nail between the cable and the black section of clip, then lift up, it should flip up.
And yes, i learnt this after breaking my clip
also, after reassembly, now no power seems to be getting to the system (neither through battery or adapter). – anyone with any tips?
June 7th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
[q][b]Barleone said:[/b](/#comment-224929)
What if I add a (very) little Arctic Silver on the pads? I figure that will improve the contact and therefore improve the release of heat. Right?[/q]
[q][b]cj2600 said:[/b]
I wouldn’t do that.[/q]
Can you give me a particular reason why not? I cannot think of a reason why I wouldn’t, but maybe I’m overlooking a few risks because I’m quite a n00b on these matters. That’s why I’m asking you again, I want to know the possible risks.
April 17th, 2011 at 6:07 pm
How do you remove the keyboard, you say to unlock but we are unable to figure out how to unlock otherwise great tutorial.
April 5th, 2011 at 7:27 am
I’m havin the Same problem as tim. I’ve re assembled it all but it’s just the screen that doesn’t work. I’ve plugged a HD cable into it shows the display on the external screen but not on the laptop screen
April 2nd, 2011 at 5:58 pm
I did remove the mother board to access the fan but i did not remove the CPU. Both memory modules are both installed correctly.
March 31st, 2011 at 11:37 am
Tim,
Make sure both memory modules seated correctly.
Did you remove the CPU? Make sure the CPU is seated correctly and the socket is LOCKED.
March 31st, 2011 at 11:27 am
Hey I have a question if anyone know’s the answer. I followed the directions exactly. So that i could access my cooling fan to clean it out. However, after i put it back together my computer will not boot up. All the lights come on and the fan starts and the cd drive starts up, but that’s it the screen remains black and it does not boot up.
March 27th, 2011 at 5:16 am
I can’t see how to unlock the keyboard connector from the motherboard. It seems pretty solid and I’ve already chipped the White part trying to force. Could you provide some guidance please?
March 19th, 2011 at 5:01 pm
Sorry, i meant GPU card.
March 18th, 2011 at 3:53 pm
I was wondering if it would cause any trouble to my p300-19f if i were to exchange my ATI HD3650 vga card for a ATI HD5470, or any other ati radeon mobility for that matter.
March 17th, 2011 at 8:23 am
Hi ive a Toshiba Satellite Pro P300-1EX. I dont see a guide for dissasembly so was wondering which is the closest to it amonst all them great guides youve put up.
Cheers
March 15th, 2011 at 5:15 pm
Barleone,
I wouldn’t do that.
March 15th, 2011 at 5:11 pm
What if I add a (very) little Arctic Silver on the pads? I figure that will improve the contact and therefore improve the release of heat. Right?
March 11th, 2011 at 8:42 am
Barleone,
It’s hard to tell without trying
but I think you can.
Both procs looks similar and support same type of socket. Also, your chipset supports 800FSB.
Looks like you should be able to upgrade from T5550 to T7250.
I don’t remember if this is thermal paste or thermal pad. I wouldn’t replace thermal pads with grease because thermal pads and thick and if you replace them with thermal grease there will be a gap between the heatsink and chips.
Do not replace blue thermal pads with grease, that’s for sure. If you can, reuse gray thermal grease. Just remove the video card, don’t touch anything. Replace the CPU and assemble everything back together.
You can replace thermal grease on the CPU, it’s up to you.
March 11th, 2011 at 6:16 am
Hi, i have the P300 with Intel T5550 (C2D Merom processor 667FSB). Can I update to the Intel T7250 proc? (C2D Merom 800FSB)
The Chipset is GM965 (800FSB capable)
When you disassemble the graphics card (steps 27+28) I see some gray thermal paste (step 29 http://www.irisvista.com/tech/laptops/Toshiba-Satellite-P305/big/take-apart-notebook-29.jpg ). Should I remove and replace that, or would it be ok to add a thin layer of liquid thermal paste like ArcticSilver: http://www.arcticsilver.com/images_v2/thermepoxy/adhesivec.jpg.
I hope you can help me out. Thanks for the excellent guide anyway.
February 22nd, 2011 at 5:42 pm
I hope this is the place I can ask this. On my daughter’s P305, the mute, media, play, stop, back, and forward buttons along the top next to the power button have stopped working. She turned off the computer and these buttons stayed list. She took out the battery, replaced it again, and restarted the computer. Now they don’t work. Do you have any idea WHAT could be wrong? I really hope you can help. Thank you.
February 11th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
Hi
My P300 has a problem with charging. It wont charge unless the cable is held in a cerain way. I read on another website that the internal jack point needs re-soldering.
Can you tell me how far I need to open the laptop. I cant find a service manual for it either.
Thanx in advance
Asif
January 31st, 2011 at 11:58 am
Hi there. My P300 Satellite is having charging issues. When it is sleep mode or shutdown the battery will charge when plugged in. As soon as I turn it on the wall power no longer works. It works only on battery.
We deassembled and looked at the power supply, etc. Nothing seems wrong. Is there a start up sequence after you have deassembled it? Can’t get it to turn on at all now. Still shows the battery is charging, but nothing else. HELP!!
December 27th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Hi,
You have got to get tired of all the kudos but it is well deserved. It is so hard to get this kind of great help especially from the manufacturers. I would like to say thanks for these excellent guides! I need help with HDD on my P305d-S8834 . What are the maximum dimensions it will support for HHD1? Will it support a second HDD? If so does it limit size of HDD1? If supports a second HDD what are the maximum dimensions of HHD2? If so does it need a caddy w/screws (what part # and who sells them)? THANKS
Regards, Gerry
October 7th, 2010 at 8:01 am
Jackie,
Try getting it out with with something like dental pick.
Try using a straighten paper clip with a hook at the end.
Removing the top cover from the laptop will not help. You sill not be able to access the memory stick even if you remove the motherboard.
October 7th, 2010 at 7:52 am
hi i have a toshiba satelite p300d and i have got my pro dou memory card stuck in there is there anyway of getting it out ive tried tweexers and cocktail sticks with the duck tape on as well but i cant get it out is there some was i can open that part of the laptop easily to remove it
October 4th, 2010 at 6:04 am
Btw, Any idea where I can get a replacement VGA board for a P300?? Toshiba spares department seem to be charging a bomb!??
October 4th, 2010 at 5:55 am
Very good instructions!… Had to take my p300 apart to access the VGA board as it’s causing me problems! Might be overheating, so I’m going to re-apply some thermal paste and see if it sorts it, if not, I’ll have to order a new board! Thanks though!
October 3rd, 2010 at 10:43 am
on my p305 s8822 the keyboard bezel has 3 screws in the battery compartment. please add this to the how to page as the bezel can be broken if these are not removed first. i found out when my bezel resisted being pried out. not wanting to break it i took a closer look and am glad i did. thanks for the great tutorial !
September 21st, 2010 at 3:09 pm
Christina,
Did you separate the display assemble from the laptop base as it shown on the step 21?
September 21st, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Hello,
I have looked at you feed on Google about taking apart a Satellite P305, but all the information is not there. I need to take the LCD apart and I can get everything loose, but the front bezel will not budge. Can you tell me where to go to view the rest of the take apart pages? I need to see if it is the LCD or Inverter board on this computer.
Thanks,
Christina