A customer called the other day with an Asus EeePC netbook that would
not boot. I could hear a clicking sound when the computer first started
to boot but the system would not boot into Windows. A classic example
of a bad hard drive especially with the clicking noise. I checked
online to find that the Asus EeePC he owned contained a standard SATA
hard drive that could be replaced. I grabbed a SATA laptop drive off
the shelf along with my USB CD-ROM drive since the netbook
does not have a CD-ROM drive as a standard component. I was ready to
replace the drive.
Unfortunately looking at the bottom of the laptop, there was no opening
for the hard drive, just a battery and compartment for the memory. This
meant I'd have to tear apart the entire netbook to replace the drive.
If you find yourself in a similar situation, I hope the instructions
below will allow you to remove and replace the drive without too much
trouble.
First find a nice flat surface with good lighting directly above. Place
a towel on the table or other flat surface and place the netbook face
down on the towel. You'll need a small phillips screwdriver and and
small flat head screwdriver to accomplish the disassembly.
1) Start by removing the screws from the bottom of the netbook and
place them in a small container.
2) Now remove the battery and place it off to the side
3) Remove the memory compartment cover and place it over by the battery.
4) Remove the screw inside the memory compartment since it connects the
top and bottom of the case together.
5) Now flip the netbook face up and open the lid.
6) Look at the space just above the keyboard, you'll see some small
clips that connect to inside the battery compartment. Gently pop these
clips open and with the flat head screwdriver start prying the keyboard
up starting from the upper left corner. At the bottom of the keyboard,
there is a small ribbon cable that connects to the main board. You can
lift the keyboard out, but you'll have to release the keyboard
connector as well.
You'll notice, maybe with a magnifying glass, that there are two black
latches on either side of the keyboard connector. Push those black
latches up toward the top of the keyboard to release the connector.
Then lift the keyboard out and place in on the table.
7) Underneath the keyboard, you'll find a silver plate with screws.
Take all of these screws out, along with the one that is covered by a
sticker. Essentially, once the sticker is broken your warranty is
voided. So if you want to send this into the company for repair under
warranty, please stop and reassemble the netbook, however if your
system is out of warranty, it won't really matter. Place these screws
in a second container on the table
8) Now here is the hard part. Starting at the top of the case nearest
the screen, begin to pry the case apart working in a clockwise fashion
around the case. Use the small flat screwdriver for this procedure. You
need to be careful, however some of the case does require a bit of
force to open it. You just don't want to snap any plastic connectors
along the way.
9) Once the case is pryed apart, lift the top of the case off and place
it on the table with the rest of the parts. There is another small
ribbon cable that you'll have to unlatch for the touchpad. Its similar
to the keyboard connector only smaller.
10) Ok, now you should see all the components of the PC including the
wireless card, hard drive, etc. There is a ribbon cable that stretches
across the hard drive that will have to be removed for access to the
hard drive. This cable has a latch on each end that pulls up to release
the cable.
11) Now the hard drive can be popped out by sliding it loose and
lifting it out of the case. Replace the drive with the new one and
start reassembling the netbook one piece at a time.
12) Once the netbook is put back together connect the USB CD-ROM drive
with your Windows CD or Recovery CD in it and turn the PC on. Run the
recovery or Windows install and you should be back in business.
Here is a great YouTube video related to this procedure.