Lenovo ThinkPad T480 Palm Rest Replacement

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Comentários: 13

Lenovo ThinkPad T480 Palm Rest Replacement

Dificuldade

Difficult

Passos

Tempo necessário

40 minutes - 2 hours

Introdução

If you need to replace the palmrest of your ThinkPad T480, read this guide.

As someone who has used ifixit for many years, I feel like i should contribute.

I have done tons of work on my thinkpad, and looking at the t480 page, i realized nobody had done a guide on replacing this.

so here we are :3

Ferramentas

Peças

1yr506 t480 palmrest

Passo 1

Disable the battery, power down, and unplug your device before you begin.
Flip the laptop over so the bottom of the device is showing.

EN: NOTE: The built-in battery needs to be disabled first! This can be done in the BIOS.

DE: ANMERKUNG: Die eingebaute Batterie muss zuerst deaktiviert werden! Dies kann im BIOS getan werden.

Thomas -

Passo 2

Using your fingers, slide the lock on each side of the battery to the unlocked position.
Remove the battery from the slot.

Passo 3

Use the Phillips #1 screwdriver to loosen the two screws parallel to the battery compartment.

Passo 4

Open the laptop so the keyboard is facing you.

Passo 5

Push the keyboard towards the screen and away from the trackpad and then slide it out towards you gently.
The keyboard is connected to the board by two ribbon connectors.
Be careful not to rip the connectors when you flip the keyboard over.

Passo 6

Flip the keyboard over towards you to expose the backside of the keyboard and the two ribbon connectors.
Using the black nylon spudger, flip the first ribbon connector lock open. Slide the first connector out.

Passo 7

Using the black nylon spudger, unlock the second ribbon connector and slide it out from the port.

Hello Sarah,

Thanks for this great guide.

I mistakenly broke this ribbon connector on my T480 and wish you will help with any info where to source a good one and how to fit it back. It has prevent my keyboard from working.

Adeyinka Olugbade -

Passo 9

Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, loosen the six captive screws.

Passo 10

Insert the blue plastic opening tool into the space between the lower case and the chassis.
Slide the opening tool around the perimeter of the case to release the clips holding the case and the chassis together.
If it feels like the battery well portion of the back cover isn't loose, these clips may be holding the cover to the laptop. Use your opening tool to pry the clips loose and try removing the cover again.
Remove the back case.

I found a tough spudger (or even better a plectrum) is best here as the clips, although easy to separate, hold the case firmly leaving a tight gap which a soft spudger may fail to enter.

Benjamin Kinsey -

Hi Benjamin, thanks for the tip!

Sarah Westberg -

You also have to pry the near the battery. I experienced that you can't pry the front side.

Minko Kelko -

I used a credit card to pry the clips loose, it worked great. Added 2nd RAM stick easily.

NFR Computers -

Passo 11

Use a Phillips #1 screwdriver to remove the two 4.6 mm screws that secure the internal battery to the frame.

Passo 12

Use the spudger to slide the battery socket connector parallel to the motherboard and out of its socket on the motherboard.

Passo 13

Lift the battery straight out of its recess and remove it.
If the battery is difficult to remove from the recess, use a nylon spudger to gently lift it on one edge, making it easier to grasp and remove by hand.
To prevent damage or potential fire, do not bend or flex the battery. Only use a plastic spudger and avoid any sharp tools that could puncture the battery.

DO NOT wedge out the battery - T480 has two screws that hold down a plastic battery tray which easily lifts out after the two frame screws are removed. Wedging out will ruin the battery and could damage the cell and cause a fire.

Poseidon219 -

The guide says to remove those two screws. They are "lifting" with the wedge. Probably more of a way to promote their tools than out of necessity, but idk

Lorenzo Serrano -

You lift the internal battery first from the top, and then the bottom.

This is because there are 2 "clips" on the bottom that the battery uses to slide into the chassis.

Tai Lam -

Passo 14

Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver remove the four 3.1 mm screws from the chassis.
In this guide additional components have been removed. Your laptop internals will look slightly different than the images in Steps 8-10 because of this.

Passo 15

Using the black nylon spudger, remove the ribbon cable connected to the trackpad.

Passo 16

Lift the chassis up and the trackpad will fall out.
When reinserting your trackpad, screw in the screws about halfway, and then center the trackpad. Then finish screwing them in. Otherwise, it may be off-center and might not click down.

Passo 17

Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, remove two 4.8 mm screws from the right speaker.

Passo 18

Lift the right speaker out of the case.
Gently remove the speaker cable from the perimeter of the chassis, connecting the right speaker to the left speaker.

Passo 19

Remove two 4.8 mm screws from the left speaker using the Phillips #1 screwdriver.

Passo 20

Using the black nylon spudger, remove the slide connector which attaches the left speaker to the motherboard.
Remove the left speaker from the case.

Passo 21

Using the black nylon spudger, lift the connector lock up.
Disconnect the storage cable from the system board.

Passo 22

Lift the hard drive up with a tab if it has one or with your spudger.
Lift the drive assembly from the system.

Passo 23

Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, remove three 4.6 mm screws from the I/O bracket.

Passo 24

Lift the I/O bracket off the motherboard.

Passo 25

Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, remove the three 4.1 mm screws from the RJ45 bracket.
Lift the bracket off of the motherboard.

Passo 26

Use the black nylon spudger to lift up the small locking flap on the power button cable's ZIF connector.
Slide the power button cable out of the ZIF connector.

Passo 27

Using the black nylon spudger, disconnect the LCD cable from the motherboard.

You got camera and display cable mixed up. The small one is for camera and the long one (50 pin) for screen.

Tim Rosulnik -

Steps 3-8, 11, 13-16, 18-19, 21-29 can be skipped. Also, there is a step missing for unscrewing screen lid from body.

Tim Rosulnik -

Passo 28

Use the tip of a spudger or an opening tool, to flip up the small, hinged locking flap on the camera cable connector to remove the cable from the motherboard.

Passo 29

Using the black nylon spudger, remove the NFC cable connector and trackpad connector from the motherboard.

Passo 30

Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, remove seven 3.6 mm screws from the motherboard.
Lift the motherboard off of the case to remove it.

Passo 31

Remove the cables from the cable guides.

Passo 32

Using the Phillips #1 screwdriver, remove two 4.3 mm screws from each hinge (four total).
In this image, all of the internal components were removed prior to this step so your device will look somewhat different.

These screws were tricky for me. Be careful not to strip. I had success with a Phillips #2 and needed to apply a decent amount of vertical force into the screw before turning.

Mark Schott - 11/12/21

Passo 33

Lift the keyboard bezel up and slide it out from the hinges to separate it from the LCD assembly.
In this image, all of the internal components were removed prior to this step so your device will look somewhat different.

Passo 34

Remove the trackpad ribbon from the old palm rest and move it to the same spot on the new one. Pull it up carefully and glue it down or use kapton tape.