Can't remove rear cover from my laptop ...

[roadcone]

I have a Lafité Series: Aluminium Chassis: 14" Matte Full HD IPS LED with an additional mechanical hard drive (which I understand is a regular 2.5" SATA). I'd like to replace it with a solid state drive. I've removed twelve screws - ten from around the edges, one from more or less the centre and one from somewhat right of centre and more towards the hinge. The cover is free all around the edges (I can prise it open enough to get my finger tips in) but it will not remove. It feels as though there is another screw holding it in place, L/R centre but around two thirds away from the hinge. The rear cover here is shiny metal, no holes and no labels which could be obscuring another screw. Anyone know if there is a trick to getting this cover off please?

Clive

 

[Bastet]

Check that it doesn’t slide rather than lift up.
With my laptop I have to slide the back panel away away from me.
Can you provide a screenshot?

 

[Bhuna50]

Does it have a removable battery - if so remove the battery and check that there are no further screw points underneath where the battery is.

 

[roadcone]

Thank you to both bastet and andjef796 for your posts. The battery is internal and inaccessible until the cover is removed. The rear cover is dished and does not lend itself to sliding (though I did try!). In fact, when you lift the edges, it is clear that components sit within the dish, as you would expect. Attached images hopefully make the whole thing more clear. On the underside image you can see 13 black circles - 12 contain screws but one does not and I am not entirely sure what the printed icon means - it suggests a press to remove the keyboard - I've tried inside with a screwdriver and it clearly finds no screw head and a small torch shows only a black hole.

 

[Martinr36]

Thank you to both bastet and andjef796 for your posts. The battery is internal and inaccessible until the cover is removed. The rear cover is dished and does not lend itself to sliding (though I did try!). In fact, when you lift the edges, it is clear that components sit within the dish, as you would expect. Attached images hopefully make the whole thing more clear. On the underside image you can see 13 black circles - 12 contain screws but one does not and I am not entirely sure what the printed icon means - it suggests a press to remove the keyboard - I've tried inside with a screwdriver and it clearly finds no screw head and a small torch shows only a black hole.View attachment 23593View attachment 23594View attachment 23595View attachment 23596

Looking at last that photo that suggests to me it pops the keyboard out somehow

 

[roadcone]

Martinr36 -Yes, I wondered that and then wondered if there were additional cover securing screws to be removed from under the keyboard. All my other laptops over the years have had either a cover over the disk and/or memory or the whole cover removes once all screws are removed.

 

[Martinr36]

Martinr36 -Yes, I wondered that and then wondered if there were additional cover securing screws to be removed from under the keyboard. All my other laptops over the years have had either a cover over the disk and/or memory or the whole cover removes once all screws are removed.

yeah it could be that the keyboard needs to pop out to reveal more screws or catches of some sort, just be gentle with it

 

[roadcone]

When I look at that edge of the keyboard while applying a little gentle pressure through the hole, the centre edge of the keyboard lifts slightly but not enough to get a fingernail beneath. I'm not going to apply more pressure without I can find out that I need to and how much pressure to apply.

 

[Martinr36]

When I look at that edge of the keyboard while applying a little gentle pressure through the hole, the centre edge of the keyboard lifts slightly but not enough to get a fingernail beneath. I'm not going to apply more pressure without I can find out that I need to and how much pressure to apply.

Yeah that's a very wise decision, at this point i think I'd drop PCS an email asking if they could send you something that describes how to remove the back

 

[roadcone]

Will do - thank you all for your ideas.

 

[Martinr36]

No problem, let us know how you get on, might be an idea to put a link in the email to this thread

 

[Bhuna50]

If it is like the old Defiance keyboard pop out, it needs quite a push to unclick the keyboard - there is also 2 keyboard screws (as per the picture) there somewhere but i expect you have already removed them.

 

[SpyderTracks]

You may find some additional screws under the rubber protectors.

 

[barlew]

As others have alluded too you will probably find there are case screws under the keyboard. My old Vortex had two case screws under the keyboard.

 

[danisK]

I managed to open my Lafite yesterday. It's the same model as in the photos. (probably the Lafite III?)

Since user ROADCONE has not reported back about any progress, I thought to let people know.

I confirm that there were 3 additional screws under the keyboard, as MARTINR36 and BARLEW suspected. There are no screws under the rubber protectors as SPYDERTRACKS guessed. As BHUNA50 mentioned, you have to apply quite a lot of force in the hole under the notebook which indicates to press to lift the keyboard. In general, it's the first time I needed so much effort (agony and sweat) to take a keyboard off, since it has some big plugs holding it in place. Be careful not to lift the keyboard very high while taking it off, because it's connected to the motherboard, and you might damage the connections. In fact, you don't need to disconnect the keyboard to unscrew the 3 M2x4 screws. Also, be careful because after unscrewing them, the bottom case can fall, and the hard disk will fall as well, potentially damaging its connector from the fall and the hanging, since the hard drive was not held in some case or something unfortunately.

Talking about damage, it's not a good idea to stick a screwdriver around the edges as in the photos, because there are electronic accessories all around the Lafite's edges, and you can easily damage them.

Sorry for my English,
greetings from Europe