Disassembly of M520

Click my flicker guide. They are the same case design. The screws are on the bottom side of the laptop and are very long. You do not need to take the LCD off to change the right side fan. But the left fan is a whole other story.

If you want to be brave, you can take the heatsink off and regrease it with new fresh white thermal paste rather than the crappy thermal pad. You will however need to remove all traces of the thermal pad before applying the paste. Then clean with alchohol. Arctic silver 5 is better but it is very hard to apply and the results could be worse if it is not applied correctly.

hi I have just repaired my gateway 7330 it has a structure similar to m520s and many other e machines (power jack and battery problem) now it is even charging :O I was about to order jack but just iron soldering worked fine here is step by step I can help anyone through my email, I am living in maine I can even repair for free
you should get the screws out at the back of the pc all the way
take out the harddisk before you start
pop up the two things from the back of the lcd
pop out the power and volume panel
unscrew the keyboard
unscrew the metal panels
(you should take out two cables from wireless adapter before while unscrewing the back side so it wont bother you it is easy to plug and unplug)
lean the lcd all the way back and unscrew underneath the lcd 4 screws
there are still two screws under the lcd area to the left unscrew them if you see them
take out the dvd writer
unscrew any other places that you find on the motherboard
there is a lean point(the metal long thing screwed to motherboard around beneath the left windows key take it out too)
take the card reader out by unscrewing 2-3 screws
thats all I remember
after unscrewing and taking all the pieces out
try to pull the mainboard from microphone speaker input
(unscrew any other remaining screws if you feel any pressure)
with a screwdriver try pulling from the input and the left of the keyboard pull the mainboard but be careful
create a little space that you can work with the dc input
the most inportant ones are the two in the middle
try to concentrate on the one that wore most
take the old solder out by your soldering gun or whatever
and then put new ones in carefully
put all the stuff back (whenever I do it I almost always have afew more screws than I am supposed to whatever it works)
be careful pulling the keyboard cable and other similar cables (they have a bed which can be opened dont just pull it) pull the bed upwards and open it and then take it out do the opposite when putting it all back
thats all no matter what other people say I love this pc I love p4s
gateway is better than ok (you should have seen my acer)