I attached a quick information for those who feel like upgrading their processor. If anyone has any questions just post it here. There is an attached Word file at the end of the post should anyone want to download.

. Required tools, Compressed air for cleaning, 1 philips and 1 flathead screw driver, thermal grease and anti-static wipe. Pic is of the plastic tool.




. Ground yourself. I use a grounding pad.
. Remove Battery.
. Remove the two screws for the compartment door.
- Once you remove the compartment door you have access to upgrade the Memory, Hard drives and CPU fan. You also have access to the CMOS battery here.








- Make sure the LCD is as far back as it can go.
- I use the plastic tool in the upper left hand corner to pop the cover off.




- This is where you encounter you first ribbon cable. Most ribbon cable latches pull up to release. Be careful not to yank the cover off because you can damage the cable.




. Remove the 5 screws for the keyboard. Once the screws are removed push the keyboard up then out but be careful since there are 2 ribbon cables here. The latches once again go up to release.




. Flip the M17x over and remove the 3 screws holding the palm rest




. The palm rest is a little tight. With both hands pull the palm rest towards you. When you see it release pull it up from the bottom. There is another ribbon cable here, the latch pulls out rather than up.




. Remove Center Control Cover. I use a plastic tool here. Metal on plastic can dent/break the plastic so this is important. Start by removing the two screws.




. Remove the Magnesium Cover.

- Start off by removing multiple cables; (1) Bluetooth, (2) wireless, (2) LCD and 1 SLI cable. Run them through there tracks to remove. I use a small eyeglasses screw driver to pop off the Bluetooth and Wireless cables. I used the manual pics for this since it will make more sense.




- Remove the 10 screws that hold the cover in place. The screw locations are highlighted by little a “P” on the cover.




- Lift up the cover and be careful not to lose any screws or yank on any cables.




. Loosen the 6 screws holding the heatsink to the proc. There are little numbers by the screws telling you which order to loosen them.




. Once you remove the heatsink clean off the excess thermal grease from cpu and heatsink. Leave the thermal pad for the 9400M alone. I use an anti-static wipe for this.

All Clean!




. Unlock your cpu with a small flathead screw driver. There are arrows and little lock and unlock symbols on the socket, It tells you which way to turn. You’ll hear a little click when it’s unlocked.




. Remove the proc and add the new one. Lock the proc back in place.

. Add thermal grease. There lots of recommendations in this forum on how to do this and how much to use. You really need VERY LITTLE to make sure contact is there. I normally use my plastic tool to carefully spread it evenly across but you can use any method you want. Use a little dab and spread it evenly across the die. Some take razor blades to evenly distribute it but I don’t go that far. The amount in the pic I have is a bit excessive.







. Carefully put the heatsink back on so that you are not disturbing the thermal grease. Follow the correct order to tighten your screws just remember to stop when you hit resistance.

. The rest is reverse what you just did to put everything back.

. When done check your bios to make sure it’s reading the correct speed.

Great write up + Rep

Thanks

Great stuffs! Would you mind if I import your doc in a post? Making it easier for members?

+rep

cheers ...

Thanks! Sure go ahead. Didn't know if there was an easy way to do it.

Awesome man, thanks for the info. Here is a video of how to do this as well for those who prefer a video guide: http://www.vimeo.com/5698512

I've seen the Moo video before. I actually created the written guide for a few people who were nervous about doing the upgrade before he released the video.

Appreciate the co-operation. I have edited your OP to reflect the disassembly steps.

cheers ...

Wow amazing write up.

Yes, it is very good. Guru was kind enough to let us import the Word document into the post and to save other members from the extra downloading.

cheers ...

Thanks for the help. Looks good.

Very, very good! + REP!

One thing I would change is that since I created this doc is I did remove the thermal pad from the heatsink that covers the MCP79. Just like thermal grease I believe the thermal pad is really for one time use. So if you remove the heat sink replace the thermal pad with grease. BTW, I use OCZ freeze.

Hey NWGuru, I got a quick question. Is the command center strip (the one with the Alien Head Power button, volume controls, etc.) attached by screws on the bottom or can you just pop it up with the plastic tool as you have in the above picture?

you have to remove the two screws from the bottom shown in the 4th picture

ok cool, thanks guys. My command center strip somehow got cracked/marred so I had AW send me a new one to replace.