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Asus UX21a - disassembly & repasting


svl7

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Finally got the proper tools to take a closer look at the insides of the Asus UX21a ultrabook (or "Zenbook").

The disassembly is fairly easy, at least if your careful and not a total amateur when it comes to a task like this.

The tools you need are:

A Torx screwdriver, size T5 and a common crosstip screwdriver which fits the other screws. I also highly recommend using an ESD mat and wristband whenever you do something like this.

That's it - at least if you only want to take a quick look at the interior of the system. In case you plan to reapply the thermal paste then also grab some of your favorite TIM and some rubbing alcohol or similar.

Disassembly procedure:

It's relatively easy and completely self-explanatory. First of all you need your T5 torx and remove the 10 screws which are fixing the back cover.

There are two sizes, 8 small screws (green circles) and to longer screws (red circles).

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This is what you see once the back is removed, most of the space inside is used by the battery. Usually the first thing you do when disassembling an electronic device is to remove the battery and perform a power drain. That's obviously not possible in this case. Therefore be careful what to touch. Once the back cover is removed I highly recommend disconnecting the battery.

The connector is hidden below the white piece of tape (encircled with green), remove it, grab the black lash and pull it up in order to disconnect the battery from the board.

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Here's a pic with the battery removed. It is mounted by five screws. Remove them and you can easily lift the whole battery pack. No need to brake a seal or similar, so it should be possible to replace the battery fairly easy without killing the warranty.

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Next pic shows the CPU and PCH with the heatsink removed. Repasting is easy, if you need additional advice check one of the many guides in this forum. Remember to use only a tiny amount of paste.

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Here some more pics of the board and the cooling assembly. As you can see, the heatpipe only covers the CPU, not the PCH. By using a copper shim between back cover and PCH heatsink it would be possible to easily improve the heat dissipation of this chip, but I don't really think it's necessary.

A 30 pin LVDS jack connects the display with the motherboard. Seems eDP is still fairly uncommon these days.

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When disassembling the system be careful not to damage the screws, only use tools which really fit and aren't low quality. The screws of the back cover are screwed on tightly, the Torx is tiny, it's crucial to have a quality screwdriver in order to beware the screws from any damage. Visible scratches on them might kill your warranty.

The only "warranty void if seal broken" can be found on the SSD, so you definitely can't remove it without running into issues. There's no reason to remove it anyway, it's a proprietary connector and it's highly unlikely that there will ever be a third-party model available for this specific design.

As already mentioned, take care if you disassemble your system, it's not meant to be disassembled and if you damage anything, possibly even the screws, your warranty might be void.

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