I Am Trying To Replace cmos Battery ,And Also Upgrade The Memory. But I Havent A Clue On How To Get At Either Of These Components. Or Even How To Dimantle The Case.

Mikey G, October 2007

Hi i have just bought one of these. and it also has a bad power socket, please could you let me know where you got a replacement as i just bought one, but its the wrong shape.
also did you remove the gray body chassis part under the key board or get to it from below.
thanks.
and if your intested in any upgrades i'm trying:
at the moment it came installed with 512mb ram in one bank and is working fine with that. i am going to match the other bank with 512mb as well.
i have also just bought a few other processers as well. a 1.0Ghz pentium 3 370 pin which samsung say should be fine. But also a 1.4Ghz pentium 3 370 pin. not sure if that one can work but will give it a try. hopefully that will work as well.
thanks for any help on the power socket.

simon m, April 2010

unless you are well experiecend
dont do it it's alot of work and you got a lot of dismantling.

i just done one and i am only a diy person i
had to strip it to replace a dodgy power socket.
dont think i would tackle another one .

but good luck if you do itwas my first laptop strip down

john r, March 2010

To renew the Cmos battery:
On underside of the VM8000, see a removeable cover for the coooling fan identified by the air vent.
Remove the cooling fan, by releasing 4 screws using a small screwdriver. Under the fan unit, note a black plastic cover. Underneath is the battery.prise up gently
and replace. Apply heatsink grease to the CPU. and reassemble

Norman Williams, April 2009

cmos battery is underneath. Take off fan cover. remove fan screws x 4. Then lift black cloth on right hand side. You will see the offender. Lift the battery from the left hand side gently with a small flat head screw driver....

That's it

Matthew wiseman, January 2008

If you remove the cover for the CPU fan on the bottom of the laptop, remove the CPU fan (4 screws) you can gain access to the CMOS battery from there. It is under the black protective cover.

Charlie

Charlie Moncrieff, November 2007

The CMOS battery is in a rediculous place on this model, it's on the underside of the motherboard and can only be accessed by removing the motherboard from the plastics. Hope this info helps.

Steve, October 2007

The VM8000 memory is under the keyboard. It takes standard laptop SDRAM, 100 or 133MHz will be happy in it. 66MHZ will also work, but will really hold its speed back.

To take the keyboard out/off, do this....

Disconnect charger and take battery out to avoid accidents with sparks ;)

Get a small flat blade screwdriver (or something like that - a kitchen knife is ok too).

There are 3 tiny black clips at the bottom of the keypad section, one is under the FN key, one is under the WINDOWS logo key (to the right of the SPACE bar), and the 3rd is directly under the DOWN & RIGHT cursor buttons.

These clips are about 3mm wide, and push slightly towards the front of the laptop. Start at one side, and work across - as each is pushed back, you may see the keyboard 'spring up' a tiny amount.

Once all 3 are done, slide the screwdriver under the keyboard and raise it CAREFULLY - it's attached by a fragile ribbon cable, bend or tug on that, and you can easily lose the keyboard, even if you cannot actually see the damage done to it :( so be careful. And also watch you don't accidentally allow the keyboard to swing on the cable and strike/scratch your screen :(

Once that keyboard is away, it's very obvious how the memory fits in, and you can use either slot if only using a single memory strip.

If the laptop won't boot after fitting, try the other slot. If it still won't boot, the laptop is most likely not compatible with that strip(s) of memory, so try another make or speed.

To replace the keyboard, slide it in (rear first), and then press gently at the 3 catch points mentioned earlier. Each will probably click as it fits in place.

I hope that helps on that part.

Unfortnately, i don't yet know the location of the CMOS battery, so i cannot give details on how to change that yet. It's the first time i've worked on this specific model, but i will drop by again if i find a link to the engineers guide PDF for it.

Good Luck with it :) They make a great laptop, well worth upgrades to keep them happy.

:)

Philbert, October 2007