Note, my CPU looks slightly different from this
Part of an email from Faron H. Fuller, with some added notes by me.
>From: "Faron H. Fuller" >faronf@nicom.com<
>Subject: Hinote Ultra
>
>Congratulations on your new laptop. I've had an Ultra for two years. It
>has been one of the better laptops I've owned. I just wish I could upgrade
>to a faster processor.
Alas, I don't think this is feasible, while it might be possible to upgrade to a dx5/100, it involves desoldering the old processor, and fitting a new one, this will almost certainly cost quite a bit, unless you are able to do it yourself (>200 pins, pin spacing around half a milimeter).
And the upgrade won't be that big.
>snip<
>I have upgraded the hard drive to 3 gigs and it currently has 95 installed.
I believe the 1.42 bios supports >540M drives, which is good news for me,
as I have this installed already.
>
>Remove the battery pack. FYI, the CMOS battery is conveniently housed under
>the battery pack.
>On the bottom of the unit remove the floppy wedge. Now remove the screws on
>bottom of the laptop.
(if you've not done this for a while, unscrew the thumbwheel, opposite from
the disk entry, then slide the switch, and release)
The screws are under the front feet)
>Wait were not done yet.
Undo the CPU/RAM cover, under where the floppy drive sits (slide a fingernail
under the cover, next to the floppy drive connector).
Note, my CPU looks slightly different from this
Undo the visible screw, then remove the CPU board, making sure to put it on
an antistatic surface, and not to tear the thermal pad (200g or so force)
Undo the screw that is revealed, which holds down the keyboard, which also acts as the heatsink.
>Turn the machine back over and open the top to reveal the keyboard.
Look closely at the bottem edge of the keyboard. It contains retaining pins, (the picture is with the keyboard slightly removed)
>to hold it in place. Gently pry the pins out of the slots to free the
These are three whitish plastic lugs on the bottom of the keyboard,
that slide towards the back of the machine, with gentle pressure,
a needle, or something similar is good to work them back.
>bottom edge of the keyboard. The keyboard will flip back to reveal a
>plastic covered system board. The ribbon cables are short, so the keyboard
>will not travel far.
The cables can be removed, be carefull, FORCE NOTHING, and only pull near
the connectors.
>Around the system board you will find the remaining screws holding the
>machine together. Remove these screws and the laptop will come apart. The
Once you have removed all the screws, the top cover should pivot easily, opening from the battery side.
Voila.
>hard drive is located in the right front corner of the laptop. The updated
And can , after the single retaining screw is removed (you may have just removed it in hte last step) it can just be pulled out, lift with fingertips, from the edge of the
machine. The hard-drive cable can now simply be removed, being of course carefull that you don't bend pins.
The speaker is amazingly small, 25mm or so.
>1.42 bios will auto update to accept a larger drive. Be sure to get the
>slimmest model the Ultra is particularly slender in the hard drive housing
>area. Mine will no longer close properly.
>
>Thats the extend of my knowledge.
>
>good luck.
>
Once you have it open, it's probably a good idea to remove any accumulated
dust, ... and perhaps if you broke anything, get out the epoxy to repair it.
I found that the top button on the mouse was a little stiff, I figure that
the little blob of epoxy on the top of the switch should fix that.
Now may also be a good time to personalise it, find a good plastic paint,
and then bake it on, in an oven at 60C or so.
And make DAMN sure that the oven never goes over this temperature.
I found out the hard way that it diddn't like 220C, when the oven malfunctioned.
Fortunately I only lost the top case, and buttons.
Now, as I managed to lose a screw, I had to dissasemble it more.
Take out the processor. Open the LCD out flat with the mainboard. remove the keyboard/power module (hold by the two corners of the module near the mainboard, and then pull vertically. To remove the mainboard, unscrew all screws still securing it, if any. Unscrew the black screws next to the port assembly. Remove the two screws holding on the middle plastic bit, facing you as you look at the machine, and then work this free. Unscrew the rest of the screws holding the LCD to the case. Now, the LCD should be free. Insert a small screwdriver just towards the front of the case from the microphone socket, and use this to bend the case, to let the microphone jack free. At the same time, pulling vertically upwards from the lower left corner of the motherboard. The speaker jack should also follow. Now, the motherboard should be free, lift vertically at the speaker, a couple of cm, to disengage a connector. Take out the motherboard, still connected to the LCD. Now you can unplug the plug on the bottom of the motherboard, and the three on the top, as well as the microphone, and battery connectors. Below the motherboard, next to the power button is the backup battery, this is NiCd, and may need replaced every few years, if the machine can no longer be suspended, and the battery changed, without losing suspend info.
I haven't opened the LCD, so I don't know what's inside.
The hard drive is between 12 and 13mm high, I could not measure more accurately.
No warranties.
And yet again, I'd like to emphasise that nothing should need force, nothing needs prised apart, and the use of sledgehammers, chainsaws, or other tools is not a good idea.