Asus X401a Disassembly and RAM, HDD Upgrade Options

In this guide, I will explain how to disassemble the Asus X401a to remove the hard drive, SSD, keyboard, palm rest, wireless card, RAM, speakers, cooling fan, and motherboard.

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Unlock and remove the battery.
Remove all screws from the bottom cover.

Flip open the laptop. Insert a plastic pry tool between the bottom cover and palm rest. The palm rest is secured to the laptop by several clips. Slide the pry tool to release all clips until the palm rest detaches from the laptop.
Be careful. There are two cables still connected to the motherboard, and you need to disconnect the keyboard cable and touchpad cable to remove the palm rest.

On the back of the palm rest, you can access the keyboard and touchpad. At this step, you can replace the keyboard. However, it is soldered to the palm rest, and you need to use a soldering iron to melt the plastic anchors in order to remove the keyboard.

Touchpad

When the palm rest is removed, you can access the hard drive, cooling fan, speakers, and motherboard.

Disconnect the white cable covering the hard drive. Remove the four screws securing the hard drive. Slide the hard drive to the right and remove it.

The laptop comes with a Western Digital 320GB 5400 RPM hard drive.

If you need to replace the hard drive, you need to remove the HDD caddy from the existing hard drive and install it onto the new hard drive.

Asus X401a speaker

Remove the two screws and disconnect the two cables. You can remove the USB board.

Asus X401a LCD hinge

Indicator board

Remove all screws securing the motherboard and disconnect all the cables connected to the motherboard. Lift the motherboard from one side with your hand and wiggle it until it completely separates from the bottom cover.

On the other side of the motherboard, you can access the RAM, wireless card, heat sink, and cooling fan.

If you want to replace and clean the cooling fan, just remove the screws securing the heat sink and cooling fan. You can remove it from the motherboard.

The Asus X401a has only one memory module. If you need to upgrade the memory, you must replace the existing memory module.

South Bridge

Asus X401a wireless card

Card reader

Asus X401a internal parts