Taking my laptop apart

I spilled coke on my laptop.
So I decide to take it apart to clean up the sticky mess.

I started by wiping the bottom of the laptop clean.


The first time I opened a laptop many years ago, I had two extra screws after putting it back together.
To prevent that from happening again, I drew a map of where the screws are...


and tape each screw I took out to the map.
As I take out screws, I notice there are more hidden screws I have to take out before it would open up. So I had to keep adding points of interest to the map.


After all the screws are out, the bottom comes out.



The CPU heatsink is so tiny!


The P8700


The ATI 4570 with its dedicated memory



I had to remove the headsink because this screw was under one of the copper pipes.


I had to disconnect a bunch of wires to free the motherboard.

The connector for the PCI-e slot


The connector for the webcam was a pain to remove.


Got the keyboard off after a little trouble


the ribbon cable for the keyboard


keyboard off


and then the motherbaord comes right out


I then cleaned up the sticky stuff left behind by the coke, and then put everything back together in reverse order.


While taking the laptop apart, I noticed a lot of components are made by foxconn.









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Reverse Parking camera, on my mom's car

After using my set for a few months, I installed the second set I bought into my mom's car.
The biggest difference between working on my car and my mom's car, is that I have a service manual for my car so I know where everything is. I don't have one for my mom's car, so I am basically working on it blind.

The first step is to mount the camera.
The license plate holder is quite high up in the Civic, which makes it the perfect location to install the camera.

Without knowing where anything is, I started by looking around to see how I can wire things.


It seemed that the actual license plate holder is not part of the trunk, but is only bolted on.
So I tried taking it off.
I found two bolts and a bunch of clips that holds it in place.
The bolts and most of the clips were easy to take out, but there is one clip that is covered by a whole bunch of stuff.
After a while, I just yanked it off.
That white clip left behind was the one that was giving me problems.


I then drilled two holes on the license plate holder so I can screw the camera on there.


I didn't want to drill any holes in metal, so I looked around for an opening that I can run the wire into the trunk.
The only hole I could found is the center hole used for a clip.
So I decided to leave out that clip, and used it to run the wire inside.
I then used some left over Permatex Gray from my other DIY projects to seal up the hole.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of space, I cannot hide the camera. As such, the camera is really visible.




I intend to tap the power for the camera into the reverse light, so the camera is only on when the car is in reverse.
I took off part of the covers for the trunk to trace the wires.



The included power wire is not long enough to reach the place where I intend to tap for power, so I extended them.
The joints were soldered and wrapped.
The positive wire is triple wrapped.



To help protect the entire length of wires, I covered them with wire loom.


I decided to follow the same path Honda used to run the wires for the misc stuff on the trunk.




Looking at the plug for the reverse light, I see that the purple wire is the wire I want to tap into.


I found the same wire at a more open space, so I tapped there instead.



And then I cleaned up the wiring at the back, and began to run the video feed to the front.



Originally, I intended to put the screen at the same location where I had mine: beside the rear view mirror.
But my mom likes to use her sun visor, so I can't put it there.
The next location I was thinking of was at the passenger side of the dash and have the wire come out from under the A pillar.
The problem is the side curtain airbag that is integrated into the A pillar.
I don't know how safe it is to remove them without the service manual.
In the end, I decide to put it near the speedometer.

I ran the wires under this piece of thing.




For the power for the screen, I decide to tap into the cig lighter plug.
The easiest way to run the wire is to have it run under the dash, along the harness that is already there.
Looking under the dash, I am surprised on how tidy the wiring is, compared to my RSX.


In no time, I managed to get the wire to go to where I want it to.
The biggest problem is unplugging the wire to the socket so I can tap into it.


I cannot see an easy way to open up the dash.
I had to reach my hand into a really small opening and reach down to unplug the wire.
The plastic edge was quite sharp, so my hand ended up hurting really bad.


After a lot of trouble, I finally got the plug out and tapped into it.


How it ended up looking:




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Reverse parking camera

The reverse parking radar I had on my car was having lots of problems.
It would not work whenever it is cold or when it is raining, which is about 6 months in a year.

Last time I went to HK, a certain shop owner gave me a really good deal on two sets of reverse parking cameras (with screen).

After looking everywhere at the car, I think putting the screen right beside the rear view mirror makes the most sense.


The camera would be placed where the license plate is.
I would rather mount it higher and get a better view of the area, but there is no way to do it discreetly on my car.

To mount it and run the wires, I have to take off the rear bumper.


I am surprised on how much dirt fell out from the bumper while I was taking it off.
Where does it store so much dirt anyway?


The method of mounting the lense is to tie it to a metal bar, which is clamped in place along with the license plate.



I tapped the power to the lense into the reverse light circuit, so it turns on with the reverse lights.


I then ran the video feed along exsisting wires to the front of the car.


I ran the wires up along the A-pillar, and under the roof liner, and hid them where the map lights are.


After using this system for 3 months now, I find that this works best when parallel parking into a really tight spot.
It still has problems after driving around in the rain, when water droplets got onto the lense and messes up the image.


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