Get to mini PCIE slot?

[Masterblaster]

OK... I've had the HP2140HD since I learned they were going to discontinue it. I still love it, and think nothing else compares.

So, I've already done the memory and SSD upgrades, as well as pair XP down to the minimum.

I've bought the Broadcom Crystal accelerator, and would like to install it, but I cannot figure out how to continue disassembly. I even found HP's official disassembly (for scraping of dangerous materials) guide, but it was not clear and showed pictures of HP2133.

Can anyone give me a hint or two on how to get this bad boy disassembled further? While it is apart, I would like to also do the overclock enable mod as well.

Thanks for any help!

[Masterblaster]

So, barring any advice from the forum, I attempted the disassemble of my HP2140 tonight, and I was successful.

There are a few hard to see screws, and lots of latches of various types that need to be sprung. Upon getting the lid of the shell off, I did not see any PCIE, so I had to undo all the ZIF connectors and a few more screws to get to the back of the main board. And, presto, there it was...

Unfortunately, there was only a single PCIE, and it was occupied by the Broadcom wireless card. What a big disappointment. So many people with hp mini's have done this upgrade, that I assumed my slot would be available. Usually the wireless is integrated, but I guess they were going for the latest N version, which doesn't work anyway (had to turn off N on Linksys router to avoid handshake issues with Broadcom N).

I guess I could put a wireless in Express54 slot, or USB, and still use PCIE port for Crystal accelerator, but I don't want to do this. So, I put everything back together, and it works, as I am typing this reply on it.

[jakubd]

I've seen your message, but did not reply as I don;t have 2140 myself. I thought it is obvious, that there is only one miniPCI-E in this mini and that it is occupied by the wireless card. There were other threads with this information and experiments.
I had no time to browse through the service guide for 2140, but for sure there should be information about this one-and-the-only-slot as well as the procedure how to get there - until they (HP) are really going on the cheap way now.
And about wireless cards: most (if not all) laptops and even most Wifi routers and access points use wireless modules and cards connected through standard ports (miniPCI-E or miniPCI) instead of using card that are built-in the mainboard.

[Masterblaster]

Thanks for the reply.

I guess I misunderstood the various sources that said "HP2140 - 1 open PCIE" to mean this was an additional open slot, not the consumed slot.

As for the service manual, it only shows how to disassemble to the hard drive and memory, not how to completely disassemble to get to the backside of PC board. I did find a manual with pictures on how to disassemble for scrapping, but it was not clear enough. Nonetheless, I figured it out, and managed to fully gut the netbook.

The important thing is I put it back together, and it still works!

[jakubd]

Yeah, there no better relief then the boot beep after putting the whole thing back together and pressing/sliding the power button