Acer Iconia Tab A501 Motherboard Replacement

Written By: Daksh Malhotra

Comments: 4

Acer Iconia Tab A501 Motherboard Replacement

Difficulty

Moderate

Steps

Time Required

20 - 35 minutes

Introduction

The motherboard directly connects almost all of a device’s parts. If your motherboard is having problems or has failed, you may decide to replace it. This guide will demonstrate replacing a motherboard for the Acer Iconia Tab A501.

Tools

Step 1

Turn off your device before opening it.
Use a plastic opening tool to carefully separate the back cover, starting at the volume buttons.
Continue separating the back cover along the short side closest to the camera and around the device.

Step 2

When separated enough, a little more than halfway around the device, the back cover will be easy to take off.

Can this be combined with the previous step? I think you could lose one of the images before to condense.

Alex Watkins - 31/07/19

Step 3

Remove all tape from the device.

Step 4

In the next step, be careful not to squeeze too hard or scratch the motherboard.
Use the angled tweezers to disconnect the motherboard-battery cable from the white connector in the middle of the side opposite the docking port.

Step 5

Use a Phillips #1 screwdriver to remove the four 4.0 mm Philips head screws connecting the battery to the motherboard.
Take out the battery.

Step 6

Use the plastic opening tool to flip up the locking mechanism on the motherboard connected to the folded, white ribbon cable.
Remove the folded, white cable.

Where is this in relation to the adapter? Consider adding the full device markup image to this step.

Alex Watkins - 31/07/19

Step 7

Use the plastic opening tool to flip up the locking mechanism on the motherboard connected to the straight, white ribbon cable.
Remove the straight, white ribbon cable.

Step 8

In this step, be careful not to squeeze too hard or scratch the motherboard.
Use the angled tweezers to disconnect the cable with red, white and green wires from the beige connector slightly in from the docking port.

Step 9

Unscrew the 3.0 mm Phillips head screw on the speaker near the Micro-HDMI port using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
Unscrew the 4.0 mm Phillips head screw on the speaker near the Micro-HDMI port using a Phillips #1 screwdriver.
Remove the speaker.

Step 10

Use the flat end of the standard Spudger to disconnect the two small, rotatable connectors attached to the wireless adapter.

Step 11

Use a Phillips #1 screwdriver to remove the two 3.0 mm Philips head screws holding the adapter down.

Step 12

Carefully slide the adapter out to remove it.

Step 13

Use the wide end of the standard Spudger to take off the rotatable connector to the 3g antenna below the rear-facing camera.

Step 14

In the next step, be careful not to squeeze too hard or scratch the motherboard.
Use the angled tweezers to disconnect the cable with red wires from the beige connector opposite the docking port.

Step 15

In this step, be careful not to squeeze too hard or scratch the motherboard.
Use the tweezers to remove touchscreen connector from the motherboard.

Step 16

In this step, be careful not to squeeze too hard or scratch the motherboard.
Use the angled tweezers to disconnect two microphone connectors, which are above the orange-brown touchscreen connector and next to the battery space.

Step 17

Use the plastic opening tool to flip up the locking mechanism to the white front camera port just above the rear-facing camera.
Disconnect the camera cable from the motherboard.

What is the tab in the last picture? Does something need to be done with it? It looks like you’re removing it with your fingers, not the plastic opening tool.

Alex Watkins - 31/07/19

Step 18

Use care in the next step.
Use the wide, flat end of the standard Spudger to disconnect the display connector from the large, metal port next to the battery space.