How To: Take apart and repair Lenovo x220t / x230t

[@awittyusernamepleaselaugh7481]

Not sure if you're still reading these comments but this just massively helped me bring my x230t back to life after the panel decided it didn't want to be laminated anymore! (Screw all those wires man, aaaargh)

[@hoyty76]

Glad it helped!

[@tankerock]

I don't know if you'll see this comment but I still want to thank you for this repair guide. You gave me the courage to re-paste my CPU. I went from 98c to 71c on load.

[@hoyty76]

Glad it helped you.

[@shimo7013]

0:09 Keyboard removal 2:26 Palm rest removal 4:15 Unwinding Wi-Fi wires 6:05 Top shield removal 9:48 Screen module detach 12:14 Systemboard removal 14:53 Dc In replacement 16:32 Installing systemboard 19:23 Reattach screen module 22:24 Reinstall plastic shield 23:46 Rerouting the Wi-Fi wires 29:43 Reattach palm rest 31:28 Reinstall keyboard

[@cathysudira]

Just finished replacing my x220t's cooling fan by following your video guidance. Thanks a lot, Brian. Way to go...

[@hoyty76]

Cathy Sudira glad it helped you.

[@Pompejus2]

I dont know if you will still read this but your video helped me remove palm rest which had chipped off corner to a new one. Thank you. ❤

[@MallocArray]

Thank you for this. I also had a damaged power jack and after some confusion on ordering the proper part, this video walked me through removing the old one and replacing it without hassle. Hardest part was finding the socket for the VGA jack which I was able to locate so I didn't have to struggle with needle nose pliers.

[@ConanY]

Can't say enough thank you Brian! I broke my hinge (oh yes the notorious x220t issue) and the lenovo folks ask for $600 deposit and $90/hour labor. Then I followed your video and within an hour I fixed it myself, with a $6 hinge bought from eBay. Thank you so much!

[@FeralEngineer]

Thanks for a very comprehensive manual! The tempo of this video is exactly right for me - I never had to stop or reverse - I just disassembled and reassembled the laptop "in sync". I've been disassembling my 2012yr X230t down to the bare metal for the first time today to change the thermal compound on the CPU (used to fix a pen holder and change the network card before, but nothing more serious with this machine). Today, I decided to replace the thermal compound on the CPU, because the idle temperature raised up to 65 centigrade with fan constantly working, and any moderate load like editing a large image in GIMP or watching 4k videos on the external display cranked the temperature up to 97-100 centigrade with the fan working in an "afterburner-assisted takeoff" mode and CPU throttling. And the problem really was in a thermal paste - it was more like a fine sand and the cooler had no adhesion at all. Replaced it with some КПТ-8 "Siliconorganic Paste Thermocunductor #8" low-mid class thermal interface and got 42 centigrade on idle and 83-84 under heavy load.

[@hoyty76]

Glad it helped you out.

[@thebordernow]

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Brian!! Although a handy DIYer, I know you saved me Hours from trying to figure how to take my old x220t apart to replace the fan (and heatsink) due to the dreaded "Fan error" start-up error message that won't let the laptop boot up. Yes, Take Pictures along the way to help you remember what went where. Another tip I'll share - I taped some of the more specific screws to near where they went so I wouldn't get them mixed up later. And for those replacing the fan+heatsink, note that there is a piece of black tape on the motherboard that goes where the "Y-leg" of the heatsink has that extra screw mounting hole (you'll know what I mean when you look at it). The tape goes OVER that Y-leg when putting in the new fan+heatsink. The problem is when you take the old defective fan+heatsink off the motherboard, that piece of black tape will just naturally stick itself to the motherboard. So while you wait for the replacement fan+heatsink to arrive in a couple of days, it's easy to forget that the piece of tape went OVER the heatsink screwhole. I forgot, and attached the new fan+heatsink to the motherboard, and then turned it over to put back into the laptop, and proceeded to attach the motherboard to the laptop case bottom. In the video, it says to attach "4 screws" - one by the fan, two in the WLAN(?) cage, and then one on the wi-fi antenna mini-card. On my x220t, I had a 5th screw about an inch or so from the first screw. This 5th screw is the one on the "Y-leg" of the heatsink. If when you install the new fan+heatsink and forget to peel that black tape off the motherboard and place it back over the Y-leg, then when you turn the motherboard over and seat it in the case bottom, you'll find that that 5th screw hole is now blocked and you can't re-attach that 5th screw because the tape is between the motherboard and the heatsink on the other side. I ended up having to go back a few steps to correct that tape problem so I could use that screw hole. Finally, I "found" there was a 6th screw to hold down the motherboard when a tiny Bluetooth daughter card just fell out onto my desk work surface. It's in the bottom right-hand corner, below the wi-fi mini-card. I don't think the laptop in this video had such a card. You can see it here in this Lenovo diagram: support.lenovo.com/us/en/solutions/pd100780 But all in all, Brian, your step-by-step video was a godsend - couldn't have done it without you! Resurrected the old x220t for the price of a $23 fan+heatsink and following this video. Thanks.

[@hoyty76]

P F glad I could help. I am amazed this 6-7 year old machine is still working and you could get parts for it.

[@pedromendes5049]

Fantastic! This was essential to give me confidence to substitute a broken fan. Followed step by step and everything worked exactly as described here.

[@dancinbojangles]

This video just got me a great new laptop for free! I had no idea Thinkpad power sockets were so easily replaceable. Thanks so much, great camera work.

[@nuuukethewhales]

Thanks so much for helping me get my X220T's fan changed. Greatly appreciated!

[@codem1lo2011]

just successfuly replaced my x230t screen thanks massively to this brilliant how to tut. Many thanks and keep up the great work

[@davep2999]

Best disassembly video I have seen so far. Great detail

[@richardbowles7690]

Excellent, and thank you. I worked from this video on an x220 (no swivel screen). Great advice to TAKE PICTURES.My metal clip on yellow power jack was a bit different than in video. My clip did not hold the yellow jack firmly. So, after clip was installed, I wedged 3 layers of a bicycle inner tube between the fan and jack. Now the jack is firmly in place with a bit of cushion.

[@DarenMAD]

This video has been very helpfull. Thanks to you I've managed to replace the screen on my X220 Tablet myself. Greatly appreciated!

[@trainby4]

Thank you so much! This video made me choose to purchase an X230T with a damaged charging port. Just finished the repair without a hitch thanks to this video. Many thanks.

[@umoja8971]

Don't know how else to say this but MANY MANY thanks for this brilliant and useful tutorial. Gave me the confidence needed to fix my x220T myself.

[@yangdaoy]

I just replaced my 3 year old X220T's fan following ur video, THANKS!

[@Samuel-oh1nl]

just finished replacing the thermal paste on my x220t. This video helped a ton!

[@hoyty76]

@@Samuel-oh1nl glad it helped

[@LeighAnneMathieson]

Just what I was looking for. Tutorial clear, paced well, and practical. Much appreciated.

[@barrywebber100]

Thanks very much for taking the time to post this clip. You explained every stage very clearly and filmed the process very well also. I have the standard X230 screen laptop and need to replace the fan and renew the thermal paste for the CPU and GPU and your film will make the process much easier for me. Thanks again!

[@hoyty76]

I am amazed that 8 years later it is still useful!

[@barrywebber100]

@@hoyty76 It's testament to how good and still functional these old X230 laptops are! Apart from the on button stopping working twice entailing buying a 3rd party replacement keyboard and now the fan sounding like a drill I still love my Lenovo and use it every day. Mine has an SSD and runs only Linux Mint, I deleted Windows, and it fires up and shutdown quickly and does all I need! They are still available used on ebay for not much money and are still great bargains.

[@DaveCx]

I just used your video to replace the screen assembly on a x220i tablet. This worked a trick, thank you!!

[@lucha0075db]

You my friend deserve all the medals in the world :)

[@mikedeff]

Successfully replaced the heatsink assy on an x220, very well done video!!

[@pierrehilaire2938]

what heatsink compound did you use? I need to do the same thing because my fan is very noise at times.

[@TheAmanor123]

Imagine this laptop with new i5, more ram, thinner bezels equalling smaller footprint, thinner design ( 0.9 inch is enough ) lighter weight ( about 1.4 kg ) and maybe a greater battery. Always keeping the good old keyboard and style tho, this laptop is a beast man. Honestly just a better cpu would do it imo.

[@abswift82]

Thanks so much! Hard to find info specific to the x201 tablet model. This was great.

[@paulhu4672]

This tutorial is also applicable to X230 tablet as I mine is x230t and I had torn it down. These two models share the exactly the same case. As for the VGA port's screws which I at first frowned upon as I don't have the appropriate tools, I used an inner hexagonal driver which might be easier to source, I guess, to unscrew them with success. It worked very well. The screws were not very tightly fastened. Their inner holes seems to be of hexagonal shape which might be the reason why a inner hexagonal screw driver also works.

[@benpoe4335]

Thanks Brian. I needed to replace the heat sink compound on one ....the instructions were clear and concise !

[@pierrehilaire2938]

what heatsink compound did you use? I need to do the same thing because my fan is very noise at times.

[@Pavilions2]

Thank you I have done this on an old model it's a little bit diffirent but your video really helped me. :)

[@sashtash6644]

Thank you very much. Changed thermal past as cleaned my fan which allowed the temp to drop by an avg. 10 deg celcius.

[@0815berber]

Thank you verry mcuh for this video. It helped me a lot by replacing old thermal paste on my X230T

[@geozenglobal2404]

Thanks a lot, you saved me money and time.

[@milanmilutinovic2936]

Best tutorial ever. GJ man

[@Electrowave]

Thank you, your video made things a lot easier for me :-)

[@Tana-md8cu]

Thanks! Was able to fix my laptop with a new part.

[@mrvaleryhugo]

It was of great help ! Thanks a lot.

[@autobotsNdecepticons]

14:40 The power jacks on these computers had a terrible design with an insecure mount prone to bending/moving and, as a result, shorting. I had to replace mine as well. When I did, I wrapped it in electrical tape to ensure it would never short again.

[@omarignacio8301]

thank you very much! this video has been very helpful!

[@Tim25089]

Official Guide from lenovo, Hardware Maintenance Manual: download.lenovo.com/ibmdl/pub/pc/pccbbs/mobiles_pdf/0a60175_04.pdf

[@alirezaee2217]

Thanks

[@DoktorSativa]

Great video. Can you do a how to for the screen part? I'd like to install the internal web cam.

[@killerbeats2765]

Thanks man, that really help

[@reaverclan]

Awesome info will use this to clean my X220T

[@BioOmega]

Hi, Thanks for the video... Can you make a video for the display disassembly?

[@sigoshi7]

Can you identify what the screw for that little digitizer pen switch is? the service manual identifies it as "M1.6 X 3 + 4.2A", which doesn't really make any sense. is it similar to any of the other screws?

[@erasablemind5823]

Many thanks. It really helped.

[@LinkEX]

17:45 Pen Catch Trigger »[It] tells the machine that the pen is in the pen garage, not to read it as part of the touch screen.« Thanks for mentioning that. I was wondering what exactly it does. (And how to fasten it properly again.)

[@Merchantic]

after removing the screws, I try pushing the keyboard towards the screen to detach the clips and it doesnt move at all. And the keyboard doesn't lift up.... I'm really new to this and I don't want to break my laptop. Any suggestions would be appreciated

[@nlatif95]

Are the keyboard screws the same? I bought a thinkpad x230 with one of the screws missing, so I tried taking from one place to another one and it didn't work

[@ranz9688]

Thank you for this video! I have no problem taking everything apart. However, I run into a problem when I try to take off the screen and intend to leave the wifi module since the wires of the wifi module also come off when the screen is off. Do you know how to take off the screen and leave the wifi module connected? This way I can only use my 32-inch monitor without the intrusion from the laptop screen.

[@hoyty76]

Ran Zhang The WiFi will work without the wires just not as well. You could also buy external antenna with the same connectors. They are standard on internal WiFi cards.

[@MrDavedownloads]

Great help, thank you.

[@wicho7662]

No se si sepas de lo que hablo no se si me puedes ayudar pero esque acabdo de empezar con eso de destapar laptos y estaba practicando con una igual a esa pero mi problema esque que yo quiero cambiarle la pasta térmica pero hay cuatro tornillos que son los que unen al procesador no los puedo sacrt tiene como un resorte no se si lo tengo que presionar con fuerza o hay alguna otra manera para destornillar esos tornillos tengo miedo de presionar los tornillos con mucha fuerza (no estan barridos) tienen un resorte que hacer quenko giren quiera saber si me puedes guiar Gracias!!

[@IamNeighborlee]

NICEly done sir, ty so much for this. I have a T420s I need to replace charger piece for, would this be sufficiient? I'd go by videos for this product, but they are alot harder t o follow as they use zero audio, and sometimes do things and their hands cover the procedure ;)

[@Anonymouspock]

***** www.lenovoservicetraining.com Use the official ones.

[@9899013543]

i am getting vertical lines on my x230t display.. i need to open it to check for the connections with ribbon cable to see if that is faulty or the screen itself is faulty, could you let me know how to get to that part itself

[@hoyty76]

utsav garg sorry I don’t know if parts are even available anymore for these computers due to age. I don’t have one any longer either.

[@kimsenoirb5002]

Thanks for this video. If I want to clean the fan, I do not need to remove the screen, do I?

[@hoyty76]

It has been a long time, but I don't think so.

[@gsrokmix]

Do you have any experience fixing dead USB ports on this model? A passive USB hub I ha had connected shorted out, and now none of the USB ports work. Thanks!

[@ElvisStansvik]

The power jack on my old X220 has gotten extremely glitchy, so thinking about replacing it. Is it really necessary to remove all the components as shown in this video, just to replace the power jack?

[@hoyty76]

+Elvis Stansvik You would need to get to about the 10 minute mark in video. Remove the keyboard and top plastic. You won't need to remove the screen.

[@ElvisStansvik]

Ah. Thanks for the quick reply. That's good, was kind of dreading the screen. Ordered a replacement jack from Ebay just now.

[@arkjag2991]

Thanks so much for the video. Do you have a link for the tool you used to remove the VGA screws?

[@hoyty76]

ArkJag I don't but it is either 5 or 5.5 mm socket screwdriver. The trick is it has to be very thin to fit. Go to big hardware store or Sears craftsman to get on.

[@SzabolcsSzegedi]

Thank you! It was helpfuly.

[@NermeenElHelw]

Where is the speaker? I am trying to get to it to see if it’s a hardware or software problem (since no sound is coming out of the speakers)

[@Mattboy300]

I've got an X230t and I'm trying to replace the rubber nubs on the sides of the keyboard that hold the screen in place when the lid is closed or when the laptop is in tablet mode. I've purchased the rubber pieces from eBay but I don't know how to attach them. The left one is fine, but the right one was missing when I purchased the laptop. It has a plastic piece in the little groove the rubber sits in. Do I have to cut the bottom of the rubber piece and slide it over this plastic piece? I'm very confused, any insight would be helpful. Thanks!

[@hoyty76]

I only replaced them by replacing entire top cover. Maybe if took it apart you could push in not sure though.

[@echristopherson78]

To access the BIOS chip, is it necessary to fully expose the system board?

[@arsenars1]

Hi . I can not find in internet info about x230t web camera . Is it posibal to add it if it missing? And also I need documentation to see difference in x230t model types. For exemle I want to know for my 3438AU6 model type - should or not should have camera or witch type screen it should be multitouch or two point touch with pen or without and ...... May be you can help me?Thanks

[@peace24322]

The battery on my x230 is loose, and I found out that the reason is that the clips connected to one of the battery switches on the case has broken off so there is only one "clip" clip holding the battery in. how to replace it ? thank you.

[@numenoriany2k]

Hi dude nice video, i bought myself the x230t but didnt notice that if i selected the 3x3 antenna i would loose the webcam soooo i did and now i want to buy the camera and install it but im not sure if i can. i read that i might have to remove the 3rd antenna to install the camera, could you help me out with this? i would not hold you responsible for anything i know im to blame if anything goes wrong. im just interested in some pointers.

[@kimsenoirb5002]

Hi there. Just want to ask. I repasted my thermal paste. Now the screen is black but it works when I use an external monitor. Touch screen and camera also works. What could have caused it? I double checked that I reconnected everything.

[@hoyty76]

It sounds like the cable from screen is not connected properly.

[@kimsenoirb5002]

@@hoyty76 thanks! I will check again later.

[@dddfanqi]

Good cable management comes at a cost, haha.

[@sinnedjay]

What is the difference between X230 and X230T? cause I bought a motherboard it says for Lenovo X230/X230T. Everything matches except for the battery port.

[@hoyty76]

It is wether it has tablet rotation neck. Almost everything in base is the same but screen is different due to touch / pen inputs.

[@sinnedjay]

@@hoyty76 I bought a motherboard replacement for my X230 laptop but when I'm done installing it, when i plugged the battery, the port doesn't match. The description of the motherboard was X230/X230T. It might be for X230T not for X230. Everything else was the same except for the part where you connect the battery

[@phillipgilbert454]

4 hours ago Hey Brian, great video. I have a X220T we need display replaced on. I have purchased a screen off EBay and was wondering if I could ship to you and have you replace the screen. Mine has bluetooth as well. Thanks. REPLY

[@hoyty76]

Phillip Gilbert I am afraid not. It has been many years since I have worked on one. Sorry and good luck.

[@erikaee2674]

How do you prevent any static? I noticed you weren't wearing a wrist strap

[@hoyty76]

Erika EE In over 20 years of taking apart computers never really worried about static or had a problem with. Not saying it isn't possible just not be an issue for me.

[@a123qwertz567]

+Erika EE Just make sure you dont wear any plastic clothes and put on some cotton clothes. This can prevent that you charge yourself up. To discharge before work touch your heater/raditor. You also can work with barefeet if you dont have ESD-shoes. But for me its like Brian said. I never worried about this and all my hardware is stll working.

[@grafftube5358]

do you know how can i fix coil whine? ive read sth about an inductor, but idk how to do

[@Vriskapro]

I want to replace the charger jack but that seems to much to get to it and i feel like i'll mess it up.

[@IamNeighborlee]

Vriskapro You should be fine,just make a picture and note where screws came from, and follow this video for the rest , having it on as you go ;)

[@meh2135]

Any luck on this front? I'm in the same boat. x230t, 3x3 antenna and I want a webcam!

[@vishnuns]

I bought a secondhand ThinkPad x220t . I don't know its supervisor password. many videos on youtube say that I should short EEPROM's 5th and 6th pins. is there any other method?. Help me, please

[@hoyty76]

Vishnu N S there used to be a USB tool sold be Lenovo to clear. Not sure if public though.

[@Stavrev1914]

Anyone knows if this laptop has issues ? I mean some bad issues. I found it in my country for a really cheap price , only thing i read about that the HDD slot is kinda dumb and makes problems. Is the display durable and is it multitouch ?

[@hoyty76]

True Bulgarian IYI If it is one of these machines it is 6+ years old. When new they didn’t have specific issues but a machine of this age used would be hard to know.

[@schneider1492]

ca a x220 be converted to a x220t? could you make a x220 touchscreen with parts from x220t? if i bought a x220t with good screen but broken or no cpu/mobo, could i put my x220 components in the x220t chassis?

[@hoyty76]

joe schneider I doubt it since the touchscreen has different plug and won't attach to MB properly.

[@schneider1492]

I was hoping it would have 2 separate heads, one for digitizer, one for lcd.

[@robertgregory237]

is there a video for the screen disassembly?

[@hoyty76]

+Robert Gregory Sorry never had a chance to record one and no longer have these model machines.

[@romanvorona1286]

so butyFOOL hands!! i see it in my dreams

[@muhammadawais9363]

how to change thermal paste this laptop

[@hoyty76]

You need to disassemble and then remove heat pipe.