To conserve our planet’s finite resources, I try to make my computers last as long as possible. I still use the very first computer I ever owned, an ASUS EeePC 1000.

As a budget netbook from 2009, it is not exactly fast, but runs the latest release of Debian GNU/Linux 11 perfectly adequately. I use it in supervisions to show pdfs and graphics tablet sketches on a big screen; and it is good for SSHing to work on remote servers. It is only the wasteful complexity of modern websites and browsers that make it impractical for regular use.

Having said that, my laptop has a couple of awkward hardware issues:

• CMOS battery has gone bad and cannot hold any charge. This means that I have to reset the BIOS time and date on every reboot;
• After dropping something onto the laptop, the hyphen key is broken off. Also, the keyboard is yellowed with age and rather grimy.

In this post, we fix these problems and extend the life of this old machine by fitting some replacement parts. I could not find any detailed instructions online, so I am posting my notes here.

Disassembly

1. Take out the battery. We need to access some screws underneath it, and, also, safety first.
2. Remove 11 small Phillips screws from the base of the laptop. Keep the three from under the battery separate, as they are shorter. It is not necessary to remove the two screws securing the removable upgrade panel.

   

3. Unhook the rear edge of the keyboard. Just above the top row of function keys, there are four small catches which must be pushed back with a flat-head screwdriver.

   

4. Remove the keyboard, unlocking and unplugging the ribbon cable, revealing seven more screws to extract. This is the point where we void the warranty!

   

5. Detach the touchpad and power button cables and carefully unclip the top panel of the laptop. Using a plastic prying tool for this step, instead of improvising using a screwdriver, to make it harder to break something.
6. We have reached our goal and can access the yellow CMOS battery.

   

New parts

eBay seems to be the cheapest source for slightly obscure computer spares. Perhaps Amazon is a bit too consumer-focused for this market. Anyway, it is heartening that we can buy a replacement keyboard for a 13 year old laptop at a very reasonable price.

• Keyboard, £8.77
• CMOS battery, £2.30

Assembly

Is the reverse of disassembly. Good as new!