Acer Chromebook 14 Teardown

Written By: Alex
Published: 15/01/17
  • Comments: 22

Acer Chromebook 14 Teardown

Published: 15/01/17

Teardown

Introduction

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    • After unscrewing these philips-heads the back panel pops right off with no adhesive, no ribbons attached too!

  2. 5i5L6WSQ3VTPhrtb

    • With the back off we see the main board and the audio board sitting all lonely on the left. It's problematic in just about everything that isn't Chrome OS.

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    • This is the firmware write protect screw: you need to remove this to change things like the GBB flags or flash a custom firmware image. It is recommended to remove the WP screw before installing Linux so you can set the GBB flags to prevent getting locked out of the legacy BIOS in the event of battery discharge or disconnect.

    #HELP After removing this screw my Chromebook won't turn on

    Your can contact me @ olowolafedamilola@gmail.com

    Olowolafe Damilola -

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    • This is the audio board, it controls the speakers and the 3mm jack... And is extra picky about what it talks to!

    • You'll need special drivers for this one, nothing but stock software works out of the box with this one.

Author

Alex

Member since: 15/01/17

157 Reputation

21 comments

If I wanted to put some thermal pads down on the motherboard for $@$** and giggles, where would the back of the processor be on the above board?

tipoo -

It's actually on the keyboard side of the board, bare silicon with a thermal pad connecting it to the aluminium frame. Unless you want goop on your keyboard I wouldn't advise it!

Alex -

Do you have any instructions on how to remove or at least clean the keyboard on these?

I had a spillage and the keys are sticking now.

frannyj -

+1 for this! I was able to get the motherboard, battery, audioboard and speakers out to where I could saftley spray down the keys from the front with rubbing alcohol. It helped, but they’re still sticky. I couldn’t figure out how to actually access the keys without removing the black plastic backing to them, and I didn’t see a clear way to do that….

Bob -

Does this chromebook have SATA ports?

Skrill12 -

No, not on this model

infiniti25 -

Do you know where the EEPROM chip is located?

Doryx -

Isit possible to increase RAM? And how would one do that?

Tom Murray -

It is only possible if you have access to a BGA soldering station, the ram is directly soldered onto the board.

Alex -

Is it possible to replace the M.2 SSD for more hard drive space if so what component is commercially available?

Lester Idio -

Unfortunately no, the only storage is soldered onto the motherboard. The only modular component here is the mini pcie wifi card.

Alex -

This device has a soldered on e-MMC storage chip.

infiniti25 -

Some places I’ve read you need to take out 2 WP screws. Should I only take out the one you said or take out the one above as well?

SupDroid Studio -

I cant unscrew my acer cromebook 14 CB3-431 screws help plz.

Jordan Deonarine -

I have replaced the ac connector on my chromebook but when tested i had no power no leds at all. Any help would be really apreciated

RafaelnottheAngel -

I would guess that if the power adapter and the charge port are both new and tested working on another device, you may have a dead SOC CPU…I believe you can test by checking for short to ground on the USB data pins as the connect directly to the PCH in the SOC CPU package.

If you need advice on this failure, maybe drop by our Discord server for assistance ++http://invite.ers.repair/++

infiniti25 -

Can someone point me in the right direction of which connector goes to the microphone/camera?

dylan -

Hello I am wondering where the storage is located

Jonathan Felsberg -

After completing very necessary step, the Acer Chromebook 14 cb3-431 isn't booting from the flash drive. It keeps showing an error which reads " incomplete drivers"

Alexander Sunday -

Great work on the guide.

I had to replace a battery because the Chromebook will turn off after unplugging the ac adapter. Even after the battery swap it keeps doing the same. Several guides don't mention the Hardware lock screw inside of the Chromebook. I found out about it in the teardown guide, remove it, and like magic. Now it recognizes the new battery and does not turn off when disconnected!!

Thank you!!. One less laptop in the landfill

simon mendez -

Great information, thanks for sharing.

If audio from the jack and speakers is an issue, my guess is that Bluetooth is still working to connect a Bluetooth speaker or earbuds?

Just a little workaround?

Paul Gill -