Upgrade & maintenance of your TUXEDO notebook - TUXEDO Computers

Why should I upgrade or maintain my TUXEDO?

If you would like to upgrade the main memory (RAM) or mass storage (HDD or SSD) of your TUXEDO computer at a later point in time, this is easy and can be done safely even by laymen with appropriate care and taking all necessary steps into account.

System maintenance, especially cleaning the case fans, can also help your TUXEDO notebook run cooler and quieter. At TUXEDO Computers, we give you full control over your computer and, unlike some other manufacturers, explicitly allow opening the unit for maintenance and upgrade purposes without voiding the warranty.

However, the mandatory prerequisite for the preservation of the warranty is the professional and careful execution according to the steps described in this manual. No liability can be accepted for any damage resulting from improper performance.

Contents

• Preparations
• Open case
• Upgrade memory (RAM)
• Upgrade mass storage (HDD/SSD)
• Replace battery
• Replace WiFi adapter
• Replace CMOS battery
• Fan and cooling system maintenance

Preparations

Please make sure that you have a tidy work surface with sufficient space, as well as all necessary utensils and tools, such as suitable screwdrivers. An Antistatic mat as a base for your TUXEDO notebook is ideal to avoid the risk of jumping electrical energy due to a static charge. However, this is not absolutely necessary. Alternatively, make sure to „ground“ yourself by touching a radiator before unscrewing the device.

When touching hardware components inside your TUXEDO notebook, we recommend wearing gloves to avoid transferring skin grease to sensitive contacts. However, if your hands have been washed with soap beforehand, this can also be dispensed with. In any case, please avoid direct contact with the electrical contacts inside your TUXEDO.

Open case

Make sure that your TUXEDO notebook is not connected to the power supply. Then place the device on a flat surface with the base plate facing upwards and remove all screws. It is best to collect the unscrewed screws in a small bowl.

After unscrewing the last screw, you can simply remove the base plate on most models. On some models, you may need to pry the base plate out of plastic anchors. For this, we recommend a very thin, non-metallic object, such as a plastic spatula or an electric guitar pick. For further instructions on opening your TUXEDO notebook, please refer to this article.

Upgrade memory (RAM)

To remove a ram module, press the two metal clips on the left and right slightly apart until the RAM bar pops out of its anchorage. You can now pull out the RAM. To add a new RAM bar, insert it into the free slot at a slightly slanted angle with the contact surface first.

The small notch on the edge of the contact surface helps you with the correct orientation and thus only allows the correct locking of the RAM latch. After the RAM is firmly seated in the contact rail of the RAM slot, gently press down on the module until the two metal clips snap into place on their own and lock the RAM bar in place.

Upgrade mass storage (HDD/SSD)

To remove an SSD (in this case in M.2 format), loosen the mounting screw at the rear end of the mass storage bar. After loosening the screw, the SSD will lift a bit on its own, and you can carefully pull the latch out of the contact point.

To add a new SSD storage module, insert it into the free slot at a slightly slanted angle with the contact surface first. Then press down the back end of the SSD with your finger and fix the new SSD with the screw again.

Replace battery

After removing the baseplate, remove the battery cable from the power socket on the main board. Depending on the device, the battery cable and the plug differ in color or shape. When doing so, please do not pull on the thin cables, but carefully and gradually lever the plastic plug of the battery cable out of the power socket on the main board.

After that, simply loosen all screws that connect the battery to the case and then remove the battery. You install a new battery in the corresponding backwards order: insert the battery, screw it and connect the battery cable to the main board’s power connector.

Replace WiFi adapter

If you want to replace the WLAN/WiFi card, proceed as follows: Similar to the SSD, loosen the screw that fixes the WiFi card to the main board. Then, carefully and preferably with a thin and non-metallic spatula or an electric guitar pick, loosen the two antenna cables of the WLAN card attached directly above the screw. You can then disconnect the antenna cables and easily pull the WiFi module out of the contact plug and replace it with another WiFi card.

Replace CMOS battery

In (very) rare cases – for example due to discharge or for resetting the BIOS – it may be necessary to replace the CMOS battery or disconnect the main board. Caution: Please only do this if you know exactly what you are doing or our support team has explicitly advised you to do so.

To disconnect the CMOS battery from the main board, please carefully remove the small connector with the red-black cable from the port.

Fan and cooling system maintenance

To ensure that your TUXEDO can still work quietly and cool after many months, we recommend cleaning the fan as well as the fins of the heat sink every six to twelve months – depending on the usage environment.

In principle, you can easily perform this procedure without removing the components by using a compressed air spray to blow through the fan blades and the fins of the heat sink.

If you really want to dismantle the cooling system, please do so with the utmost care! Any damage (such as bent heat pipes, scratched contact points or a not evenly applied thermal paste) can have a strong negative influence on the cooling performance.

In some TUXEDO notebooks you can remove the fans individually, in other models the fans are permanently connected to the cooling system. Carefully pull the thin fan cable out of the main board connector and remove the screws that connect the fan housing to the notebook case. Then unscrew the screws that fix the cooling system to the main board and carefully lift off the cooling construction.

After a few years, the thermal paste, which ensures a seamless heat transfer from the CPU chip and, if present, graphics chip to the cooling system, may dry out somewhat, affecting the thermal conductivity. Please carefully remove the old thermal paste from the heat sink and CPU/GPU chip using a paper or cloth towel, and then carefully clean both surfaces from remaining residual particles with a little cleaning alcohol.

Now apply an approximately pinhead-small blob or elongated strip of the same amount to the cleaned CPU/graphics chip and position the heat sink in its place with light and even pressure. Please do not lift the heat sink again and press it down again, because this can cause small air bubbles in the thin layer of heat conductive paste, which negatively influence the cooling performance!

After that, tighten the screws of the cooling system with only light pressure at first and do not go all around but in diagonal order to distribute the pressure of the heat sink on CPU/GPU as evenly as possible. Once all screws are in place with light pressure, tighten all screws, again in diagonal order, with a little more pressure. If the fans could be removed individually, screw them back into place and reconnect the fan cable to the main board.