Read a service manual and write the disassembly order before touching anything

short · 35 min · Objective 1.1

Task

Produce the removal order for one specific laptop model from its own service documentation, and prove that the order is a dependency graph rather than a list. This is the exercise a technician does before opening an unfamiliar machine, and it costs nothing.

Steps

  1. Find the manufacturer's service manual or disassembly guide for that exact model. Record the model and the document's URL in lab/teardown/source.txt.
  2. Write lab/teardown/order.csv with header step,component,removed_before,tool,note listing at least ten removal steps in order. removed_before names the component that cannot come out until this one has.
  3. Mark in the note column, for at least three components, what would be damaged if that component were removed out of order.
  4. Write lab/teardown/battery.txt recording where the battery connector is, at which step it is disconnected, and whether the pack is under the board.
  5. Write lab/teardown/upgradable.csv with header component,upgradable,evidence covering memory and storage, citing the manual rather than assuming.

Verify

test -s lab/teardown/source.txt && echo "source recorded"
awk -F, 'NR>1 && NF>=5 {n++} END {print n" step(s)"}' lab/teardown/order.csv
awk -F, 'NR>1 && $5!="" {n++} END {print n" step(s) with a damage note"}' lab/teardown/order.csv
grep -c . lab/teardown/battery.txt
awk -F, 'NR>1 && NF>=3 {n++} END {print n" component(s) assessed"}' lab/teardown/upgradable.csv

Ten or more ordered steps, three or more damage notes, and both memory and storage assessed with evidence. If removed_before is empty on every row you have written a parts list rather than an order, which is the thing this lab exists to distinguish.

Notes

Do this for a model you might actually meet. Manufacturers publish these documents precisely so that machines are not damaged by guesswork, and knowing that they exist is worth more than memorising any one of them.

This is an independent study companion for CompTIA A+ Core 1 220-1201 and is not produced by or endorsed by CompTIA.