I had to open my Toshiba Satellite laptop once- for some reason it suddenly only had 4MB of RAM (as opposed to the 144 it had- this is a very old (1996) laptop, BTW)). Needless to say, Windows 98 refused to boot. (well, HIMEM.SYS actually crashed before windows even tried, but that's not the point).
So, I ended up ripping out the two front screws and lifting up the front faceplate thingy, and reseating the memory. Works great now, except I had to rip one of the screws out completely, thus stripping the plastic inside, so it's loose on one side. (IE, I can lift up the area in front of the keyboard and expose its guts).
so if you open it up, be sure not to lose any screws, and also avoid stripping too many threads. This is especially true since, with a laptop, screws are always shaped strangely, and the most important parts of the case are made of cheap plastic.
