STEP 16

Remove the LED board from the laptop.

STEP 17

Unplug the power jack cable and USB board cable from the motherboard.
Remove one screw securing the optical drive cover.

STEP 18

Unroute the power jack cable.
Unroute the USB board cable.

STEP 19

Slide the optical drive cover towards the LCD screen.

STEP 20

Lift up and remove the optical drive cover.

STEP 21

Remove two screws securing the optical drive.

STEP 22

Here's the tricky part.
Even after you slide the optical drive to the right, you still will not be able to remove it from the laptop base.
The mounting bracket on the drive is too long and it hits the motherboard when you lift up the drive.

Bad design? Probably.

STEP 23

If you lift up the optical drive a little bit, you can remove both screws securing the mounting bracket to the drive.

I really didn't want to remove the motherboard because of this stupid bracket on the drive.