Cracking Up! My Laptop Hinge - It's No Joke

[JetsetBkk]

Has anyone oiled or greased the hinges on a laptop? The hinges on my 8 year old laptop have gone stiff and today I noticed there was a crack half way through the smaller hinge:

Googling the problem comes up with "can't be done", "replace the hinge", "use silicon oil", "try WD40", "take to an authorised dealer", etc.

Has anyone actually done it?

.

Edited June 9, 2013 by JetsetBkk

[tinhead]

Throw it out already. It's a relic. The kids on the street in Calcutta wouldn't accept it as a hand-me-down.

[thrilled]

8 years old.I'd throw it away.I'm just saying that's what I'd do.

[Guest]

I had few months old Lenovo Thinkpad Edge, which had broken hinge. Tried to get it fixed by the warranty, which was not possible.

Therefore I just use every possibility that I have to encourage people not to buy Lenovo Edges.. not ever.

(That device cost me 20.000B and lasted for couple of months. Now my aim is to make losses for Lenovo worth of 2.000.000 baht.)

[Ticketmaster]

I had a Dell Latitude that developed a cracked metal hinge. According to dell, it was impossible replace only the hinge. Had to replace the entire lid, including the LCD. I tossed it and bought a Toshiba Protege R835-P81, which turned out to be the best computer I ever owned (bought on Amazon and had friend send from US by post in plain wrapper -- no tax).

[aarn]

Run a little cyanoacrylate/super glue into the crack in the plastic housing of the hinge. Wait a couple of minutes, cover keyboard/screen etc. with cloth/tissue, squirt the tiniest portion of WD40 (or cheap BigC/Tesco generic) using the plastic tube as supplied. Check your friction-free action!

Poo-poo to those nay-sayer posters who decry your redundant technology! AA

[lemonjelly]

or try super glueing a piece of hard plastic over the crack....

[JetsetBkk]

Run a little cyanoacrylate/super glue into the crack in the plastic housing of the hinge. Wait a couple of minutes, cover keyboard/screen etc. with cloth/tissue, squirt the tiniest portion of WD40 (or cheap BigC/Tesco generic) using the plastic tube as supplied. Check your friction-free action!

Poo-poo to those nay-sayer posters who decry your redundant technology! AA

Yes, last night I put a drop of general oil - "Bosny Oil" - on all the places where the hinges were accessible. It appeared to help a little. I like the idea of dropping some super-glue into the existing crack to reinforce it. I may also try some silicone oil and/or WD40 in the hinges. Ensuring the oil goes only into the hinge is critical, but no real problem.

And as it is a fully functional laptop, which I use for surfing the web when I am not at home, I will certainly not be "throwing it out".

or try super glueing a piece of hard plastic over the crack....

Yes, that was one of my first thoughts to strengthen it, except I was going to use epoxy resin. I want to try to get all the hinge points loosened up first and then apply the strengthening ideas.

[Globeman]

I had few months old Lenovo Thinkpad Edge, which had broken hinge. Tried to get it fixed by the warranty, which was not possible.

Therefore I just use every possibility that I have to encourage people not to buy Lenovo Edges.. not ever.

(That device cost me 20.000B and lasted for couple of months. Now my aim is to make losses for Lenovo worth of 2.000.000 baht.)

i can help you along with that... My Lenovo developed a crack in the connection between the computer top and chassis - I believe due to a stiff hinge that shouldn't have passed QC. it was under warrantee, so I took it to the shop here, and the guy, (who really didn't give a toss - he was sitting around picking his spots) told me that they'd have to replace a large part of the top (including the speakers, etc.), something Lenovo clearly didn't want to do for nowt.

He told me it would take four weeks to get the part, which would leave me without a crucial work tool for that period (one suspects they are well aware of this), but I couldn't take it away and return when the part arrived, because a "broken" machine has to remain in the shop while awaiting the part.

I went to one of the boy genius cowboy shops in Panthip and they managed to loosen up the hinge and glue the casing back together... 250 baht.

I like the performance of the guts of the Lenovo, but their service is rubbish. This particular machine suffered from the "Blue Screen of Death" so often, you'd have thought it was running Windows 3.1 On the Lenovo user's forum, I discovered many with the same problem - most likely an issue with the bios, apparently - a firmware problem, I think.

Lenovo, who must monitor the forum, didn't hoe in with so much as a peep as to how to sort it out, or to admit that they made an error in the setup (and apologize) and tell us they were working on a fix. They left all of us hanging - customers who spent nearly 40k baht on one of their flagship machines. With ongoing updates, the problem lessened in severity and eventually disappeared completely, so they clearly did work out a fix, but didn't deign to share that information with us.

But hey, it is a Chinese company - top down style, caveat emptor, "We've got your money and we don't care - you should be more careful!"

[Ticketmaster]

I had few months old Lenovo Thinkpad Edge, which had broken hinge. Tried to get it fixed by the warranty, which was not possible.

Therefore I just use every possibility that I have to encourage people not to buy Lenovo Edges.. not ever.

(That device cost me 20.000B and lasted for couple of months. Now my aim is to make losses for Lenovo worth of 2.000.000 baht.)

Yeah, ditto for Samsung.

[Overcome]

I had few months old Lenovo Thinkpad Edge, which had broken hinge. Tried to get it fixed by the warranty, which was not possible.

Therefore I just use every possibility that I have to encourage people not to buy Lenovo Edges.. not ever.

(That device cost me 20.000B and lasted for couple of months. Now my aim is to make losses for Lenovo worth of 2.000.000 baht.)

Yeah, ditto for Samsung.

Appalling service can be found everywhere. My 80,000+ baht Apple PowerBook Pro was taken into the official Apple service agents in Bangkok,(ironically called iCare) to replace the hard drive (out if warranty, I dropped it, no argument about me paying). Several weeks after getting it back and reinstalling everything I ran out of disc space and discovered they had replaced my 750GB drive with 500GB. No chance of getting these iCare shysters to remedy their fraud and to their shame Apple corporate was not prepared to intervene but a regional executive offered me a discount on an external hard drive. Gutless management and unwillingness to back up brand promises happens everywhere unfortunately

[mikemac]

Silicon spray is good, lubricates well, no smell and very clean. Super- glue a patch over the crack, then throw the whole lot in the bin and treat yourself to a new laptop.

[Naroge]

I had a very similar problem many years back. The design of my laptop allowed me to reinforce the hinge with glass fibre reinforced scotch tape.It worked very well. From the picture you show I cannot tell if your design allows the same, but have a look,

[blueshark]

ahh the old cracked laptop hinge. Well this is news thanks for posting. i recomend you travel into the country a get some bat shit. thats "key kankow" in thai rub that into your cracks and wait a day or two. im pretty sure both your crack and laptop will be as good as new!

[Sayonarax]

I had few months old Lenovo Thinkpad Edge, which had broken hinge. Tried to get it fixed by the warranty, which was not possible.

Therefore I just use every possibility that I have to encourage people not to buy Lenovo Edges.. not ever.

(That device cost me 20.000B and lasted for couple of months. Now my aim is to make losses for Lenovo worth of 2.000.000 baht.)

Yeah, ditto for Samsung.

Yes yes, encourage more people to buy Samsung ( cause you or someone else unknowingly dropped your laptop when it was inside a bag).

[Andre0720]

I went to a computer repair shop.

An order was made for new hinges, mailed from BKK.

The cost was less than 200 bahts.

Replacing cost is 200 bahts, was for a friend of mine who replaced the hinges himself. I saw the procedure. Simple

[davidst01]

dont ask me. Im a qualified disposable cigarette lighter repairman.

[comserve]

I think we all have our gripes with computer manufacturers. I bought a Compaq (which is a beautiful machine) the trouble is they got taken over by HP.

Because of our crap internet, which went off so often, my wife started fiddling with connections (and electrical plugs) & finally managed to short the whole house, knocking out my Compaq, HP printer & a few kitchen appliances to boot.

Took the computer to the HP service centre in Khon Kaen. They charged me 1,000B to give me a quote of 17,000B to fix it. (Computer cost me 14,000B on special at BigC. Finally bought a new HP (crappy computer if ever there was one). For the hell of it I took my Compaq to a couple of whiz kids in the IT Centre at Korat, not thinking it would get fixed. Four weeks later (next time I was in Korat) I picked it up (4,000B) It has gone perfectly since then. However the crappy HP got a fault with the signon oif Microsoft, so I had to get the operating system reloaded. But HP does it's own keyboard mapping in it's supplied operating system so I now have to use an external keyboard to use it.

Never, never buy an HP computer. Takes about the first month to get rid of all their marketing software off it. (make good printers though, as long as you use reinking services. My HP Laser Jet is a great printer but if you buy HP ink cartridges they cost almost as much as a new printer.

(Printer cost me 4,950B, new ink cartridges cost 3,000B, good that there are plenty of re-inking services around Thailand!!!) Also now my HP Pavilion's screen has developed a green stripe on the screen, Compaq screen is fabulous. COMPAQ should have taken over HP!

Not surprising that HP are going out of business. Couldn't happen soon enough! Good basic HP printers though.

[marstons]

Same happened with my Acer, shops tried all kinds of bonding agents, crack got worse. Purchased new Toshiba, just my opinion but once they start to go its time to back it all up and change, unless you can live with external screen.

[vijer]

I had few months old Lenovo Thinkpad Edge, which had broken hinge. Tried to get it fixed by the warranty, which was not possible.

Therefore I just use every possibility that I have to encourage people not to buy Lenovo Edges.. not ever.

(That device cost me 20.000B and lasted for couple of months. Now my aim is to make losses for Lenovo worth of 2.000.000 baht.)

Ya, since Lenovo was bought from IBM the quality has become real dog poo. I have an old IBM that is in perfect condition. I have a Lenovo S10 that the hinges broke within 2 years. I have a Lenovo ThinkPad and the case is cracked in two places, not from misuse, just started cracking. This will be my last Lenovo. Pure Chinese crap now. The only reason Apple products made in China are any good is because Apple ensures the quality is good. Let Apple sell the iPhone, iPad, etc. to a Chinese company and within a year all those products would be sheit too.

[vijer]

I had few months old Lenovo Thinkpad Edge, which had broken hinge. Tried to get it fixed by the warranty, which was not possible.

Therefore I just use every possibility that I have to encourage people not to buy Lenovo Edges.. not ever.

(That device cost me 20.000B and lasted for couple of months. Now my aim is to make losses for Lenovo worth of 2.000.000 baht.)

Yeah, ditto for Samsung.

Yes yes, encourage more people to buy Samsung ( cause you or someone else unknowingly dropped your laptop when it was inside a bag).

I think you're wrong, I have had problems with 2 Lenovo laptops and neither one was dropped.

[stormstereo]

First - on that picture, your screws and metal connectors have corroded. Throw it out.
Second - never use WD40 on plastic since it is a petroleum based product (although lightly so).
Third - yes I'm an Apple fanboy, but if you insist on a Windows based product, the Samsung Series 9/7/5, in that order, looks good. The Google Chromebook as well, although I guess a computer where everything is internet based will not be an awesome experience in a land like Thailand.
Fourth - I'd still like to suggest an Apple MacBook Air, MacBook Pro (or even an iPad if you don't use you computer for real heavy stuff). Apple will announce new products and software updates today, at their World Wide Developers Conference so check those out. I used to be a hard core Windows guy who did real heavy lifting on my machines. I even tried the Linux route. After a few weeks with OS X, I hated myself for not switching years ago.

[Frank James]

I bought a Lenovo "Ideapad" a year ago, and so far, no problems at all. It's the best laptop (number 6 so far) I've had yet. You guys have got me worried now. Thanks a lot.

It's quite amazing what the young Thai IT heroes at these anonymous little shops around Pantip and Icon can do, for really reasonable rates. Whenever you use any "super glue" type product, there's a real danger of permanently fogging over any plastic in the immediate vicinity. The hinge is so close to the screen and keyboard, you MUST cover these areas.

Eight years? You must really like your machine a lot. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

[JetsetBkk]

<snip>

Whenever you use any "super glue" type product, there's a real danger of permanently fogging over any plastic in the immediate vicinity. The hinge is so close to the screen and keyboard, you MUST cover these areas.

Eight years? You must really like your machine a lot. (Not that there's anything wrong with that!)

I don't mind if the glue/reinforcing plate doesn't look good, as long as it doesn't affect the functionality of the laptop. But obviously I will try to make it look neat.

My main PC is a desktop that I built a year or so ago. That cost just under 40,000 baht and is quick. But the laptop cost double that, 8 years ago, and works fine. Before I built the desktop, I used the laptop to download torrents at 1.5 Megabytes/sec, watch HD movies, do video editing, etc. But now I just use it for browsing the web when I'm out of the house.

The main drawback with the laptop is that it weighs a ton. But since the cd/dvd still works, the SD card reader still works, the Wi-Fi works, the LAN works, why not fix the hinge? It also has Bluetooth, but I've never used that.

[JetsetBkk]

First - on that picture, your screws and metal connectors have corroded. Throw it out.

Second - never use WD40 on plastic since it is a petroleum based product (although lightly so).

Third - yes I'm an Apple fanboy, but if you insist on a Windows based product, the Samsung Series 9/7/5, in that order, looks good. The Google Chromebook as well, although I guess a computer where everything is internet based will not be an awesome experience in a land like Thailand.

Fourth - I'd still like to suggest an Apple MacBook Air, MacBook Pro (or even an iPad if you don't use you computer for real heavy stuff). Apple will announce new products and software updates today, at their World Wide Developers Conference so check those out. I used to be a hard core Windows guy who did real heavy lifting on my machines. I even tried the Linux route. After a few weeks with OS X, I hated myself for not switching years ago.

Irrelevant that the screws are corroded.

As for those connectors, I don't use them as they are for a dock and an external monitor.

[stormstereo]

First - on that picture, your screws and metal connectors have corroded. Throw it out.

Second - never use WD40 on plastic since it is a petroleum based product (although lightly so).

Third - yes I'm an Apple fanboy, but if you insist on a Windows based product, the Samsung Series 9/7/5, in that order, looks good. The Google Chromebook as well, although I guess a computer where everything is internet based will not be an awesome experience in a land like Thailand.

Fourth - I'd still like to suggest an Apple MacBook Air, MacBook Pro (or even an iPad if you don't use you computer for real heavy stuff). Apple will announce new products and software updates today, at their World Wide Developers Conference so check those out. I used to be a hard core Windows guy who did real heavy lifting on my machines. I even tried the Linux route. After a few weeks with OS X, I hated myself for not switching years ago.

Irrelevant that the screws are corroded.

As for those connectors, I don't use them as they are for a dock and an external monitor.

Yes, irrelevant but telltale that it might be time to look for a new one.

Apple released a new MacBook Air today. Weighs very little. Fast as a bullet. Battery life is 12 hours for the 13 inch. Runs Windows too. We also got a sneak preview of the upcoming Mac Pro machine. Holy mother of gigaflops, it's a beast!

[GoodWesternGuy]

Get an IPad!

[natas]

The design of laptop hinges is not the same as a door hinge. They are called "Friction hinges" and Oil is not necessary nor the reason for the binding or breaking. The crack is the problem, simply gluing the crack is impossible because of the force outward (reason for it cracking in the first place) Repair would be like fixing a car tire with a piece of chewing gum.

The major problem in most cases is that there are thin Ribbon Cables running thru and over the hinge, the crack or any oil, glue will eventually, if not immediately ruin this cable. Then you will have no picture. The only solution is to replace the hinges. I can not give any info about availability since I only work with Apple machines, hinges are available for most all Apple laptops one way or another. But there are only a few models with hinges that spontaneously break. (most recent Apple is still repairing for free out of warranty even) But they are most likely available, if not new then maybe second hand.

Good luck in keeping your old machine alive, we should all try NOT to buy new when what we have still works for our intents and purposes. If your 8 year old computer still does what you need it to do, then why should it be replaced by one with new crap you have to learn, new bugs you have to learn how to work around, and a bunch of eye candy to distract you from what you really need the machine for.

[jacko45k]

Would it be an Acer? I had to prop the screen of mine up against a wall to use it until I upgraded. Sony has lasted much better!