Well... that wasn't fun

I've been working on photos for the past few days on my daily driver laptop.
 
This morning I noticed my laptop case was splitting apart... and I figured out that the embedded hinges were dislodged from their mounts and as I positioned the screen the hinge assembly was forcing the case apart.
 
I figured I'd take it a part and fix it.
 
A few minutes later I regretted trying to fix it. I was in for the full ride. I kept disassembling it and small fragments of plastic started falling out of it.
 
Unfortunately, the fact that the lid and screen was essentially hanging on by being wedged in the broken case made the process of disassembly difficult to the point where I was breaking more stuff as I tried to remove the myriad of cover plates and difficult to locate screws.
 
Yuck.
 
I took a break and starting shopping for a new laptop. I found one. I don't want to buy one. It will take two weeks to get here after I order it. Yuck.
 
At least I had a plan B in place and I have a 2.5" external enclosure for getting stuff off the existing hard drive.
 
I figured out that the problem was pretty simple. The plastic mounting for all six mounting bolts for the hinges, had shattered and the press fit brass threaded inserts were floating around the assembly.
 
I vacuumed most of the filth out of the guts and then I used my air compressor to finish. Yuck.
 
Then I grabbed some 4-40 nuts and bolts from my work bench and bolted the hinges back in. It worked ok but the system relies on the sheer, provided by a connection to the top, (sort of like a uni-body car design) rather than just a connection to the bottom so it's not going to work for very long.
 
The other thing was that The new bolts and their nuts prevented the top from sitting flush.
 
I used a power drill to create oversize clearance holes. :-) That was fun.
 
Then I put everything back together and it all powered up. Without counting the 6 screws I replaced with 4-40's, I only had 3 other small screws left when I was done. :-S They must not have been that important. :-)
 
It works better than ever... until the bottom finally cracks off. :-)
 
Yuck.
 
At least I'm back to where I was this morning. I could have saved myself a lot of time and just let it sit there working with the broken case. Someday I'll learn.
 
At least I got to be reminded about how clever the people who design all the electrical ribbon connectors are. I'm always amazed to find that you can take that stuff apart and get it back together.
 
Oh well... just babbling as a way to get past the stress of worrying about having to install all my daily driver software on a new rig.
 
Thanks.
 
 
best regards,
mike
 
 
edit spelling

I noticed the last computer I fixed
that the hinges on the trash can
worked fine.
 
 

The last trouble I had was with my internet/email computer which is a recycled 64bit DAW PC.
I was on the way out the door with it when my wife asked me not to chunk it.
I asked why and she suggested that I buy Win8 and install it- so I did.
It seems to be a good running OS but it's crap IMO.
Glad my music PC is Win7 ...and the only software I care about is on it.
 
 
 
 

:-)
 
I get to tell all my friends I have Steam Punked my lap top. :-)
 
Funny thing is, after vacuuming out all the food crumbs and dog hair, and oiling the hinges that caused all the problems, it is working better than ever.
 
But I also realize the lid is going to fall off fairly soon so I have to continue with the plan to replace it... the whole get windows 8 and have to upgrade lots of software sucks. The shop for a Win7 laptop part sucks too. :-S
 
It seems like the days for buying a pre configured laptop with Win7 are numbered now that Win8.1 is about to come out.
 
I wouldn't mind trying Win8 but I can't justify all the other application upgrade stuff.
 
best regards,
mike

Oh and be ultra careful with the ribbon cables on the one you repaired. Sounds like a recipe for a cable pinching which will screw up how things display (horrifically). I had that happen on a laptop that had a busted hinge. Fortunately just unpinching it fixed it as the cable wasn't actually damaged. If it had been I would have had to find a new cable and lord knows I would have been lost trying to find one for that specific model.