Everything I need to fix my hinge?

I'm trying to decide whether I wanted to upgrade to 4gigs of ram first, or fix my left hinge. I decided to fix my hinges first . I just bought this m15x, it's REV 1. It had a broken hinge when I bought it.

I'm slightly confused as to the whole hinge design. I heard it was all plastic, which is why plastic pieces fall out and it makes that horrid sound. But when I look through the crack at the bottom I see a metal hinge. I'm just all confused about that which is why I made this thread.

What exactly do I need to fix the hinges? Do I need some plastic stuff or what?

I saw this on ebay... http://cgi.ebay.com/Alienware-m15x-LCD-Hinges-Left-Right-Set-SZS-MX3_W0QQitemZ220365550436QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item220365550436&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=72:1205|66:2|65:12|39:1|240:1318|301:1|293:1|294:50

But if it's just metal hinges, what exactly am I fixing? If it's just metal hinges it shouldn't be broken.....I dunno I'm just confused. I shouldn't have to buy more metal hinges since I already have them. Ugg confusing!

Please help me out

 

If you just bought it, why not call AW and use your warranty?

 

I just bought it used from someone else . It has no warranty, especially considering it's a REV 1 laptop the 1 year warranty has expired

 

it is not the hinge that breaks it is the little pieces of plastic that are screwed to the hinge that break. try to reinforce the plastic, I'd imagine adding additional epoxy in that area would help. If you want to fix it you need the lid.

This is what you need to fix it.

 

I don't see any little pieces of plastic in that ad. I just see the panel and hinge...

 

Below of the tape that holds the wires, you can see the plastic that is raised and runs up the lid, that is what hold the lid to the hinge, thus why it breaks. these are the pieces of plastic that falls out when the "hinge" breaks.

 

LOL what a horrid design :S

Well I'll have to buy a whole case...hmm. Is that the "new revision"? Did alienware ever update their design so it would stop breaking, or when I buy it is it going to break again in a few months?

 

Makes me wonder if putting some JB Weld on there would help keep it attached and strengthen it ?? Just a thought. God Bless

 

Sent it back and they will replace the whole entire cover and hinge with the "new stock" Mine was fixed and now it feels well oiled with no sound at all. Opening and closing is tighter and less wobble.

 

Send it back to whom? He already stated he bought it second hand, and the warranty for the original buyer has since expired.

 

lol FAIL ...sorry

 

Even though his is out of warranty since he bought it used, it still may be a good idea to find out how much it may cost to get it repaired by AW. If it is reasonable then it may be worth the cost. Let us know if you do contact them to find out and how much they charge. God Bless

 

I would definitely send it in to Alienware to have them fix it, problem is that I can't afford to have my computer gone for at least a week.

 

If you do call them see if you can find out how much they would change or repair the hinge for and let us know, as I am sure others would like to know the price. Hopefully it is a FLAT Rate price !!! God Bless

 

Unless their policy has changed, AW will not allow non-original owners to send their laptop in to them to fix EVEN IF the 2nd owner is willing to pay WHATEVER AW wants.

 

They're all Rev. 1 I believe.

 

Is there a guide on how to replace the back panel and hinge? I ordered a new one a few days ago (switching from ripley to skullcap!!). I can probably figure it all out myself, but I'd like it if there was a guide or someone else who has done it would have some tips so I don't screw something up..


Thanks

 

I bought my replacement skullcap from them and it works great. They also have other parts for your m15x as well. I went ahead and bought every part of the case. I am planning on painting mine.

 

All you have to do is take the screws out under the rubber pieces on the front panel. After that, you can see what you need to remove to get the panel replaced.

WARNING: You have to remove the wireless antennas from the motherboard before you can remove the Back Panel, otherwise you will tear something up. THe best way is to remove the Top Keyboard Panel. I mean the part the the touchpad is on. You have to lift the tape up where the battery is to get the last two screws, or you will break the plastic.

 

Ah that makes sense! Thanks man. I might have taken apart my whole computer if you hadn't told me that

 

No problem. I have taken mine apart so many times it's not funny. I can replace a panel in about 15 minutes now. Just be careful when opening it up. Also, a magnetized screw driver is a must. The screws will fall inside and you will never see them again.

 

What screws will fall? Because I uh don't have a magnetic screwdriver, I don't think...

 

then find ur mini screw driver and stick a magnet on it over night or just stick a magnet and leave it lol

 

I have the worst bad luck EVER!!!

My hinge just arrived (top panel / hinge). I ordered the Skull Cap. Well I opened it up, it's the Ripley (same as I have right now). I paid $50 but since I need to fix it (been going with a majorlly broken hinge now for over a month) then I was just like "well whatever I'll just use ripley again I'm not sending it back and waiting a while".

It gets better though. The hinge is broken on arrival! Yes, the hinge is broken off of the plastic on the one that the guy on ebay just sent me. So I just paid $50 for the exact same thing I have right now! (Ripley and broken left hinge). now I have to talk to him, and send it back. Probably be another few weeks before I get another new one.

I'm so TICKED OFF!!! I have more bad luck than anyone else I've ever met. This type of thing happens once a month, it's been consistent too. Once a month something big will happen like this and I end up losing a bunch of money or time.


RAWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Guess I won't have a working hinge for another few weeks >_______>

 

If you ordered from Cyberinfinity, they will send you another one without you sending yours back. Just message him and tell him that you need one ASAP and he will send another one out in 24-48 hours. Don't worry, they are good folks.

 

No way? =O

 

Yes way.

 

Well I sent him a message earlier today. I'm glad I didn't chew him out

 

Holy cow no way! (again). Two hours after I contacted CyberInfinity, he sent a new one out with a tracking number too! Less than two hours actually. Less than two hours after I contacted him I had a new one in the mail! ^.^

That's awesome lol. And ya he let me keep the old one. Even though I can't really do anything with it, that's still coo.

 

Well, You have another panel to experiment on. That's what I am using my extra one for. I am trying to create a bracket from the left to right hinge that will make the hinge stronger.

I have a lot of spare aluminum, so this won't cost me anything but time. Hope you enjoy your new panel. I told you, they are some great folks.

 

Hmm that's true. Test out stuff on it. And it's got some stuff I might have to replace some day, like antenna or alienware head, which I'll have on hand now

The antenna is already pretty good on the laptop, but since I'll have it exposed when I get my new top panel, are there things I can do to boost it? Should I add something in there like some copper?

 

I don't think so. It already has a good range anyways. My signal is always really strong all over the house.

 

Hey Keep me in the loop on that, I am definitely interested in that mod you are working on.

 

Yeah, it will be a week or so, but I am sketching it up at the moment.

 

My second replacement top panel arrived today . Cyber Infinity rocks. This thing has to be BRAND NEW! And now I'm rockin' SkullCap instead of ripley ^.^

I haven't installed it yet however. I'm going into town in a few hours and I'm gonna pick up some Gorilla Glue and carefully apply some around the hinge where it attaches to the plastic. I'm hoping that will double it's life. It's going to be a while though. I have to let it set for 2 hours, so I won't be installing it for at least 5 since I don't even have the glue yet.

Wish me luck though! I hope it's pretty straightforward to replace the top panel. I've never done it!

 

Instead of Gorilla Glue, how about some JB WELD !!!

 

What exactly is that?

And last I checked, you can't "weld" plastic and metal together

 

JB Weld is a pretty hardcore epoxy-based adhesive.

 

Here ya go the many uses of JB WELD

http://jbweld.net/products/uses.php


I remember at a local hardware store for part of the display for JB Weld, they took an old bottle and then used JB Weld to stick diffrent items of different materials to it such as different metals, plastics, glass, etc. and ask you to try and remove it. You ended up either breaking the bottle or the item, but never the joint between the 2 materials and JB Weld that thing was hard !!

 

I need help like right now!!!

I've got my laptop halfway taken apart and I have no clue what I'm doing. I'm starting to break my laptop trying to get the top panel off and I need help from someone who has done it! Please help me. It seems like no one on the entire planet has done this because there is nothing on google to follow! Someone help me please!


Ok so I got all the screws off of the front by the LCD, the front panel thing that has the alienware logo on it. I got that black panel off. I finally managed to get off the little rounded panel that goes inbetween the two hinges, after unscrewing a few screws under the battery. now I'm stuck because it looks like i need to pull the whole top section off, the whole thing around the keyboard and over the speakers. I unscrewed some big screws around the bottom that seemed like they connected to the top part. But now I'm stuck because I'm starting to break that top part, trying to unsnap it.


So here I'm am with a laptop half way taken apart and I have no clue what on earth I'm supposed to do! All I'm trying to do and replace the hinge/top panel which also requires me to unplug a bunch of stuff from the old top panel and plugging all the new top panel stuff in.


Oh and this laptop is HORRIBLE quality! The paint is like goo and all the edges of my laptop are destroyed now

 

You guys were too slow . Finally figured it out, just about destroyed my laptop. Now I've got a freakin' sweet skull cap on the top, with two brand new hinges!!

As much as the hinges are brand new, I'm terrified about them breaking at any second seeing as how utterly terrible the build design is . I've got them slightly re-inforced with some gorilla glue. I'm going to keep going easy on the laptop, we'll see how long the hinges last.


Let me also say the build design on this laptop is terrible...the plastic used for the whole thing is extremely low quality. Almost makes me embarrassed to have this laptop. People who see it at first go "oh sweet laptop!" and then they hold it and their like "oh...." since it's all creaky and flimsy plastic. I dunno. This is just a really expensive laptop and I would have expected a little more

Anyways, I put everything back together and everything went together mostly fine. After taking the whole thing apart and putting it back together it actually feels a little more sturdy now . Well, having brand new hinges helps!


In the past week all of my upgrades have arrived. Just a week ago my laptop was pretty lame. But then my 4gigs of ram arrived, then my brand new illuminated keyboard arrived, then my 320 gig hard drive (7,200rpm) and new skull cap/hinges arrived. Now my laptop totally rocks!

 

Congratulations man, do you mind putting up instructions on how you got it done? Would help the community a lot

 

I'll get around to it in a few days . Yeah it would help out the community a lot. Then other people could get their laptops fixed

 

Pictures too of the OLD and NEW please

 

I would think that since Gorilla Glue expands as it dries, you would have a problem with the pressure against your black magnetic front trim. I would have used JB Weld or some sort of PLast to metal 2 stage epoxy to secure it in there. As long as the brass things are tight, they should be fine. I was gone, or else I would have helped you through this process. It's confusing at first, but you figured it out, which is good.

 

I didn't put much on. I knew it expands so I put it in some key places to make it secure. I experimented with that old panel I had that cyber infinity first sent me. I glued the broken hinge on in some secure spots, let it dry for a few hours, then tried to break it off. It was pretty hard to break off, and it wasn't screwed in so it seemed to work pretty well.

I didn't have access to any jb weld :\. But if I can get some eventually I'll put it on. All I have to do is pull off the front cover

Yeah I wish you had been here to help me. The whole edge around the top cover part (that part that goes over the keyboard and speakers, with the trackpad in it) is all mangled along the whole outer edge when I was trying to get it off.

 

New Top keyboard Top Panel
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=370178416489

There are screws underneath the sticker where the battery slides in that hold the back part of the keyboard Top Panel in. I believe there are 2 under that sticker. One under the black sticker and one under the white sticker. I would just buy the replacement one from Cyberinfinity. I bought all of them just in case something broke, but also to paint.

 

I might have to buy one eventually when I get some money. I found those screws...but one of the problems I had was on the front of the laptop, by the touchpad. Underneath there were two screws which screw into the metal plate that goes under the top of the base. I was unscrewing those two screws to try and get this base top off and BOTH screws broke out of the plastic they were screwed into! Kinda lame.

I dunno if all that made sense

 

As far as the quality is concerned with the m15x, it's absent. You can break a lot of things on this laptop by just barely doing something wrong. It's really a PITA once you do, but at least you can get the replacements on eBay for fairly cheap.