m15x Hinge crack... Add me to the list.

Sure enough, a little over 8 months and today my hinge cracked. You would think this expensize of a computer would have a little more structer, but I knew what I was getting into when I bought it.

I suppose I'll give AW a call tomorrow, and it looks like I'm going to have to send this in to them a lot sooner than I wanted to.

P.S. This is not an AW or m15x rant thread, I've been very happy with my m15x, and I still would of bought it again.

 

Oh, here's the pictures:

http://mypeasinapod.com/hinge.html

 

To date, I have not seen anyone with a skullcap lid have an issue with their hinge.. will you be asking for a skullcap lid or just get this repaired?

 

Is that an option? I didnt know I could replace it with a skulcap, has anyone done that?

 

thats so true lol I have never seen/heard anyone with the skullcap lid have the problem.

 

Has anyone really figured out why? Do you think the "plastic" is more solid due to the ridges of the skullcap? Just throwing something out there.

 

Haha, brace for impact. That's a mighty nasty crack you got there, steveninspokane.

 

I had the skullcap lid on my m15x and the hinge also cracked on it. It happened almost a year after I purchased it though.

 

Sorry to hear about this, when you call in to have the system sent to our repair facility, you may ask the agent if replacing the lid to the skullcap is an option. Unfortunately, I am unable to confirm this.

 

Well, I called AW and their sending me a shipping label to return for repairs. I have heard a lot of horror repair stories, and a few smashing successes, I hope I'm the later.

 

First person I've ever heard of with a skullcap and broken hinges.

Maybe it's because nearly nobody uses skullcap?

 

I agree, maybe because no one uses skull cap, anyways, asked if they could switch it out (just to see if they could) and they said no.

 

Gentlemen,
New to posting, so be patient. I have an M15x with a SkullCap, and after 14 months my Left Hinge just broke. My rig moves somewhere new everyday (Airline Pilot) with a lot of opening and closing to the top panel, and I knew this would happen at some point. I ordered a new SkullCap off E-bay and plan on replacing the top panel myself to prevent having to send it in and possibly wait 3-4 weeks. I already took the Top Panel apart to inspect the damage and posted a couple photos for anyone who wants to look. There are 3 pics of the damaged left hinge, with one of the right hinge in normal condition.
I know some people don't like the M15x but I love mine. Its great for gaming (especially 15 inch), portable with Main batt and Smartbay batt for 4hrs integrated and 2.5hrs gaming on dedicated. And I gave the gpu a different set of clock speeds to make it run better on battery instead of the default (275/550/301).
One question though. Anyone know the easiest way to disassemble the top panel of the base to gain access to the lower hinge screws? I know how to remove the keyboard and all the other base components, but couldn't figure out how to release the cover to gain access to the lower hinge. I could move all the parts (Alienware Head, LightPipe, Alienware Logo below screen, and webcam)of the top panel to the new one, but it looks like it would be easier to just remove the lower hinge and unplug the cables then swap it out with the new one, only moving over the LCD and webcam. Any help or feedback would be appreciated thanks.

 

I never thought of fixing it myself, I'm still under warranty right now, so I guess in a year when it does it again I'll come find your pictures.

You should think of making a detailed tutorial on how to do this, and post it back in the forums.

 

Yeah, I was thinking of doing that! That way if anyone wants to do it themself and not have to send it in they could. I will let you know how it goes when I get back in town and get my hands on the new part.

 

Put some epoxy in there so it won't break again.

 

Good idea with the epoxy.

Also, with how many hinge cracks, I'm rather surprised that there isn't a "howtofix" video yet, but I suppose it;s because most cracks if not all of them have happened inside the warranty.

 

Are you saying to put the epoxy around the plastic to help hold it together?

 

That would be a good idea.

 

hmmm....that's not good! I'm thinking of getting my stepdaughter m15x. Its small enough, should be easy for her to handle. But, I won't if these things keep breaking like glass!

 

Since mine is also doing the same thing, I plan on putting some JB WELD on both hinges so it will not crack anymore. God Bless

 

Ah. That's unfortunate. I'm still at 13 months without any major issues, though I did extend my warranty a week ago just to make sure I have coverage in case this does happen to me.

 

Wise choice Oceanus, How much did it cost you?

 

Two-hundred something for 3 years. I'll have to check the invoice to get the actual number, but that's what it came out to.

 

That doesn't seem like a bad deal, did you get a special rate?
Also, does is this the same, less, or better of a warranty than we get with the automatic 1 year warranty?

 

The coverage seems the same as the one that initially came with your notebook. I'm not too sure if the rate I got should be considered special-- it's just that you get a better deal if you extend your warranty over 1 year. According to the invoice, the exact cost (with tax) was $285.54 for 3 additional years. That's approximately $7.93/mo or $95.18/yr.

Over the past year, I've received $230 USD worth of hardware replacements (mostly for testing reasons when I still did testing with Rebeca, the engineers and the product group). I think that in itself was enough to justify buying an additional 3-years of warranty.

 

Just got home today, and the new SkullCap cover is here. The plastic definately looks different than the plastic inside of my original SkullCap that came with my computer. I plan on filling the gaps between the screws with epoxy to make it one solid piece. I'll get back when I have finnished the repairs and let everyone know how it went and what I did.

 

Hope it works for ya.

I would def upgrade the warranty on the m15x before it runs out...

 

I have the skullcap lid and I have a hinge crack, as well. I think that there is truth to the fact that most people choose the Ripley design so that is the reason you do not hear about it as often on skullcap.

 

well after a little over a year it finally snapped both sides one lost a chunk the other is working on it. Called support and within 20 minutes they had me ready to go I ship it out tomorrow for repair thank god I extended the warranty. Little bummed I'll be without it for several weeks and I have to pay for the packaging unless I can find something free to pack it in...hopefully this repair also makes the annoying creaking go away. IN the meantime my bros m17 will keep me gaming or the firebird by hp

 

I didn't get the choice of a Skullcap, but knowing that they are more reliable, i'll just order one now I think!
My poor Ripley is on its last legs at 18 months, it's taken a beating!
I'll definately do that epoxy trick too, don't want it to bust up again...

 

Gentlemen,
Below are the steps for replacing the top panel of my m15x. The panel had to be replaced because it holds the plastic mount that the upper hinge is attached to which broke after a year of opening/closing.

Before I started the repair to the top panel. I took the new one and filled the gaps between the screw mounts with a plastic epoxy to make it one solid plastic piece, in the hope that it will give added support to the mounts to prevent them from breaking again. Thanks to "Dwend " for the idea! Then removed the a/c power cable and the batteries from the computer.

Here are the steps!
1) Remove the 6 rubber bumpers’ around the black panel of the LCD.

2) Remove the 6 screws under the bumpers.

3) Gently pull up on the left or right top of the black panel.

4) Place your finger in-between the open gap and slide it across the outside of the frame and you will hear the "click" of the clips releasing the black panel. Do this going all the way around the outside of the top panel.

5) Once the black panel has been removed, you will see 8 screws holding the LCD frame to the upper panel, 2 (short screws) towards the middle of the top of the LCD and 3 on each side of the lower corners of the LCD. Release all 8 screws to remove the LCD but leave it in place until the next step.

6) On bottom of LCD is the light for the "Alienware" logo. On the left side of the light you will see 2 screws. Remove them and slide the light/electrical board out of the clip.

7) Once the light/board is free, lay a towel over the keyboard.

8) Gently lift the top of the LCD about 2 inches and you will see the ribbon cable going to the web cam. Lift up on the bracket that the ribbon cable is attached to so you can remove the cable.

9) Now gently flip the LCD off the top panel and lay it over the keyboard.

10) At the top of the panel are 4 screws holding the WiFi antennas. Remove them and then remove the bracket from the top panel (leaving the WiFi antennas attached) and slowly remove the antenna cable from the top panel, which is taped in at some locations. Then lay it over the back of the LCD, which is on the keyboard.

11) Remove the 2 screws holding the web cam and remove it from the top panel.

12) Remove the 4 screws holding the alien head and remove the head assembly, being careful not to pull to hard on the wires.

13) Gently pull up on the wire covers going to the alienhead to remove it from the top panel being careful not to strain or put to much force on the wires themselves.

14) Once the wire covers are free with the wires inside, use a flat head screwdriver to lift each of the 12 mounts holding in the light pipe to remove it from the top panel.

15) Now go back to the hinge and remove the last 4 screws (2 on each side) holding the top panel to the base to free it from the computer. Then with a pair of needle nose pliers lift the hinge to allow room to remove the old top panel.

16) Insert the new top panel and reverse the directions show above to re-assemble the top panel. I choose while re-installing the light pipe to use a super glue pen to help hold the mounts in place. It looks like during assembly the light pipe was put in over the mount, then a piece of the plastic was melted to hold the light pipe in place, unfortunately when you remove the light pipe you are breaking the melted piece of plastic from the top panel.

...............That’s it!!!!!!!!!! The new top panel is in place, and the computer is ready to go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There are certain steps to this procedure that you can skip if you prefer to repair the computer with method "b". The new top panel comes with the alien head, light pipe, and WiFi antenna's already attached to the panel. However on the old panel you would have to remove the wires from their connection to the motherboard (so you can use the new one's that came with the panel), which is inside the base of the computer. To get to those you would have to remove the service cover, remove the CPU fan then remove the screws holding the keyboard. Once the screws are removed you would flip the computer over, open it up and remove the keyboard. Then you would have to separate the touchpad cable, alien FX cable going to the top panel, the speakers, and the LCD inverter cable. After which you would then remove all the screws around the bottom of the computer to release the top cover to the base where the keyboard was sitting to gain access to the lower base. Then removing the hinge covers so you can remove the wires. This would allow you to skip steps 10, 12, 13, and 14.


This all took me about an hour to complete from start to finish, including letting the superglue dry. I decided to do the repairs to the notebook myself because I didn't want to wait 3-4 weeks (possibly longer) to go without my computer waiting to get it back. I love the fact that Alienware was going to repair my computer for free even though it was outside of the one-year warranty I had on the system, something most companies would never do. I absolutely love Alienware computers, but have to admit that I am not too fond of their tech support when it comes to this problem. I e-mailed them over a week ago describing my problem with photos to show the damage, which was what I was instructed to do when I talked to tech support. However I still have yet to hear back from them, and now the computer is fixed and never had to leave my hands. The whole repair cost me about 60 dollars including ordering the new top panel with shipping and handling, and getting the epoxy and superglue from the store. And only took 4 days from the time I ordered the panel to putting it on the system.

Hope this helps anyone who might be in this problem, and any comments would be appreciated.

 

Thank you captain caps-lock.

 

hey the right hindge on my m15x skullcap broke,its just like the ripley (i saw the picts same stuff inside,just as fragile...).Because its still under garantee cant repair it myself...

 

It's good to hear yours is still under warranty. My computer must go with me to work everyday so going without it for 3-4 weeks wasn't really an option for me. I posted the repair just in case anyone else wanted to do the work themselves. I hope your repair doesn't take long and you get it back with no delay.

 

I just got the same problem, will Alienware fix this for free (provided it's under warranty)? Or will they consider it deliberate damage and charge you for the fix?

 

It is under Warranty, Call em up right away, But... Make sure you take a few pictures first.

 

Steveninspokane is right. If your computer is still under warranty Alienware will repair it at no cost. They even offered to fix mine for free if I would have send it in.

 

How is the epoxy working, can you feel a difference?

 

It’s holding up really well actually. I had to take my upper panel apart again when I accidentally broke the LCD and had to replace it. While it was open I checked on the epoxy. The first time I had the upper panel apart (when the hinge was broken) I opened and closed the LCD without the epoxy and could see the stress being put on the screws and being transferred to the plastic mount, which you could see over time would break it. After having the epoxy in place you could see that when the stress is put on the screws it doesn't put that stress on the mount since the epoxy makes it one solid piece. I have discovered that all the creaking/squeaking is from the inside black panel rubbing against the silver top panel when you open/close the display (found that out when I opened/closed the lid without the black panel in place). I tightened the 6 screws around the black trim and got only a little improvement, but happy that it’s not coming from the mounts themselves so I'll live with it.

 

They sent mine back to me, and it feels more sturdier than when I first got it, I think they did a great job, but then, only time will tell.

 

Also. I think I was without my lappy for a total of 2 weeks, but it felt like a life time.