a8jx: fixing a loose hinge (w/ pix)

i got fed up with the ultra loose hinge that i decided to do something about them. For the past couple of weeks I tried to tighten the screws under the hinge cover, but it only helped marginally. I could see that the hinge was actually loose in its joint with the LCD (rather than hinge <--> body joint being loose) so i used the a8jm disassembly guide to help me locate the right screws to tighten.
So in order to tighten the joint between LCD and the metal hinge (the cylinder looking thing) you first have to pry out the LCD bezel cover(this requires your fingernails a lot. start from top and look at the whole LCD cover from the side. prying open from the outside seemed a lot easier than trying to open it from the inside like the guide told me to). Before that, you have to take the 6 rubber things off and unscrew the screws beneath those.

Then you'll see something like this


you can see that there are two screws holding down the LCD part to the hinges, and one screw (the one that's under the hinge cover) holding the hinge down to the body. I found that my two screws were quite loose. After I tightened them, the LCD hinge was loose no more. It actually almost felt like the thinkpad hinges (my fav.)
if you're up to it, tighten any other screws you see after you take out the bezel.

One thing I noticed was how weak the plastic part that holds the hinge to the body was. Mine was pretty much broken down so much you could see the part that holds the screw. Later, it became worse and the washer (?) part actually fell out. you can see the damage here:


Enjoy~

 

thank you

my hinges are so tight and solid. Mine is brand new though.

I actually wanted to see if there was a way for me to check to see if mine has only 1 screw as well in that hinge. I will do that eventually. obviously i have to be ultra careful....


did your hinge feel loose when new? mine is quite stiff

 

Thanks for the instructions and pictures, I hope I never have to refer back to them, but in the event I do I'm glad you took the time to post this.

On the other hand, isn't this something that would be covered under warranty? I would hope so, but perhaps this is considered normal wear and tear.

 

When my a8jm was new, it was pretty stiff. Then it got loose and loose... i only tightened the hinge--body screw though, and it didn't work well enough. opening up the bezel did the trick for me, though i'm pretty sure it'll get loose again soon enough

As for the broken (cheap) plastic part that broke off, yeah, i hope it's under warranty. I'll send it in when my laptop has more bruises tho

 

I read somewhere that the a8js uses different hinges. Can anyone confirm this?

 

A8js uses same hinges.

If you want to disassemble hinges, you don't need to disassemble LCD bezzle.

You can disassemble only hinges by pushing them out.

 

darn i cant even pry out the hinge cover to get to the screws...is there photo on that?

 

sure thing: here's an easy way to do it. It might hurt your fingernail though. go to the side of the hinge where you can barely squeeze in your fingernail (i use my index finger's fingernail) and move along the hinge to pry it open.



btw, i had to completely open up my a8jm to fix a short circuit. if anyone wants pictures / guides, lemme know

 

I don't understand why this happens....I have had to tighten mine twice as shown by Daniel.

One point to note: If you look at the posted picks, there is clearly at least 2 places where you can put a extra screw to make these hinges less succeptable to loosness. I'd also like to try a small rubber washer to stop vibration and loosening.

Unfortunatley I don't have access to either of these things, neither the patience to argue with a rep at an ASUS service centre.

ASUS have realy sacraficed their reputation for superior build quality in my eyes with this model.

 

Its very strange that there are only a few conmplaints for a model that sold thousands many of which post on forums. I can tell you guys that if you want extra screws ask your vendor. If anyone bought from us please file the rma form and request screws if infact your model has missing screws.
The picture with the broken ancor (washer as you called it). That was a very similar problem on an unrelated model yars ago. If spotted early on it can be very easilyt fixed with crazy glue which has workd for years now. You can ofcourse have the whole panel replaced but crazy gloue is easy and actually reliable.

 

Thanks for the tip. It help me get rid of the looseness of the hinges on my Asus z700va. However, after several days, the hinges would loosen up again. This is due to the screws working their way loose. Does anyone have a suggestion for a "safe" method to keep the screws from unwinding besides using super glue? Thanks!

 

Threadlocker?

222

If that doesn't work you can step up to the 242.

 

Thanks, just got some medium strength threadlocker at Home Depot; they didn't sell the low strength version. I'll report back it in a week to tell how it turns out.


Update: No screws coming loose so far. Again, thanks for the tip.

 

so how did it go?

 

Thanks for the pictures and instructions. My hinges hadn't really been that loose, but suddenly over the last couple of days it got ridiculously loose. But with these pictures and a screwdriver, they are tightened up like new. Without these pics I probably wouldn't have known where to start... Thanks!

 

I have to do this too. I am debating sending in the laptop to Asus to get it fixed or do it myself. I am under warranty still.

I just am not so confident of pulling out the plastic bezel and all. For those who have done this, does everything fall back in place perfectly and easily?

Or are you left with some crooked alignments and what not?

 

I had to do this to my A8jr. I opened her up and the actual connection between one of the screws and the plastic housing is broken!! I am extremely careful and delicate with my notebook and I am quite shocked to see this. Laptop is not even a year old. I will call RMA dep tomorrow and send her all the way from Montreal to Markham. Hopefully they replace it within 48 hours.

 

I own an 1.5 year old A8Ja. I have the exact same problem as the rest of you. I live quite close to the Markham, Ontario Asus service centre, and I've taken my laptop there three times already. My hinge is broken again and I'm going to have to take it in some time before the summer starts. Fourth time now...

The A8J series has a bad hinge design.

 

Yep... assuming they are compatible, maybe you should tell them to use parts (hinges, LCD covers) from newer A8 notebooks.

 

Hey Guys. Sorry to first post here with a detailed question! I've lurked here in the past, but now I have a real problem. I know this is a long shot...but who knows.

I have a Asus A8Jm, purchased September 2006, (so about 18 months ago.)

The hinges on mine have gotten, EXTREMELY bad, to the point where the left hinge is no longer connected at all to the LCD display, and the right is headed that way soon. The plastic part at the base of the hinge is cracked but still together. The round metal bearing is fine, but doesn't seem to turn. All the metal that was screwed onto the metal bearing is sheared, ripped off, or broken. All the plastic on the lcd panel that the screws from that metal went in to is broken. It's basically pretty bad.

I've contacted Asus Global Notebook Service, but the big problem is that I am in Japan. Since they don't stock the A8J series in this country, they are telling me it will be more than a month once I send it in, (so they can order the parts needed) before I can get my computer fixed. That's a really long time to be without a computer which I use for the majority of the day.

Does anyone know how you would go about repairing this sort of damage without resorting to Asus support? Any ideas on how to speed up the repair time on Asus' end? Thanks for any ideas you can give me.

 

my a8jn's hinge looks like that also. got it replace 2 times already. now its starting again. the a8 series have a very bad hinge design

 

How long did Asus take to replace it. Your in the Phillipines, right?

 

An alternative is to order the hinges, top LCD case, LCD bezel and whatever else is affected, and exchange them yourself. There is an A8 disassembly manual around, I have it myself as a PDF.

That would be easy & not too expensive in the US (using the eStore) but I'm not sure how it can be done in Japan. Perhaps through a reseller?

 

around 1 month!!!!

 

Yeah, thanks for that, pretty relieving that I'm not alone with this. I've had an A8Jr for exactly a year now and the loosening started after a few months and unfortunately I neglected it (btw the hinges are identical).

Once I simply heard a crack when I closed the lid and there indeed was a crack at the bottom of the matrix frame (just to the side from the black hinge cover. So without even moving your laptop from place you've got a hole in the frame. Trying to be extra-careful didn't help - it now got to a moment where I can't close the lid, as the left hinge slides inside (!) and restricts the lid's movement to a full close.

I'm just writing it as a warning to those who wanna wait with it, because I was that stupid. So, for your own sake - do not replicate my stupidity.

 

send it in for warranty repair. when i called they said they were aware of the "latch design flaw" and they fixed mine without a hassle. they even replaced the screen and palm rest cover due to excessive wear within only a 3 month period (mouse pad turned black, and palm rests were yellow from resting my hands on it). screen cover developed yellow water marks. it was an A8JP, which i believe is the same frame/design as yours from what i see in the pictures

it was actually the reason i bought my first G1s back in october 07. but meh, i got owned by asus

 

Greetings.

I think I might have the same problem you had. Can you help me disassembling my A6Vc, which is problably very similar to your A8Jm?

Thanks!

 

Hello,

I've seen in your post that you're in possession of the A8 disassembly manual.
I'm desperatly searching it because i want to disassemble my lcd screen.
Is it possible that you send it to me ? you can send me PM
Really Thanks in advance

 

I had the same problem with hinges getting loose on my A8JS (as well as the plastic separating on the bottom of the LCD, and my touchpad mouse button being less responsive). I don't abuse my laptop, but it goes everywhere with me, and sustains a fair amount of heavy usage/wear and tear.

Anyway, I called ASUS support to get it RMA'd about 2 months before the 2 year warranty expired, the emailed me the overnight Fedex label (I'm in the US), I overnighted it to them on Saturday, they got it Monday morning, fixed it Monday and Tuesday, overnight it back to me Tuesday night and it was in hand and fixed by Wednesday.

Total time without notebook, 3 business days.

For the person in Japan, ASUS's USA support is really good and fast.

Depending on the cost to send it to the US, it may almost be worth seeing if you can RMA it with ASUS USA, or if you can't do it directly, see if you can send it to a friend (or someone you trust on this board) have them send it in to ASUS USA, ASUS USA sends it back to them (ASUS pays for all US overnight shipping costs), and they send it back to you.

Then it's a 3-4 business day turn around time in the US + shipping back and forth between the US and Japan.

Not sure how much/how long shipping is from Japan to the US, but on the way back USPS Express Mail now has a 3-5 day guarantee (depending on postal code) to Japan, and it'll run you about $70.

 

Not sure if this still helps you. The A8 disassembly guide is listed in the Info Booth; you will find a link to the Info Booth in my signature.

 

I use a thing called power bar (or something like that, I'm in spain so different names) It's an epoxy two part stick that you roll together in your hands to mix it up then you have a 10 minutes or so to pack it into place.
Kinda like car filler made out of resin.
Take off the hinge and bed it down into position before it starts to set.
If you leave the hinge on the weight of the panel will deform it a bit and it'll never look quite right afterwards.

Works well for me, use masking tape to keep everything in position till it sets.

In the really badly damaged ones a small touch of the soldering iron with a plastics bit to heat up the little receiving part will get it to bed back down in the plastic before you pack it up with the filler.
I usually don't have a lot of time to take photos but with next one I'll try to remember.

Obviously, this will void your guarantee.

 

Hi everyone

I was trying to tighten my loose hinges on Asus A8Js notebook, which was quite succesful, but it is clear that I have accidentaly done something with LCD.
There is no backlight on LCD now. I can see that LCD is still working, but its so dark its almost impossible to use. I have tried all the wires in LCD, if I havent disconnected them, but all are in place, and backlight still doesnt work. Does anyonwe have a clue what happened? what went wrong?

 

You have either disconnected the inverter control cable from the mainboard; the inverter power cable to the LCD; or damaged one of these cables.

Use the A8J disassembly guide: http://www.mediafire.com/?9utgx3g2gvy

to get to your inverter, make sure all the cables from and to it are properly seated and undamaged, put the laptop back together. Pray and hope it works.

It is of course also possible that you damaged the actual backlight of the LCD, which would mean you would need to buy an new LCD screen... and that would be unfortunate (expensive).

 

I'm glad this thread popped up again. The left hinge on my A8JP broke last year and Asus fixed it very quickly. Since my warranty is now up, the right hinge started to get a little loose. I had no idea how to fix it, so I popped off the hinge cover and tightened the screws.

Seems to be good for now, but I'm guessing that it will loosen up over time again. The crazy glue and threadlocker suggestion was mentioned, but do you simply need to do it to the two screws on each hinge?

 

The gluing solution seems a bit radical, will you still be able to get access to the LCD if needed after you do that (e.g., for inverter problems such as those above)? If not I would prefer tightening the screws periodically once every few months, rather than gluing them.

 

- LOL. I never even thought about what I would do if I had to remove the screws. Tightening them every few months sounds like a better solution. Hopefully, it will keep the hinge from cracking again.

 

Fantastic thread. My A8Jm screen is pretty wobbly now and the LCD lid casing is starting to open up near one of my hinges (above the Kensington lock) and thin cracks are appearing there.

Could this be a result of the loose hinge or did something break off that kept the lid together?

I would hate to have the LCD break off over time and buying replacement parts. It would probably be more worthwhile to just buy a brand new Dell ($500~).

 

Thanx E.B.E. for your reply but it was not the case. problem was that while dissassembling my notebook I forgot to remove batery and that somehow damaged inverter(maybe after contact with screwdriver..?) I have sent my notebok to the repair service and had my LCD casing replaced aswell as top casing around keyboard because hinges are fitted through this part to the body and it was all broken. now everything works like new.

 

Yeah, well, the inverter was an (obvious) possibility that I didn't think of. Indeed leaving the battery in while doing disassembly is NOT a good idea.

I would say it's likely that the problems are caused by the loosening hinges. You could try the guide on this thread to fix them.

 

Is there some sort of secret to popping off the hinge covers? From what I read it seems like you just slowly pull them off. My hinges are incredibly difficult to pull off! I can barely get a finger nail under it.

 

get a flat bed screwdriver and once you push it in, it'll pop up.

try the left-most side first.

worked like a charm for me

(with the sceen closed)

 

you want something like this