Inspiron 6400 / E1505 - Need Hinge Help !! (pics)

Hey guys,

Hopefully someone can help me out here..

First a few pictures:


In the forefront we can see the hinge, and in the background we can see the piece behind the hinge (PBTH) - I have no idea what to call it, so from now on it will refer to it as the PBTH. =)



A better picture of the PBTH as it sits where it is suppose to sit:



A picture of the back of the PBTH, the 3 cylinders you see fit into three holes (loosely - nothing really holding them in).




Ok, the problem I've had - for years - is that the PBTH does not stay where it is supposed to stay.. the three plugs do not stay in their holes. This has caused the outer plastic part of the LCD cover to split when I close the lid.

After a few years of this, the bezel cracked on me... so I decide to get a new bezel, and I tried to fix the hinge problem.

I'm not sure what mechanism was used to keep those 3 prongs in their holes, but I was going to try contact cement (for a lack of better ideas) - if you have any other ideas, please let me know.

But now my problem is this:

Last night I glued the PBTH into place, put everything back together..tried close the lid - was met with major resistance - and the glue/PBTH bond broke.

So I have it all apart again, and the new problem is that the hinge wont turn. Even as I have it exposed (in the first picture), and I grip it with a pair of plyers.. it will not turn.

Is there some kind of a locking mechanism I dont know about? The contact cement solution might work if I wasnt met with the resistance of a non rotating hinge...


Can anyone help me out?

 

Isnt there a tension screw in the end of the hinge? I thought there was one


here

 

Here is the side view of what you're pointing at:


Its not a screw (from what I can tell .. lol - I'm by no means an expert)

 

Concerning the three pronged thing: you need to buy a new lid. The three plugs are supposed to be permanently fixed to the metal backing in the lid. It's a crappy design here, but f that joint is broken, it's broken. Unless you can somehow weld the two parts back together, it's not going to hold.

Concerning the hinge: you probably just got some of your adhesive into the rotating mechanism. There are two types of hinges for this machine, yours, and the one that does have a nut at the end such that you can take it apart. With the nut version, you have some hope of trying to clear it, but here, you're probably better off replacing the part. That new lid should come with hinges, though...

Lids are pretty cheap on eBay, though. I don't think anything should run you more than $10 to $20.

 

Thanks, I'll try to get a new lid, but regarding the hinges..

Does anyone have any idea why my hinges would be stuck?

I was very careful with the glue, there is no way that adhesive would have got on one of them (let alone both).


edit: really only concerned about the hinge now...and why it is locked... because right now my laptop is not functional.

Its really strange - hinge has been opened and closed thousands of time - I take a few screws out, put them back in.. and now it's locked.

Also, I know its not adhesive. I can turn it a little with plyers, but I'm was turning it way too hard so I stopped.. but there is some movement.

 

That's the problem. They don't hold up that well.

The only real solution is to get a new lid (as suggested) and try to get a different set of hinges.

 

You guys know alot more than me about this stuff, but as I'm playing around with it, I'm just having a hard time believing that the hinges just stopped working ....especially both at the same time. The hinges seem pretty damn sturdy to me..

Its as if there is some kind of lock mechanism holding them in place - only I cant find it anywhere..

Has anyone experieced this?

 

Well if you really do not think it is the hindges why not remove them from the machine and assuming you used super glue, soak it in some warm water and see if it loosens up. Or maybe possibly heating it a bit.

Now I am not saying this will fix it, since it would probably have to be replaced, but just to see if that could have been the cause.

 

Well, it's an old topic, but Google brought me here and I figure before it falls into obscurity, it should be brought to a clean conclusion

Yes, the PBTH (which I don't know a better name for either) is broken on that one, and it's a crappy design. It's broken on mine too - rather, one I'm fixing for a friend. The hinges exert too much pressure on that tiny little junction and break the (presumably press-attached) parts right out of the holes. Only real way to fix it is to replace it, apparently either Dell P/N UF165 or UW737 according to parts-people.com. Both are dirt cheap on eBay, just picked one up shipped for $13.

The hinge, though, is a curious one. It shouldn't've seized up like that, but it should be relatively easy to fix. I've taken one of those sort of hinges apart before, and inside it's just a simple shaft with a tension coupling holding it into the outer shell. You can twist back and forth while applying "pulling-out" pressure and the parts should detach and reveal the inner workings. There is no locking mechanism - if it's jammed, it should unjam with ample pressure. Might have to take the hinge out of the base and use two sets of pliers or a vice or some sort of setup, but it should unstick - or break, but if it breaks, it was broken anyway, right?

Hope this helps someone, if not the OP, then maybe someone like me finding this on Google

 

Just wanted to thank the posters who went to the trouble to document this recurring flaw in Dell Inspiron 6400 notebook lid hinge base blocks.

I have two Inspiron's, and both lid hinge base blocks broke free from their tops, a very poor design. I will attempt a repair using epoxy that is used in golf club shaft to head bonding, it *should* be appropriate for this use. I would buy a new lid, but only have $25. into the laptops and spending another 50% of their cost to repair them greatly reduces the size of the bargain I got. If anyone's interested, I'll post back how well the epoxy repair works.

 

Epoxy didn't work AT ALL. If the lid hinge base is popped out from its press fit position, get a new lid....terrible design...