Stuck screw in my Dell laptop

Hi, I have a 1330. I decided to take out the h/d when I recieved the machine to see how easy it was. In putting it back together, something went wrong. I don't know what exactly happened but the screw in the hole which is really long is stuck. It seems to have "caught" somewhere in the hole's entrance. I can spin it around but it neither comes in nor out. It does not come out when I turn the machine upside down. I can get in there with a small screwdriver and lift one side up but that does nothing. Does anyone have any ideas of what happened and more importantly, how to get out of this? I can't get the h/d out now and that, obviously, is a problem. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Yasmine

 

try one of those screw drivers with the magnetic heads and then lift it out . otherwise if its real problem call dell

 

Hi, I did call Dell Tech Support (in fact their xps t/s). The guy was nice but was basically giving me useless tips that would not work. No mention of a repair.

 

They probably won't offer to repair it, since you were the one the damaged it. Honestly, you probably stripped the screw and it might be a pain to get out.

 

Yes, to be honest when you opened up the machine you probably invalidated the guarantee so they won't be overly inclined to help unfortunately

 

Try a pair of very thin tweezers to try and grip both sides.

 

The OP didn't say he opened the machine......he took the hard drive out which is a user serviceable part and will not void the warranty.

Having said that however, since the OP caused the problem, Dell won't repair it at their expense.

 

Hi, thanks for all the replies. You will not believe how I solved this. First, the problem was that there were two different sizes of screws, one long, one short. For some reason, instead of just not fitting, as it were, when the screws are put into the wrong holes they get stuck. As far as I am concerned, this is a design flaw and Dell should mention this in their book that comes with the 1330. I don't think anyone should reasonably be able to know that the screw in the wrong hole will get stuck, not just not fit. Anyway, I was picking up some ram so I asked the people at the store. The guy said that it was simple; take a flat edge and use it as a wedge to pull one end of the screw higher than the other, then simply use the screwdriver to turn the screw out of the hole. It worked! So now I know a great tip for this situation which I will be passing on to any tech I meet. It's so easy and simple! At least my crisis is solved and I so appreciate everyone's contribution.

 

Thanks for letting me know about this - c'est interessant. Glad you got it fixed!

 

Congrats on getting it fixed, it didn't sound to tough to do luckily.

 

good that you get your problem fixed and thanks for the input, gracias!

 

This supposed "Design Flaw" can be avoided by taking note of which screws you took out of which holes. Design flaw solved!

 

My point was that usually when screws don't fit you can't screw them in and you take the screw away. They don't get stuck in this manner. I personally think that is a design flaw that should be rectified; I literally would not have been able to take the hard drive out if the screw had stayed in! You are, of course, entitled to your opinion . At the very least the techs need to know about this so that they can help people; the guy I talked to certainly did not know the cause of the problem or the fix.

 

Probably because he knew enough to observe which screws came out of which holes!

 

Hi, I am sorry if I have offended you. Yes, I should have looked at the screws. At the same time, I think it is a reasonable expectation that if a screw is not meant to be in the hole that it simply does not fit, not that it gets stuck. At any rate, I have said what I wanted to say. I hope this thread might help someone else in this situation.

 

some people are just pure arseholes and like to point out things that help them make fun of other people. Just ignore their posts. Can always check someones rep power.

 

It has nothing to do with being an "arsehole", it has to do with being careful and observant when you start pulling apart a (insert price here) laptop.

What happens if you take out 4 screws which happen to be all different lengths, and all fit (somewhat) in each empty hole? Without knowing which ones you took out of which holes, you run the risk of causing damage. Same principle applies here.

Take responsibility for your actions (or inactions) rather than trying to shift the blame to Dell with the excuse of it being a "Design Flaw"

 

I appreciate your support and yes, easiest to ignore, lol!