eMachines Hinge Cracked?

I can top most of these, I bet. not only have the hinges cracked, they've flat out broken off on both sides. it's apparantly just 3mm steel thats bolted to the hinges to hold it up- not *nearly* good enough. not even for a small laptop.

kudos to emachines!

 

My left hand hinge broke as well. I manufactured a new piece out of a fishing lure and bolted it in. It works although much of the plastic of the hinge broke away either during the repair or previously. While I was working in the hinge the inverter for the LED packed it in. I found one on eBay for $50 and put it in. Everything works again but there is a lot of flop in the lid. The other hinge feels like it is going to go soon. I don't mind fiddling with it as I have lots of time (I'm retired) but it is frustrating considering what we paid for these things. A recall would be nice but it is probably too late to expect that. I probably will not buy another eMachines or Gateway although the computer itself is great. Just the case issue...

 

Emachines fixed the crack hinge for me. This is a known issue and they put the laptop back into warranty to fix it.

 

Thank you anna123! After reading your post I emailed Gateway explaining the problem and they responded with a Return Authorization and an offer to repair the hinge problem. They sent me a prepaid shipping box, repaired the lid and returned it today. It is as good as new. With this kind of customer service I will certainly put them back on my "Will Buy From Again" list! Thank you Gateway Canada.

 

Yeah, I have a Gateway MX7120...just about a week ago, I noticed the classic hinge cracking problem. Since then, the crack has grown by a lot, and now, the other side has begun to do the same. I've had the laptop for exactly a year and one week. So, the warranty had just expired.

I contacted them yesterday through the online chat (Gateway and Emachines apparently use the exact same one, as the guy said "thank you for using the Emachines chat"). The guy I talked to was very nice, and he informed me that my warranty had expired, except for fixing the hinges.

They're mailing me a FedEx shipping label and box for me to send the laptop into them. So, I won't have to pay anything...so, you're not out of luck if your warranty has expired. Other than the hinge problem, this laptop has been great. It gets heavily used and drug around with me all over the place.

My screen has been kind of wobbly for the last six months, too...I'm hoping that they'll tighten them up. Does anyone else pull out their hard drives before shipping it in? I'm just curious because I don't want them replacing the hard drive, like someone else said they did on the last page. It's mainly for the fact that I upgraded to a faster 5400RPM drive, and I don't want my data to get "mysteriously lost." Croft, how long of a turn around time was it? I'm hoping to get it back before the 18th.

 

The turnaround was about a week and a half but I am in Canada and it had to be shipped to the east for the work. I sent it C/W hard drive and there was no problem. No changes at all. I was not too worried as I had Ghosted the drive befire I sent it. They asked me to remove the battery before I boxed it up.

They replaced the entire lid assembly on mine. LCD screen and everything. It came back better than new - no flop in the lid at all. I am tempted to take the trim off the screen to see if there is any change to the hinge mechanism. It was definitely a design flaw in the original hinge. At least in the way it was attached.

 

Hmm...that's not bad. I got the box on Friday morning, and I was surprised. They shipped it DHL Next Day Air, and it's going back to them the same way. So, they should have it on Monday.

The battery was something else I thought of, too...as I was boxing it up, I realized they didn't ask me to remove the battery, and it didn't mention anything about it in the instructions. So, I just left it in the laptop.

I went ahead and took the hard drive out, as I don't want to have the chance of losing any data. I don't have Ghost, and I really don't want to have to backup 80GB of stuff. I asked them if that would be a problem, and they said that it wouldn't. I just had to make note of it on the sheet they sent me with the box.

I'll be happy if they replace the LCD, as it had a couple of scratches on it from when I used those pre-moistened wipes to clean the screen. Although, the scratches aren't too noticeable, except when there is a big glare on the screen, it's still annoying. I know to never use those wipes again...

So far, I'm really impressed with Gateway. I can't believe that they're repairing the hinges out of warranty and using Next Day Air shipping. I'll really be impressed if I get it back by the end of the week. I, too, wonder if they actually fixed the hinge design or just replaced it with the exact same thing that'll need repairing again. BTW, I can't figure this out...what's C/W?

 

C/W = Complete With

Let us know how fast you get it back and what they did. Good luck.

 

Well, I got the laptop back today...I'm very impressed with their turnaround time. It took them exactly a week. It would have even been quicker if it wouldn't have been shipped out over the weekend.

They just replaced the lid cover on mine and not the LCD. They fixed the wobbliness of the screen, too. However, they screwed up the LCD and got dirt or something behind it when they were replacing the lid. There are about 4-5 little specs on the right side of it, and there's also a little pin point scratch. I'm debating whether or not to send it back to them to get it replaced.

 

My gateway mx7118 is supposed to be the same as the gateway mx68xx series, and both hinges are cracked. The screen no longer stays up.

 

Yup, Gateway hinges sure are a huge pain, and I keep hoping for a full-on recall of mine. Other than that, my two-year-old 4530GZ has worked flawlessly, although I chose to reformat and gut/trim the software as soon as I got it -- dropping XP Home, replacing w/ XP pro, only reloading the programs I wanted/needed. But that stinkin' hinge thing is killing me.

About 6 months ago, the right-side hinge snapped where it attaches to the LCD bracket arm, and the cracked shards tweaked and then snapped off some of the silver plastic cover as they strained to move. By the time I took off the frame cover to find the defective part, much of the cosmetic damage was done. Once i'd replaced it with an eBay junked part, I noticed the old one had completely seized up ... the hinge would hardly move at all without Samson-like strength applied to pairs of pliers holding each side. I was steamed, but glad to have it fixed.

Until now.

A few days ago -- naturally -- the LEFT side hinge snapped off ... with the identical seizing problem with the other hinge. Clearly a defective part -- Gateway's hinges and/or eMachine's hinges are just plain faulty. I ordered yet another junked replacement hinge but I don't know how long that one is going to last. (I don't relish the idea of disassembling, greasing, and reassembling on a monthly basis, like one might with a 1930s Ford.)

Wish I had read this forum/thread before I ordered ... I may call Gateway to see what they say, but it's probably easier (i.e. lazier ) just to cross my fingers, install the new hinge, and hope to get away without a third go-round of hinge hell.

 

I have an E Machines M6805 Laptop. I purchased in January 2004 at Best Buy.
At the time, I spent approximately $1500.00. I am happy with the Machine
when I have had it. Unfortunately, it had been taken for repair numerous times during the extended warranty period being out of a computer for weeks at a time. I have had the hinges crack numerous times as well as the Tip of the case
that affects the LCD screen. The case has cracked again, and if it is not fixed
it will likely go thru the usual episode of the screen losing intensity and then
flickering. I called Gateway today and had to call several people before I reached Thomas in Retail Service Dispatch who indicated he would send me a
label and they will take care of it. I will be waiting to see if they will resolve
after mailing again. I am wondering what to do if this keeps going on ?

 

. not much u can do if they still fix it
. personally, lots of users just loosen the area around the hinges. It seemed to fix the problem

cheers ...

 

Loved my M5118 until the screen went, hinges cracked and the screen kept turning on and off

 

My m6811 is now 3 years 4 month old still going strong. After I bought it I developed cracked hinges within weeks. I did send it out>3 years ago. Up to today no problems with it. If emachines still made laptops I would consider one.

Learux

 

Wow!! talk about interesting

i have a m6810, and i bought it used. i believe the original owner had sent it in to fix the monitor, but i dont know if it was specificly the hinges, but judging from the sn # (N3047) it may have been...

i've had the system for about 6 months now, and the only thing that has ever bothered me about it was that the screen was a little loose(the 3/4'' wobble). its nice to know that if i do develop the cracks i may be able to get it fixed quickly

as for emachines support....well i have to agree that they are a pain in the ass most of the time and if your system is out of warrenty its worse.

now does any body know if they are still replacing hinges

PROUD OWNER OF A EMACHINES M6810

 

they should still be, drop them a note/mail. Not sure if u must have a certain piece of paper to show them that u r the owner and not a repair centre

cheers ...

 

Hello,

I have a M5405 that also purchased at Best Buy in 2004. just recently my right hinge busted and it is falling apart. Could you please share the phone numbers you have with Gateway? I will try to get help or at least the replacement parts, I can not find them anywhere.
My laptop is still working fine and never had any problem with it.

 

Hello,

Would anyone that had good results getting your laptop fixed with Emachines/Gateway/Acer or shared the info of how you got it fixed ? Phone numbers? emails? names?

I have a M5405 with a right hinge cracked and can not find parts to fix it.

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

thanks,

 

http://www.emachines.com/support/product_support.html

Mail them.

cheers ...

 

Hi, I actually manually fixed it. If you disassemble the hinge area, you'll see that the hinge is attached to the screen with a plastic mount, and that's what's probably cracked. The hinge itself is an el cheapo lead mount with a friction pin that provides the resistance to keep the laptop lid in place. I ground off the friction pin's flange that slots into the mount and drilled out the hinge mount so that the pin gave no resistance to the laptop lid's movement, then glued the fractured plastic mount as best I could and screwed it back together.

Since there's no resistance from that side, the glue job will hold, but the lid is definitely lighter to open and close now since the other mount is doing all of the work. But it works well enough.

 

I've got a huge crack.

I don't think it's a hinge problem, but it's very close. It's on the bottom right of the back side of the screen.

I can accually see some wires and the back of the lcd behind it..

 

My 14" eMachines eMD620's hinge is starting to creak like mad, I'm afraid it's going to crack soon I really don't want to have to pop it open and do surgery, oye!