Laptop Hinges. Replacable? Tightenable?

I have a Toshiba A215-S7422. Nice laptop. I got it for the portability and to be able to lay in bed watching DVDs of Pearl Jam in concert. I'm not much of a gamer at all, besides CS 1.6 every once in a blue moon.

Anyway, this is my first laptop. I use this laptop heavily, and I can tell after 3 months of use the hinge is a little loose on me as opposed to when I got it. It doesn't bother me, but it strikes curiosity.

I actually just had my last day of class today at a PC technical institute. However, one thing we didn't dabble much in is laptop repair, hence my curiosity in posting here now.

Are laptop hinges tightenable? Are they replacable? I noticed that you can buy parts for certain laptop hinges on web sites like ebay and such. However, I noticed that there are literally zero auctions for my laptop. Is it due to the fact that my laptop is a relatively new model? I figured that there wouldn't be much of a demand for laptop repair parts when it's a new model, since all models are generally shipped with a 1 yr warranty.

Anyway, anybody have any input? Thanks.

 

At least on Dells, I believe you can pop the hinge cover open, and there is a bolt that you can tighten to stiffen up the hinge.

 

There should be some screws that you will be able to tighten to hopefully bring back some of the rigidity.

 

So if there's no screws, what can I do? Replace the whole darn hinge?

Any idea on where I could find a guide for such a thing? I checked the Toshiba forums but I found nothing in the 20 page thread about guides to disassemble.

My particular Toshiba has that solid hinge across the back. I don't have the two individual hinges like most Dell's and whatnot. It's more like a macbook hinge. One single solid gizmo.

I bought my laptop around Thanksgiving. Perhaps I should just wait until the end of summer and send it in to warranty repair (if the hinge gets worse). Until then, maybe it's not safe to mess with it since it's under warranty. You think? As a computer guy, I'd still like to see a guide on how to do such a thing to this model laptop.

 

This is the only thing I could find. Has that solid-state hinge like yours. Not the same model, but may give you an idea...?

 

I was just curious on your thoughts about something.

I can't seem to find parts for this laptop pretty much anywhere I look. Now, it wouldn't really make sense for part vendors to stock parts for computers that are still under warranty, is it? This laptop was released in July I believe, so even the first model is still under the 1 year warranty.

Perhaps at the mid/end of summer I'll start seeing some more part vendors pick up stock of this laptop's parts??

 

KGann - Do you think messing around with that tutorial on my actual laptop will yield in a void warranty? Maybe I should just wait until my warranty is about up and send it in for warranty for new hinges (assuming that my hinges grow weak over time).

 

That is exactly what I would do.