Uhh, is this supposed to happen? Please advise

So I go to open the lid on my T61 and I hear some clicking noises and some strange resistance but I thought nothing of it, until I tried to close my screen. Same clicking noises, and a less than fluid, loose closing motion. To my horror, one of my hinges appears to be broken.




As you can see, the metal subframe seems to have snapped completely, right around the hinge area. And subsequently it popped out of the casing as a tried to close the lid.

I have never dropped this laptop. Most of the time I carry it around in my bookbag in a semi-padded neoprene sleeve. Occasionally there are textbooks in my bag along with the laptop, but most of the time there aren't.

What will it take to get this fixed? Is it even worth it? Unfortunately I am out of warranty, but can this be considered my fault? Seems more of a manufacturing defect to me.

 

wowza, that looks nasty. out of warranty? that sucks. i'd call lenovo and complain, see what comes out.

 

I would definitely call Lenovo anyways.

 

No dice. It's out of warranty and I have to pay for it. Any other options?

 

did you purchase it with a visa, mc or american express?

credit card companies will extended warranties (usually give you an extra year)

I recently got credit for a t61 after the faulty nvidia issue using my visa business card.

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but if you or somebody you know is good with laptops, you can buy the hinges and replace them on your own

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/MIGR-69662.html

section #7, hinges. should give the part number

but that is for a 7662 t61. find your machine type and go here (your pic looks like a standard screen t61, probably 8897)

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?sitestyle=lenovo&lndocid=TPAD-FRU

to get the parts break down

 

You can also use these videos to help you take apart your system properly.

http://www.lenovoservicetraining.com/ion/

 

looks like it's probably just the hinge. where's the best place to buy parts? ebay?

and how do i know which hinge i'm looking for? there are two FRUs, for kato and reel. what's the difference?

 

not too sure. you can buy the parts from either IBM/Lenovo directly (most expensive), over ebay or via some 3rd party supplier. I would call tech support. It cant hurt to see what they would recommend

 

I can safely say that that IS NOT supposed to happen. You may just be able to change the hinge and have it functioning like new, though.

 

anyone have experience with acsparts.com or thinkpadmedic?

btw, thanks for all the help everyone. you guys are the best!

 

Post this on ThinkPads.com. They're more likely to have what you need over there. I don't have any personal experience with those sellers, so no help over there.

 

dang, how hard did you press that thing ..

before replacing it, you can always try SuperGlue though .. not sure if it's gonna help in your case, but you could risk 1 dollar and try it

 

the thing just snapped! which is why this whole ordeal is ridiculous.

and super glue has failed. i actually brought the laptop to a shop to have them look at it yesterday before i saw all the forum replies. so when i saw the replies, i was like oh, i can do this myself, so i canceled the service, but they had already taken it apart. so basically i paid $50 for them to diagnose a problem i already knew. bah...and they jacked up my screen bezel too...which i'm sure i'll jack up even more doing it myself cuz taking apart that darned screen is so much harder than it looks.