Damaged lid on W230ST - what to do?

Hey all, I'd like some advice. A few months ago, my W230ST was knocked off a table and landed on the top-right corner, near the power button. There was a tiny, cosmetic crack in the lower housing, and the two different-colored plastic bits on the lid separated slightly. The lid appeared to open and close fine, though it felt a bit wobbly. I got everything back together as well as I could figure out and was able to keep using it without any apparent problems, until yesterday. I opened the lid (trying to be gentle with the messed-up hinge side) and felt it sort of "pop", and a small screw popped out.

Uh oh, right?

Well, I got the service manual and realized that the inner bezel (the lighter gray plastic that surrounds the screen) is only held on by clips, and is actually *supposed* to pop out. I removed it carefully (I don't think I damaged any clips!) and inspected the joint. It turns out that there are 3 very short, broad-headed screws that attach the metal hinge to the inside of the lid housing. One had fallen out, but the other two were not attached either. They were screwed into tiny metal nuts, that had broken bits of plastic housing (previously attached to the lid) stuck all around them. I've now carefully removed all 3 screws, and their matching nuts. Other than the lid not being attached to the hinge properly on that side anymore, the laptop is in great shape :-/

So now comes the tough part. What do I do? I don't feel like the original design was very sturdy-looking, but I guess it must have worked well enough, until the trauma of the fall broke the molding that let the screws "grab" the lid. I could try some kind of adhesive to hold the parts in place instead, but that feels like it'd be asking for trouble. I'd be happy to replace the lid housing, but it looks like a lot of components are permanently attached to it -- the webcam, and a few antennas at least. (I haven't messed with the screen at all, but I'm assuming that at least that bit I could remove if need be).

If it matters, I'm in Germany and bought the system from Hawkforce.de about a year ago. I wouldn't expect the warranty to cover this, but I don't want to spend hundreds and hundreds of Euro if I can help it. It doesn't have to be perfect, I just want to make sure I won't damage anything more when I open/close the system.

 

There's adhesive for this sort of job but I can't recall the exact type used, and it's probably best to avoid it. Your safer bet is to have the part in question replaced (but you're right in that the standard warranty will not cover it). We see a lot of accidental damage from units sent in for service and we replace the parts in question, rather than trying to doctor them up and send back something shoddy.

 

Leaving the hinge without being screwed in will stress the plasics and cause the lid to crack going forward.

 

@Prostar: Yeah I figure if it did get glued down then when I have any other reason to disassemble anything it would be difficult-to-impossible The part is listed in the service manual as 6-39-w2301-022; I don't know if it's supposed to be possible to just order that or if it's only for "authorized resellers", etc.

@Meaker: definitely looks that way. I've only opened/closed it once or twice since the last screw went and I plan to take it in for service as soon as I can. Sucks, because I have a 2-week vacation starting Friday and wanted to take it with me. That's the whole point of having a tiny, beastly gaming computer! :'(

 

Ordering case parts is near impossible for end users. A lot of those part numbers are reference tools for Clevo specifically. You will probably be looking at replacing part of the case, or both parts (top and bottom) if you find discernible damage on both. Sad times! But at least you're going on a vacation, so there's something, right?

 

Yeah, I'm pretty bummed about it. I had it sitting on my nightstand and came home one day to find it on the floor -- the dogs had knocked it off. Worked fine for the next... 6 months? I think? Then last week I went to open it and the last screw finally gave out.

I just want to find out how much it's going to wind up costing. I mean, at this point I think you can get a W230SS (which would use all the same parts, right?) totally barebones for like $600-700 right? I'm hoping that means the housing is <$200 for parts, but I'm not holding my breath. If it's much more, maybe I can find a scrap system on ebay with a bad motherboard or something?

 

if you take it fully apart I have on many occasions reattached those nuts and bits of plastic with 2 part epoxy or plastic repair used in automotive bumpers. roughen up all of the edges , make sure you can align them very exact.

then mix up your epoxy and apply it fairly thick to the bottom and sides of the lid then press the nuts into them so they are in alignment, let the epoxy ooze out we will deal with it later. if you don't have good coverage to the sides or see any exposed cracks apply a bit more with a toothpick or sharp object you don't want back. A small detail, keep the epoxy out of the inside of the nut. if you need to seal the bottom a very tiny bead of hot glue in the bottom works or put a screw in with a light coating of petroleum jelly so the tip of the screw is level with bottom of nut.

now the important bit, LET IT CURE I let mine sit for 1-2 days and then use a dremmel and a small sanding or grinding tip to remove excess epoxy and make sure any channels for antennas or clearances for your panel are good. take your time and do not rush. for doing plastic repair patience is really a virtue.

once your all done reassemble your unit. as I said if you take your time it is not an overly hard thing to do

 

I had thought about doing that, and I guess I still might if the local reseller (Hawkforce) comes back with an excessive estimate or something. The main issue is that the nuts in question were set into plastic "collars" (for lack of a better word) and they shattered on removal into little shards. I could try to affix the nuts directly to the housing but I don't think that would work very well. The only other option is to rebuild the "collars" out of some kind of plastic / substitute, which sounds like it'd be getting kind of involved. We'll see, I guess...

 

I have noticed today the same issue: the screws are completely gone with the plastic part that retains them on the top of the notebook.
Sent an RMA request to hawkforce, let's see what's what.
I have treated this notebook since day one with white gloves and only after 8 months it has to be repaired

edit managed to get a quick picture of the damage: link

 

@caurus: looks exactly like my damage, but on the other hinge. You're kind of lucky, in that your "collars" are mostly intact. You could try to unscrew the nuts and superglue the "collars" back on to the lid, at least. Mine fell apart into little shards of plastic, no real hope of repair there.

The good news is, I think I'm finally sorting this out. I contacted clevo-computer.de and they stock parts!

I never got any response from Hawkforce (I'm seriously thinking I should leave negative feedback here in the forum, the dude totally ignores about half my emails, and took 6+ months over a dozen phone calls / emails to get me a replacement for a dud battery!) so I looked around and I think this place is the main authorized Clevo repair center in Germany. Email with them hasn't been working out a *lot* better, but basically every day they send me a sentence or two, and I reply and wait til the next day :-/

Eventually, I got them the part #s I needed (the lid, and one hinge), and they told me that the total cost for both is only 20 EUR! They have my address, so hopefully they will send me something soon. Once I have the parts, the local repair shop has offered to do the repair for an extra 35 EUR -- if I'm back to "good as new" for under 100 EUR, I'll definitely call this a success. I'll try to remember to update this thread as we progress.

 

Well, that was just one of the two hinges. The other one too is pretty much destroyed as well.
I noticed that the collars are almost intact, but before trying anything myself I just want to see if Daniel (Hawkforce) replies me. When I bought my Clevo I used to chat with him using Facebook, and to be completely honest he was replying me almost every time.

edit: Daniel has replied me just a second ago, I am going to send him my Clevo in order to be repaired.I will keep you guys updated

However thanks for the details about those components, I will eventually figure out what to do.

 

Yikes. No drops or anything, and both hinges are broken? That's very discouraging -- I want to be able to use this laptop for 5+ years, like my last one, but not if it means replacing the lid annually

As for Daniel, he seems like a very nice guy but I get the impression that it's a one-man operation, and he's very busy, and things fall through the cracks. My otherwise-perfect laptop shipped with a battery that, when it was discharged to exactly 50%, would instantly power off without warning. I reported the issue late last year, then had to follow up constantly. Often I would call him, say "what's going on with my battery", and he would say "oh yeah, right, I'm working on that" and usually ask that I email him as a reminder. I made calls and sent emails monthly Oct - March, finally got the battery in April. Maybe I would have had a better result with Facebook, but I don't have (and don't want!) a FB account.

I hope your repairs work out well for you.

 

I wonder if there was an issue with a few machines not having the hinges screwed in properly. I've not heard of this happening on mass.

 

We haven't heard of any en masse issues with hinges on this, either.

Tragic.

 

Thanks for stopping by, Prostar. Have you guys had to disassemble the top half before? I guess you might if you were swapping panels, for example. I looked at the service manual, and removed the inner bezel. I could *probably* do the replacement myself (the parts should be here this week, I think) if nothing is glued down too badly. I'm a bit worried, though, because it looked like some of the antenna strips (and maybe an LCD controller or something?) might be attached with adhesive strips. I'm also not sure how the hinges detach from the lower body, but I'm sure I could puzzle it out.

The alternative is to take it to the local repair shop which will do the swap for 35 EUR. I'm less concerned about the money... it's more that I don't want to give up my baby for a week or more

What do you think? Is it a fairly straightforward replacement (outer lid + right hinge) or should I leave it to a pro?

 

If you've never done it before, it will take some time. Just be gentle! Remember that most of the parts are plastic, including the clips that secure the LCD casing (front bezel and backing). The antennae cables are secured but not glued down. I can't recall whether the antennae modules at the top are secured with an adhesive or not, but you should be able to pop them into the new casing pretty easily and have them stay in place without any supplemental adhesive.

The hinge shouldn't be a huge bother either, but again, just be gentle, and especially patient. If at some point you feel like you're in over your head, reassemble it as best you can and take it to a professional.

 

If you find yourself using force for something, stop and look again. As prostar said be gentle.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I've done a fair few teardown/rebuilds, including replacing at least one major component in every laptop I've owned to date, and actually come to think of it most of my game consoles and all our smartphones except the current generation (everybody uses so damn much glue these days!). This ain't my first rodeo

I'm usually pretty comfortable with tinkering, but in this case I'm a bit nervous because it's so new, and so expensive, and I really would be very upset if I made a mistake and had to live with broken/misaligned components, a scratched screen, a rattle inside the case, etc. I also figure I have a stronger argument for keeping the warranty if I take it to a professional rather than futzing with it myself.

 

It's the sort of thing any competent local shop should be able to do.

 

I'll leave that up to your reseller's discretion. But like Meaker said, any good technician should be able to figure it out, even if they haven't worked on a Clevo before.

 

Sent this morning my notebook to be repaired, hope I'll get it back as soon as possible.

 

Hello guys, just a quick update: 1 month passed, and I'm still without my notebook.
Hawkforce has closed his Facebook account (where I used to contact him) and I have sent him emails but no reply so far.

Let's hope everything will be sorted out, I really need my notebook and now I'm filling up with an old HP

 

Yikes! That sounds terrible! I really tried to give the guy the benefit of the doubt, but this is starting to look like a pattern of unresponsiveness ��

 

Good luck at least getting the machine back, it should still be your property so if the worst is happening make sure to keep that in mind.

 

Thank you guys, will update as soon as I get any news.

 

Ok, after 4 email and no answer, and Hawkforce website down at the moment, I don't know what to think.
This guy seems gone, and after 5 weeks I am really pissed off.
Also I have payed upfront the express shipping from Italy to Germany (which costed me about 25€ and he promised to refund me.

At least, when I ordered my notebook, he always answered my questions via Facebook and always updated me on my order.

Sorry for my off-topic, but I am really starting to think that I have to act to get my notebook back.

Any help?

 

You have avenues to explore, although getting litigious with it is going to complicate things and cost you time and money. Still, it's your notebook, and the principle of the matter (as well as getting what you paid for back) might be worth fighting for.

 

Ok guys I have some news.
I have checked in with the European Center for Customers that today gave me an answer about my issue.
Basically, Hawkforce declared bankruptcy.
So, as they said to me, when dealing with warranty Hawkforce used to send his notebooks to the manufacturer (which, as long as I know, should be mysn.de) to get repaired. But Daniel basically has zero money, so he is unable to send the notebook to them, neither is he able to pay the shipping to return my notebook here in Italy.

Now I'm trying to explore if there's a chance to get the notebook repaired by mysn,de paying by myself the shipping.

I'll let you know.

Sorry for my rant post and thank you all for your support.
Next time I am going to buy a notebook will be from a super reliable dealer.

 

Hey guys, just another little update. Long story short, the guy is gone with my notebook.
Neither me nor the ECC had success in checking in with him in order to send my notebook back. I had also the shipping back sorted out (shipping with UPS payed and sent him the label)... a shot in the dark.
His email address is dead, his telephone number too.

Now I have to check a legal to see what I can do, as long as there's something I can do of course.

 

Oh man, that is awful! I wonder: was it intentional, or did something happen? Either way, my condolences.

 

I don't know. If I have to make a guess, I think this is intentional. Being broke with a notebook that is 1000€ plus another 250€ of hardware upgrades installed (SSD + another 8GB of RAM) well... It's tempting.

Thanks for your support!

 

There have been a couple of small resellers in Europe struggling and gone under, it really sucks I'm sorry you got hit. Hopefully the law catches up to them.

 

Sorry for the thread-necro, I just came back across this when looking into another issue and read what happened with caurus -- jeeze, dude, that's terrible. I'm really sorry to hear about it. I picked hawkforce because they had good reviews here going back something like 5+ years (when I was shopping, ~2 years ago). I guess I should be glad I got out in one piece. I hope you had some luck in the past 6+ months getting *some* resolution.

Since the Clevo warranty model generally has you going to the original reseller for repairs, does anybody here know what it means for those of us who bought from a now-bankrupt business? I guess I'm well and truly out of warranty at this point, so it shouldn't matter, but it's something to consider when I make my next purchase...

 

I assume it's the same in the N. America but in Europe the warranty is legally with the company that sold the product to you - this is Warranty as defined as a repair, replacement or refund. If the company closes, you unfortunately have very little recourse as it is not up to Clevo themselves to provide end user support or repair.

A lot of smaller companies will buy chassis from a bigger reseller and not from Clevo directly, but even then it's not the actual supplier of the chassis that would be liable for repairs.

The best thing to do is either contact the authorised service center in Germany, UK or US http://www.clevo.com.tw/clevo_contact.asp?lang=en (they can sometimes carry out repairs for owners but it wouldn't be for free) or try a current Clevo system integrator with a good reputation who may be able to help.

 

Thanks, XMG. I'm lucky that I have a good local shop and now a parts supplier (see earlier in the thread), and am already out of even the 2-year warranty. Still, a cautionary tale!