Laptop screen hinge detached from base?

[saskflames69]

I have an Acer Aspire 5741-5193 laptop that I purchased from Best Buy in August 2010. About a year ago, the screen started to wobble, probably from opening and closing it so many times. However, this had also happened on my old laptop, so I let it go without worry. Anyways, about a week ago it became really loose so I tried to minimize the number of times I opened and closed my screen. This afternoon, I had to close it to save battery since I did not have my charger on me. About an hour later, I opened up my laptop and I heard this "snap". I looked and the screen hinge had become detached from the laptop itself. So now every time I lift up my screen, it picks up a corner of the faceplate because it was initially missing a screw. (The screen still works fine.) However, the thread is stripped making it impossible to screw back together.

I tried looking online for help but most guides only tell me how to tighten the hinges so it doesn't shake as much. I think this is much more serious than that. Do you think it's possible to fix this myself or should I take it in?

[Rathji]

Crazy glue on screw will fix that stripped thing, at least temporarily. Since I am not familiar with the model I can't say for sure if the part is replaceable on its own but you could take it apart and see.

I did a similar repair on a Dell I have would say it was a 5-6/10 in terms of difficulty.

[Bobblehead]

The fact that you heard a snap leads me to believe that you broke the area that connects, so I doubt it is fix-able, or at least not for a reasonable cost.

There are so many different models of laptops I've found that, unless it is something straight forward like a hard drive or memory module, the cost of repair is often more than the cost of a new computer. The parts are generally outrageously expensive.

The only luck I've ever had in repairs of any major components was when I could find another unit of the same model that was either dead itself or nearing death and I could get it cheap. Then I had the correct parts to swap.

[saskflames69]

A bit of an update:

We took it into Best Buy and the guy at the Geek Squad counter said they could fix it for $350, and they would have to ship it away, meaning I would be without my laptop for 5 to 10 days. They had other laptops on sale for the exact same price. We just left and went back home.

I get home and I need to access the internet, so I open up my laptop (not a good idea) and plug in the charger. Well, add another $350 to those repair costs, because my laptop no longer charges. There is nothing else wrong with the software or hardware other than those aforementioned issues.

I will just look for somebody local to open it up and check it out.

[Rathji]

If they are quoting you $350, just buy a new (or new-to-you used) one.

Seriously.

[saskflames69]

How much would it cost to transfer my hard drive to a new laptop? Or should I just load all my files onto a portable hard drive and access them from there?

[Rathji]

It would cost zero, but I doubt that is what you would want to do, unless you were able to buy a (likely used) laptop that had no/a failed hard drive in it already.

If you were to purchase a new laptop, just toss it in an enclosure, recover your files and wipe it and use as a backup drive.

[sclitheroe]

On the bright side, you got ALMOST two years out of an Acer, PLUS the opportunity to upgrade to something higher quality

[BloodFetish]

Originally Posted by sclitheroe

On the bright side, you got ALMOST two years out of an Acer, PLUS the opportunity to upgrade to something higher quality

At work, certain people pick out their own laptops and sure enough some of them are Acer. Has anyone ever had a positive story when dealing with Acer support?

I don't mind Acer for LCD monitors or other things that generally just get replaced rather than repaired.

re: the hinge. Agree with others. Not worth the cost to fix - put the money into something new.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

I would fix the hinge myself, but I can do that type of thing. If you have an electronics/mechanically inclined friend they can maybe help you.

New hinges?

[Hack&Lube]

Personally I have had great luck with Acer products dating back to the 50x Acer CD-ROM I bought like 14 years ago.

I have had many Acer products, a laptop, multiple netbooks, etc. and they have all treated me fine. Still using an Acer Netbook from years ago that I threw an SSD into and a 9 hour battery. It's probably my most travelled and most versatile system. I've brought it with me to jobs at across the country.

But every company will have some lemons and from what I've read, it seems Acer does have a lot of lemons. Guess I might have just been lucky.

[saskflames69]

I'll give this guy I found on Kijiji a call tomorrow. If he's no better than Best Buy I'll just find another laptop.

[sclitheroe]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Personally I have had great luck with Acer products dating back to the 50x Acer CD-ROM I bought like 14 years ago.

I have had many Acer products, a laptop, multiple netbooks, etc. and they have all treated me fine. Still using an Acer Netbook from years ago that I threw an SSD into and a 9 hour battery. It's probably my most travelled and most versatile system. I've brought it with me to jobs at across the country.

But every company will have some lemons and from what I've read, it seems Acer does have a lot of lemons. Guess I might have just been lucky.

I know. I meant it as humour, because I know this board has it's share of people on both sides of the Acer fence.

Hinges are probably the second highest failure point after hard drives, so there's not much that can be said other than it's unfortunate for the OP.

[saskflames69]

Yeah, its looking like it'll end up cheaper if I just buy a new laptop. I'm going to buy a case and remove my hard drive and just use it as another external drive after I transfer all my files.