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Obtaining Replacement Parts for Your Laptop?
halosfan asks: "I recently broke the LCD bezel (the plastic thing that holds the LCD and related wires together) on a laptop that I bought half a year ago. I checked eBay as well as a few online stores specializing in laptop replacement parts, but still couldn't find the replacement. I contacted the manufacturer, but they were absolutely useless. Local laptop repair shop said they wouldn't replace the bezel without replacing the LCD, which isn't acceptable. It is an extremely frustrating situation, as the bezel is a minor part that I otherwise couldn't care less about, but it is necessary to carry the laptop around. I am wondering what other ways are there to obtain a laptop replacement part? Also, any recommendations for manufacturers that are good about making obscure replacement parts for their laptops available to the general public?" Does your laptop manufacturer make it easy or hard to get the necessary replacement parts?
Last time my Discman broke, they wanted to charge me over 100$ to replace the lil' spinny thingie inside of it because they'd replace the whole bottom part of it.. which includes the lens and pretty much all the electronics.. Laptops are the same, your best bet with a laptop is to take a good extended warranty and pray you don't need to use it..
Duct tape.
My side hobby is auto-repair and restoration. Together, my father and I have restored several vehicles (1970 Pontiac GTO Judge, 1969 Triumph Bonneville T120R, 1968 Chevrolet Corvair convertible, and a 1982 Volvo GL to Mustang 5.0 conversion, if anyone here cares,) and one of the best things we did was to scavenge junkyards for 95%-complete vehicles that were just rusting away. If we got one with a good body, but a blown engine, then that would be our project car, and we would just scavence a rustbucket that was still good under the hood and swap out the drivetrain.
When I took a job in the IT field and began repairing computers, I applied this same logic. If I had a laptop with a cracked case, but the internals were still fine, then I would try and scavenge a laptop with a dead motherboard that still had a good case and was discarded because it just didn't work. You can easily swap out things like that. I've done it on several Dell Inspirons and IBM ThinkPads, you can have a couple "parts" machines going at once and just get replacements from those. Sometimes on eBay you get lucky and find an auction for something like "Pallet of 100 Broken ThinkPads" for $50 and you can get some serious finds. If you want to take a bit of a risk you can even try "dumpster diving" outside of office buildings, schools and libraries. Often times when something breaks or is very obsolete these places will just toss it out. My favorite find so far was an IBM ThinkPad 486, complete, with two working batteries and all the cables in a case, that was just sitting in a dumpster because it was too old to run modern software.
Find out who the case manufacturer is - most cases are made by Taiwanese manufacturers, even brand names. One of the biggest is HyperData Direct - check their web site to see if they carry a generic case part for your laptop.
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This is why I dropped the jack for an extended warrenty. Normal ware and tear has cracked the back hinge on my laptop in less then 6mo. It still works okay but its a crack. Before my 3 years is up, this thing is getting fixed so that it will have some life left it in.
Same goes for the keyboard
The touchpad (which is already honky cause it took a static electricity shock)
And the CD drive
etc etc etc.
If you are just going to buy and sit and never work to get shit replaced, then yes -- the warrenty coverage is worthless. Buy it and use it, and then you have gotten something.
The ultimate network admin tool needs HELP!
Always been real happy with Dell and its replacement of busted laptop componets. Although this was as a corporate customer and if they need to replace other parts (the LCD in this case) to fix the problem, it was always warrantied work and no extra cost came to me because of it. I'm guessing the author is a home/personal user, which if the laptop was purchased new I'm surprised the replacement isn't warrantied (don't most come with 12 month warranties?).
It's becoming more common these days for 'custom' parts like these to be bundled.
I recently broke a wiring harness on my girlfriend's Pontiac Aztec. I could replace it in about five minutes if I could get Pontiac to sell me the part. But they won't, not without purchasing the entire headlight module, for 300 dollars.
Your best bet is to do what I'm doing for that part - namely, hitting junkyards(in your case, eBay). Another possibility is to find a user's group/forum for these laptops - I know when I had a Sparcbook, there was always a guy or two with broken ones who would send you some weird random part.
There's a site called PB Parts that has Apple laptop parts. I replaced my iBook HD there and my brother replaced his PowerBook keyboard with a part from there. Some of their prices are a little high, but still cheaper than getting it repaired by Apple or a reseller if you don't have a warranty.
I work at my college servicing the IBM ThinkPads that the school leases. (There's your background
The manufacturer should have replacement parts as long as the thing is under warranty and possibly a while after.
I've probably replaced about 4,000 LCD bezels by now and I know exactly what you mean.
The place that was trying to replace the ENTIRE assembly on you was doing nothing more than trying to rip you off BIG TIME. LCDs can cost more than the laptop their in, and that piece of plastic probably costs $.50 to make. (Even though IBM charges ~$50 for one)
I recommend just trying harder to contact the original manufacturer.
Question everything
I have purchased replacement batteries and a replacement keyboard for my aging Dell Inspiron 3700 from laptopsforless.com. I wasn't terribly impressed with the lifetime of the batteries - they wore out in just over a year, whereas the original Dells had lasted 18 months before dying (I can be hard on batteries). The keyboard was a refurb, but has performed adequately.
You could always buy a sacrificial laptop on eBay and use it for parts. If it's old enough, it won't cost you too much.
How cool would it be to pay $50 bucks to the local woodshop teacher to make a custom bezel?
Reminds me of the little diddy they said in Brave New World, and piped into the heads of children at an early age: "better to spend than to mend". It seems our society is geared more towards the "just buy a new one" mentality nowadays. *cough*iPod*cough* Personally I'd find a way to MacGuyver a new part or fix it so that the device was still (safely) usable until the day I either do find a new part, or break it beyond repair.
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
... for laptops: A new laptop.
Seriously, though. I used to fix laptops. Typically the LCD and bezel came as one part, and couldn't be purchased separately.
I usually have no problem getting what I want from Compaq as long as the following conditions are met:
:-(
1. Have a lot of money
2. Compaq/HP actually has the part listed
3. Compaq/HP actually has the part in stock
4. Compaq/HP actually ships the order
5. I finally give up and buy a new laptop
Hope this helps
Sorry I almost forgot:
6. ???
7. Profit
My next Slashdot post will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
Or, what you do, is you buy from Costco and return the machine every 5 months... that ruse was cooler a while ago when you could have it for a year and then return it...
My neighbour bought appleCare and boy did THAT pay for itself. His screen just up and DIED. First it turned weird colours and then it just died. Luckily he had appleCare, because at the time it was a $1200 repair!
So, extended warranties (the more extended the better) are WORTH every penny on laptops. You hope and pray you never need it, but when you do need it, and you don't have it, yer fucked big time.
good luck,
RS
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
I had snapped off the metal hinge that attaches the LCD panel to the base. (And my laptop is out of warantee) I looked up part numbers in dells online manuals, called a Dell representative, and $40 later, they sent me the part, no fuss whatsoever.
I was actually really surprised that the process went so smoothly.
Why aren't you encrypting your e-mail?
Ebay is a great place to trade notebook parts around and around... unfortunately the prices go up for the small parts as they become seperated from their original computer (buy a used, broken notebook for $50, sell HDD for $40, sell LCD for $60, sell CD-ROM drive for $20, etc).
No, the answer is JB-Weld (www.jbweld.net) or a similar epoxy. It's the modern nerd answer to tape on your glasses.
Nope. Mollusk snot.
C|N>K
Some of PB Parts prices were REALLY high. When the inverter cable running through the hinge to my iBook monitor frayed and shorted (I've had hinge issues with both my Apple laptops - my Wallstreet hinges actually cracked!) they were charging $100 for it. Apple charged even more to repair the whole thing. As it turns out, Small Dog sold the part for around $30, although you have to talk to their techs directly to get the price quoted. I'd familiarize yourself with PB parts prices first, and then go ask Small Dog.
---If you can't trust a nerd, who can you trust?
According to the Ministry of Duct Tape and High Voltage, the tape was a by-product of World War II. In 1942, after numerous cases of ammunition were destroyed by humidity, the United States government turned to wartime supplier Johnson & Johnson, hoping for a fix. J&J promptly responded with a waterproof tape dubbed "duck tape" by the military due to its ability to repel moisture like water off a duck's back. It did the job admirably, and soldiers soon found an assortment of other uses for it as well.
After the war ended, the resultant housing boom inspired yet more uses for the material. Homeowners soon realized how effective the tape was at sealing off ducts -- leading to a change in name (from "duck" to "duct") and color (from army green to silver).
Duct Tape. =)
#6495ED - cornflower blue
Before you laugh, you can make your own parts in plastic.
Plenty of books out there to teach you how to create a mould and cast your own out of scrap plastic.
All it takes is a bit of patience.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
IBM is just great with Thinkpads. The service manual for all Thinkpad models is available online as a PDF file. It has incredibly detailed instructions for assembling the laptop from several hundred FRUs. You can order the FRUs from IBM or cheaper from a number of resellers. They seem to keep good stock on parts for older models.
A few years ago a friend of mine dropped her T20 Thinkpad onto asphalt from about 4 feet. It made quite a mess. I thought that it was going to be a total write-off, but I found the IBM info, ordered about $150 of little broken bits and restored the thing to perfect working order in about a week. It was great.
I've been a devoted Thinkpad fan ever since. I bought a new keyboard for my T23 recently, it took about 5 minutes to order the right part and another 5 minutes to install it. IBM really does do service manuals and parts the way you think a big company should do it.
jeff
He is in the sweet spot -- the time where his new-ish machine is obsolete, but not enough have died yet for their parts to become available on ebay. If he waits a couple of months, the parts should start to become available.
The problem with ebay is that all the electronics sellers have decided that $10 is the minimum shipping charge, even on a small part. I had a guy charge me that for an LCD inverter (weight: less than 1 ounce) and mail it to me unprotected in an envelope 1st class ($0.37 stamp).
If the part prices are truly a problem, he can desktopify the laptop and get another, they are cheap these days. I did that with a Thinkpad T23 with broken LCD -- it is now a firewall/spam filter left on 24/7.
Gentlemen, we can rebuild it.
We have the technology.
We have the capability to build the world's first aluminum laptop.
This computer will be that laptop.
We can make it better than it was before.
Better. Stronger. Faster.
I needed a "new" notebook, so I bought an eBay'd Compaq Armada M300 - under 3 pounds, under $400. Great stuff, runs any operating system like charm, has 2-hourish battery life. It has a slow proc and only 800x600 graphics, but it is cheap, disposable, light, etc.
Then I dropped it, and it landed on the inserted wireless card. The machine seemed fine, but the PCMCIA guts inside got sheared off the daughterboard. Compaq's durability was not at fault, IMO, just my stooopidity.
I went to the HP partsfinder, and _every_ little piece was available, most of them at good prices. The daughtercard was $35, and the instructions to replace it were online. Strangely, the only expensive things were the commodity parts - memory, cpu, hard drive, etc. And the LCD, of course - they always are.
However, not satisified with that, I went to ebay and searched for the part number - and got a new daughercard for $15.
Moral: stick to models that the big corps are buying, if possible. Their IT shops don't suffer the higher prices and foolishness that consumers buying consumer models do. Corollary: see if there's a corporate version of your consumer notebook, and then look for parts again - Compaq/HP use the same guts in their presarios as they do in their corporate line, for example.
Jonathan
To use an analogy from a car. Say you need to replace a spark plug -- it's not just like an expensive spark plug -- this is like a manufacturer refusing to sell you a spark plug without the entire replacement motor.
Now I hear what you're saying about laptops just being "that way"...but it doesn't make it OK. I don't have much intention of buying a laptop until they're user servicable and suitable replacement parts are available (it's probably clear by now that I have no specific need for a laptop and when there is, my job will probably provide one). Point is, it's about as lame as Apple's iPod battery debacule, except it's an accepted industry-standard parctice.
-Turkey
Upon examination, the left hinge was broken, the front bezel, and the screen didn't light up.
Boy was I upset. I had to sit in a jury room all day with no laptop.
Once home, I took the laptop apart and discovered that I'd broken the FL inverter board(what causes the screen backlight to illuminate). Now, this is a Toshiba Laptop, and I had taken the thing into be serviced - so I called up the service center and asked them to order in some parts for me. They did, and I replaced everything myself - becoming intimately familiar with my laptop in the process.
Once I got the FL inverter board replaced, the screen still didn't light.
I called the Toshiba Service Center (Compar in Minneapolis, great guys) and they said, "It's gotta be the fluorescent bulb..."
Huh? Fluorescent bulb?
They explained to me that the way the screen illuminates is there is a tiny fluorescent bulb that runs along the bottom of the screen. You have to remove the LCD panel, take off the tape and some screws and you'll be able to access a tiny fluorescent bulb that is the thickness of a #2 pencil lead (about 1mm dia) and it is the length(width) of the screen. Turns out the FL inverter board is nothing but a high-tech ballast. They told me that they weren't sure if they could replace the bulb without replacing the screen - but just about any bulb from any screen, provided it was the same length, would work.
Now, my friend had a DELL laptop that he'd stepped on and cracked the LCD, but the backlight still worked. It too was a 15" screen, so I took out his old bulb and put it in my screen, but his bulb was about 3mm to long! SO, I pulled out my Dremmel and cut away the metal & plastic so the fluorescent bulb could extend beyond the side of the LCD Panel. It only extended about 1mm out from the edge of the panel. When I put the screen back into its mounting, it barely fit. I had to cut the wires to the bulb, and solder on the ones for my old broken bulb, but when I powered it up, I had my laptop back.
It was only then that I noticed that the piece of glass that runs behind the LCD was cracked (NOT the LCD panel itself) but the glass that distributes the light emitted from the bulb. All that means is that the upper left corner of the screen has a wavy shadow. I can live with that.
All told? The drop cost me just under $200 to repair, and the income earned from jury duty wasn't even enough to cover half of it.
Oh, and the trial I heard? Some guy that was charged with being a male prostitute (ouch!). We found him guilty. I dunno why he even fought the charges - he could make a killing on the inside. The entire time I was in trial, I was thinking of Goatse. Damn you Slashdot.
Silly faggot, dicks are for chicks!
Good security is based upon reality and common sense. Common sense is a function of having common knowledge.
> Best money I ever spent.
Considering the two repairs to your laptop have been produced by dropping it, my humble submission would be that a padded bag would have been the best money you could spend.
There are two alternative strategies.
1) plastic welding is a viable repair - you will find that if you contact your local panel banger (autobody repair shop) that they will be able to offer advise how to proceed.
The laptops are injection moulded plastics - possibly a TPE same as is used in the auto industy so the same techniques may apply.
2) glue it yourself. Call up your local 3M representative and ask them what structural glues they have for the plastic your lap top is made of. One product that MIGHT work is DP8005.
Another option is to contact polyurathane supply company. Those people have a nice website with good technical information.
------------
The type of equipment you need to plastic weld is generally an injection hot melt gun - they typically sell for about $5000 bux and are not too difficult to learn how to use. These guns force plastic under pressure into the crack and form a seam that is over 80% as strong as the original. The plastic comes in rods and is available in ABS, TPE, TFE,
You may want to check your Yellow Pages - look under PLASTIC WELDING equipment - call a supplier of the equipment and ask for a referal to who has the gun. Try to get to know the guy a bit and pay him well - broken plastic parts are a fact of life and these guys can do magic!!!
I used to work in a motorcycles-only body shop. We'd do custom jobs to harley's and bullet bikes. The work on the bullet-bikes ('crotch-rockets' as they are sometimes known) largely involved prepping the fairings and repairing small cracks.
Since fairings are made out of PVC, it was a simple matter to repair cracks in them with a soldering iron and a strip of raw pvc (or some old bits of fairing laying around). The welds would come out as strong or stronger than the original PVC. The only side effect would be an awful scarring effect, which we would then sand out, fill with bondo and apply primer. Good as new.
Your laptop bezel is made out of PVC or a similar polymer. It would probably be a simple matter to weld the crack back together, or whatever (hinges, clips &etc).
The most important part of this technique, however, is to work in a place with good ventilation and *WEAR A GODDAM FACE MASK*. The fumes and smoke of the process are toxic, carcinogenic and easilly filtered by a cheap paper mask over you mouth and nose. You know, like Michael Jackson would wear on the streets of Hong Kong. Eye protection is a good idea, too. This is why I still have lungs and vision.
I would always do the plastic welding in the paint booth, with the painter's mask and the fans on high. Since you'd only need to do a small amount, the face mask and a kitchen or bathroom fan would probably suffice.
And remember: this is slashdot. think before you take any advice.
I have a Toshiba laptop from Circuit City, sent it to be have something fixed in it (turned out to be a loose wire I think.). They claimed to of found liquid within the laptop and terminated my warrenty or something I think. I later took it apart and saw no signs of liquid. The repair person who located the fault said that they had heard of the company doing this to many people I think.
There is a company called Small Dog Electronics (http://www.smalldog.com) based in Waitsfield, USA. My physics prof broke a part on his laptop (I'm not sure if he called it the bezel or not, but it did have something to do with holding the LCD in place). He took it to Smalldog because the manufacturer's parts were hard to find, and they fixed it. Probably saved him a lot of money over what the manufacturer would have charged him. The lesson here: these guys deal in factory refurbished goods, so they are likely to have some spare parts lying around, even from slightly older models.
10 Bits= $.25
100 Bits= $.50
110 Bits= $.75
1000 Bits= 1 byte
Most parts we deal with are ABS.
Plastic Welder is designed to glue ABS.
Wal Mart, True Value Hardware stores, and lots of other places sell it.
If they call it "Plastic Welder" its the Duro stuff under licence.
What's the matter, do you think Best Buy's prices are too high? Could their prices be reasonably explained by the fact that if you ask a salesperson a question he/she responds immediately rather than a couple days later as at Internet stores? That you can walk in and out with your purchase in a matter of minutes? That you can try everything out before buying? That you can take back anything except software it turns out you didn't like it for some reason
No I think Best Buy is misleading in their advertising, inept in their support, and their salespersons lie. This is my experience. Their prices are usually somewhat reasonable. My experience with Internet stores has been better service, primarily since I don't buy from internet only stores, and only from those that have physical stores. And I have yet to be able to try much before I buy at Best Buy. Usually, the salesperson will explain that he doesn't have the key, batteries, it requires a supervisor, etc. I have tried many times, and frankly, I just don't buy from them anymore. I did use my instore credit to buy what was then a new Nikon 990, but I didn't get to try it before I bought it, either.
If none of those reasons fly with you, consider that maybe their prices are higher because of dishonest, predatory behavior by people like you.
Not only was my behavior NOT predatory, but the extended warranty was transferable, and the terms of the warranty said exact replacement or store credit, which I recieved.
Seems to me that I demanded they honor their own warranty, and for once, they did, except I had to talk to several people and talk loud to get them to do it. If there were as honorable as you seem to think they are, they would have given me store credit immediately instead of giving me the run around hoping I would just give in.
So pardon me if I knock you off your high horse, since I did nothing dishonest. The problem is that Best Buy is the one usually dishonest, and its rare that someone can actually get them to honor their own warranties, to the letter.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!