Slashdot Mirror
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.
Subscribe for free to my show!
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
How cool would it be to pay $50 bucks to the local woodshop teacher to make a custom bezel?
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!
Nope. Mollusk snot.
C|N>K
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 ----
> 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.
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.