My laptop lid has a crack on the bottom right.

Hello guys,

Bad luck has struck me again yesterday. :frown:

Yesterday, when I lift up the screen of my laptop, I heard a loud cracking sound. When I looked at the right side of the screen, I found a huge crack at the bottom right. :eek: The screen still functions fine, but it's kind of hard to for me to open up or close down the screen because I am worried it will only worsen the damage.

If I just move it up or down, even somewhat lightly, it will make a cracking sound and the crack would be widen. Some of the broken parts fell down from where the crack was. I don't know what could have caused this. :oops: The left side of the screen is totally fine, though.


I contacted Eluktronic Support today, and they said that in order to determine what the issue is, they will need me to send in the entire laptop. Since my warranty has expired, it will cost $75 fee and depending on the parts, they could be around $100. But since they couldn't tell which parts are broken, they need to see the entire unit to determine what to replace or check what else is broken. o_O To quote their email: "The lid and the screen bezel will most likely require replacement. "

At the same time, I also asked a nearby repair shop to take a look at the pictures (since I didn't bring the laptop to work with me). The lady there told me that she will have to take a look at the laptop to see how it is. If it's not a big deal, she can probably just glue the broken parts together. If it's bad, then I will have to either send it in, or give her the new parts so she can replace them. Estimated price is $65. Problem with this is the manufacturer can't determine what parts I need unless they can inspect the laptop. :rolleyes:

So, should I just bite the bullet and send it back to the manufacturer anyway? It might take somewhat longer for me to send the laptop to them and wait for them to fix it, and ship it back. I've been to this repair shop a few times before, and while they do a good job, I feel like I should err on the side of caution and let the manufacturer handle this. I have never sent something big like a laptop back for repair over mail so I'm a bit hesitating. I don't feel like blowing $175 on a laptop repair, either, but I am worried that if I just glue the broken parts together, something else might have been broken and I just couldn't see it. :confused:

Anyone had this issue before with their laptop? Or anyone familiar with computer hardware can chime in and maybe guess how bad the damage is? :oops:

Be careful about that, cracked computer screens can release carcinogens.

nothing serious, just put it together with glue, tape ...

probably a knock too hard on the side, loosened a hook and the juncture split.
the hooks there are meant to work together to hold the whole thing in place, they're not too strong by themselves.
the loosening and the lever action of lifting the lid just put more stress in that fault point.

true, but not likely.
I thought it was the screen too, but it's the casing, not the actual screen.

*should* be fixable with careful checking of the wiring and careful re-pressing of the thing (it's just a broken juncture hook) but if you don't know what you're doing, better send it for review.
DON'T send it to the official service if the warranty is expired, they'll most likely overcharge you.
find a repair shop with a good reputation, they shouldn't charge you the equivalent of more than 2 hours work.

I would guess it is the hinges. I had something similar happen to my Asus and found it was a common problem with them. I was able to get the new hinge and have a friend replace it. I can't be certain, but it's my guess. I'd maybe try to take it in to the repair shop and see if they can tell you more actually looking at it.

As long as you take care of the laptop not falling down again, glue and tape should be fine. The damage doesn't look too serious, so don't drop it again (I know it's easier said than done from my experience though) and it should serve you until you need to buy a new one. The damage will gradually increase though, it's inevitable. But with proper care it shouldn't increase too fast.

Btw. If the error doesn't look too serious, a reputable service shop should be enough.
However...
For the future if a more serious error appears, if you're extra worried about it, I would send it to the manufacturer, even though it might be more expensive. Because the manufacturer, as long as it doesn't have crappy customer service, will take great care of it. I've sent my laptop to a 3rd party service center. And when it returned... Gosh dammit, it was supposed to be a dustless environment due to work with electronics! And yet it returned much more dirty and full of dust than when I sent it there. And it was not cheap either, 1600 czk on parts, 2900 czk technician work (about 2000 czk = 100 usd, so it was like 230 usd)
Of course not every service center is so bad and many are sure to offer fine quality service for the price. But if you're extra worried, then manufacturer is the way to go.
But in this case the manufacturer would probably be overkill.

Closing it should be as easy as pinching it. back together. If that does not work use glue but not for what you think...

And B: Judging by the photos it seems like you have a damaged hinge... This normally happens when the hinge either gets detached from the monitor or a part of it gets detached from the lower casing normally due to the stress. If this is the case < Pun intended I'm sorry for your lose.... You're basically going to have to dismantle your laptop and replace the hinge... But really it's hard to tell what's going on in that photo...If you dropped it which looking over the damage you likely spiked it into the floor like a football. Than yah it's likely a hinge damage to the upper casing.

Which is a fairly easy repair to make. I'ed do it for you but I don't feel comfortable with a stranger knowing my address so.... Good luck on those self repairs op! I believe in you!

Thanks, folks.

I showed it to the repair shop lady and she said it's not too bad, so just a little glue would do the trick (well tape would look too ugly, lol). I was supposed to have it repair today, but I overslept and came in late, so she told me to bring it back on Monday. :frown: But I guess it's a good thing I won't need to spend too much by sending it to the manufacturer (unless we discover something else more complicated).

I actually haven't dropped the laptop prior to this. I mostly use it on my bed anyway. That day, I just opened up the lid and *crack*, the thing just fell out. :eek: I had dropped my old Sony laptop a bunch of times on the carpet and it lasted for a good while before I had to repair something. Apparently this laptop brand has some issues with QA so the build quality isn't very good. I don't know for sure if they used cheap parts or just the manufacturing methods lack testing. Not bad, but could use some improvements. Last year, I had to replace the keyboard because two of keys fell out for no reason. :confused:


Heh. No worries. XD If I was good with fixing stuff, I'd open this up myself and take care of the problem. With electronics, opening them up is easy, but putting things back together is another issue. :rolleyes:

Well... this turns out to be worse than I thought...

They couldn't fix it, after all. The lady said that the glue would dry up and the lid would crack again when they open it. So the only option now is to send it back to Eluktronics. Couldn't get my laptop back today, so I'll need to wait until tomorrow. Doubt they can do anything else at this point. At least I asked them to clean the fan for me. Not sure how much they will charge for that. Gonna have to prepare to throw $200 or so out the window next.

So if I send it to their office in CA, should I use priority shipping anyway? I don't think the post office or them work in the weekend so I plan to wait until Monday. Realistically, how long should I expect to wait for them to receive the laptop, fix it, then send it back? Just worried since I never had to send any electronics back for repair before.