100% guaranteed way to break a T43

[unimorpheus]

I recently had to change stations which required a flight on a C-130 cargo accident waiting to happen. All was well until it was time to exit the aircraft. As I went to retrieve my Targus bag holding my T43 from the overhead cargo hooks I dropped the bag. Of course the bag rotated 170 degrees so the laptop would impact the deck on the skinny hinge corner.

Even though the T43 was in a neoprene sleeve and a Targus laptop bag the impact still managed to cause the threaded insert on the top keyboard bezel to dislodge from the bezel. This allowed the entire corner of the laptop to separate releasing the DVD/ROM drive in the process. The inertia of the 6 cell battery also caused the center battery retention hook to pull through the bottom cover plastic thereby destroying the middle battery lock tabs ability to retain the battery. The process of separating the lower case components also caused the LCD housing to separate around the thin hinge as well as dislodging the keyboard from the palm rest.

The laptop was so tweaked it looked like it had been bent as nothing appeared square and the lid would not close once opened. But in true ThinkPad tradition when I powered up the T43 everything worked perfectly. LCD, harddrive, even the keyboard and DVD/ROM. It took me about 4 hours to reseat everything and I was even able to remount the threaded insert into the keyboard bezel temporarily until I get the replacement part.

All in all I will have to replace the keyboard bezel, screws and screw covers. I considered replacing the bottom cover to fix the battery retention problem but the battery does not dislodge, the new cover would not be labeled correctly and I don’t feel like digging everything out of the laptop to make the swap. In short I am not going to worry about it. Not bad considering....

[cmarti]

That is for sure a horror story, thanks god you managed to get it working again!

[Nick Y]

Very unpleasant, but as the other response said, at least you are still able to use it. (Will your warranty cover any replacements? IBM/Lenovo seem pretty good as far as that side goes.)

Your heading brought to mind the following, which doesn't involve a C-130, but is to do with pens and the keyboard:

NEVER use your keybaord as a resting place for a pen/ writing implement, etc....

(From an article written by an insurance company on how to look after your laptop.)

[Gustavo]

Wow that must have hurt. Good thing you got it working again.

[dsigma6]

I'm glad that you won't be suing targus.

[simms]

NEVER use your keybaord as a resting place for a pen/ writing implement, etc....

(From an article written by an insurance company on how to look after your laptop.)

Why not? Pen leaks?

[unimorpheus]

I'm glad that you won't be suing targus

No, I have contacted my attorney and will be filing a class action against the guy who invented gravity. It is our contention that gravity is an unsafe product when use in conjunction with inertia and velocity.

[gearguy]

NEVER use your keybaord as a resting place for a pen/ writing implement, etc....

(From an article written by an insurance company on how to look after your laptop.)

Why not? Pen leaks?

No - because idiots leave them there and close the screen and SNAP. As durable as IBMs laptops may be, LCDs are still made out of a very shatterable layer of glass or plastic.

[Nick Y]

Quite correct, gearguy, and so easily done!

As soon as I read it, a couple of years ago, I sent my youngster an email to make her aware as she had just taken delivery of a nice new laptop for Uni.

[bill bolton]

[No, I have contacted my attorney and will be filing a class action against the guy who invented gravity

Put that together with the fact that all matter is held together by forces that we can observe but really don't yet understand, and its a pretty dangerous universe!

Cheers,

Bill