hinges on X20

[sachinjauhari]

Hi all,
I know you all must have heard of this problem a lot of times. My X20 has a case of loose hinges and although they are fine while opening and closing the lid, there seems to be a play of around an inch or so when the lid is open. I did go through some of the related posts in this forum and opened the machine but there are no loose screws. Is it possible that this might be happening because of the hinge mechanism itself rather than because of the loose screws?? Thanks…

[bri]

The hinge mechanism have very tight action and seems to be heavy cast metal so I don't think it can be that. Mine turned out to the the upper attachment points. Pop out the 3 screw covers under the LCD screen, take out those screws, take off the plastic surrounding the LCD screen, and you'll see a few more screws which secure the upper part of the hinge to the frame of the lid. Tighten these down and you should be golden.

[Traubert]

My x20 had a problem with the hinges as well. It is apparently a common problem, as you also seem to be aware.

In my case, it was not down to loose screws - the hinges themselves were totally destroyed.

I did not do anything about until the display lid became so loose, that the laptop was practically unusable since the display could not hold itself open.

I ordered a set of replacement hinges from IBM, they cost me around $30 including shipping. A couple of hours after I had placed my order, the display went black!

When I opened the laptop to replace the hinges, I found bits of metal from the busted hinges in the display casing. I replaced the hinges and when everything was put back together, it worked like a charm again. I suspect the display went black because the hinges are part of the power and/or ground circuit for the display, and electrical contact had been lost.

I can not say for certain if your problem is the same, but you may not want to wait for as long as I did before you do something about it. I would be worried that bits of loose metal from the hinges could cause damage to the laptop.

The replacement was not hard to do at all - it took about an hour. Get the hardware maintenence manual from http://tinyurl.co.uk/d0uw - it shows you how to take the thing apart.

You can order the hinges from IBM - the FRU number is 04P3169.

I'm really happy it is so easy to buy spare parts for thinkpads from IBM/Lenovo. It is one more reason thinkpads are good value. I have previously replaced a fault fan unit, so all in all I think the useful life of my x20 has been doubled due to easy availability of spare parts. I've had it for more than 4 years and expect a couple of more years of service from it. Best [censored] laptop I have ever had. I use it every day even though I have a couple of much faster laptops.

[pschemo]

Mine had some problems at the beggining also, and I thought that screws are thight. But when I took screw-puller and pulled it a little everything was fine..
Maybe it is some kind of magic )

Regards,
Przemek =]

[sachinjauhari]

Thanks guys,
You know I opened up the notebook and completely disassembled the thing and it turns out that the hinges themselves were loose. Well the display is still pretty much usable and it was just my neurosis ....
will wait for a few more months before I think of replacing them. Cheers