Thinkpads Forum

Hi,
I have a beloved 8 years-old Lenovo T500 which I cherish dearly
(and also cannot afford at the moment to replace with a new laptop).

Through wear-and-tear over the years the Screen's bottom left hinge has started to give way - the actual metal screw hole, inside the plastic screen frame cover has broken off and as a result the entire screen is touchy-loose and the plastic frame across that side is widely opened and braking off.

I'm looking for a way to improvise a permanent fix from the outside -
Where the laptop screen can be moved to change it's angle of view (and also closed of course).
I want to achieve this without opening the plastic frame cover, as I've already done that a few times and since the entire thing is delicate I already caused further damage on the opposite side where the plastic is weak.

I tried using the strongest duck-tape I could find in order to try and hold that corner together (a black 'demolition tape'). It didn't hold through.
I've also tried to super-glue the duck tape to that corner with a tight snug. It also got loose due to the faulty mechanism's exerted pressure

Below are links to a couple of photos are in order to try and illustrate the problem
(I apologize for the poor quality due to my old Nokia C2 3-Megapixels mobile phone camera):

(https://goo.gl/photos/E69JJdC57fjVWSLF6)
(https://goo.gl/photos/xypQb2WTi3s8AQoY8)

So - any ideas on how to improvise a DIY common-household-items, permanent fix ?

Help would be greatly appreciated!

Thx in advance...

The only way to properly fix it is to replace the magnesium frame (43Y9736) inside the lid.
You can reuse the old hinge and the old lid, even with those cracks.
To do this, you'll need to open the whole lid though.
No two ways around that.

I see,

with your permission, may I ask you for a recommendation of a good supplier who deals with such parts?

The reason I'm asking this is that a couple of month ago I've ordered a replacement keyboard from e-bay. I chose a cheap dealer whom I thought, is trustworthy - It arrived with a defective screw-hole which effectively hindered the possibility to try and just put the keyboard in place.
Had to argue a little with him for some time before finally getting back my full refund.
I then went and ordered another keyboard from a well advertised website with guarantee, but I had to pay the extra buck...

Thanks in advance!

Sorry to hear about the issue. Unfortunately, they are not uncommon on T500/W500 models. If you buy on eBay, make sure the seller has at least a 98% seller rating.

See if you can talk this seller to ship to Israel: http://www.ebay.com/itm/111879946666
It would solve all your (lid-)problems in one go.

Thanks for the recommendation!
Unfortunately he doesn't ship internationally to where I live.
I have left him a message to see if he can make an exception, but I doubt it.

Something like that would definitely take care of all my earthly being problems

additional dealer recommendations are welcomed...

If you have friends/family in USA, ask them to buy it for you and ship it to Israel.

Haha! How unfortunate it is that I have an older brother who lives in Boulder Colorado, with whom I had a very serious argument just a month ago...
and no - now is not the time to approach him just because I need something from him...lol...

hey -
will just trying to replace the hinge itself, with something like this:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-For-IBM-Len ... SwstxVLiD8

solve my problem? or is this too great of a chance in causing irreversible damage?
(in the sense that if I try to take the whole thing apart, then just remove the broken hinge with the above, I might risk not being able to put it back together, for such, I will not be replacing the entire magnesium structure frame and it might be damaged in the process thereof, other unforeseeable problems notwithstanding... including the seller being able to tell if the seller is trustworthy enough...

hmmm... suggestions?

Your hinge is not broken, it's your magnesium frame that's in bits.

on top of that I know that the actual screw-hole embedded in the hinge has broken off and that's why I thought of just replacing the hinge...

A T500 is a sub $100 laptop in working condition at best. If you're adamant about fixing it, you can buy physically complete but non posting laptops for not much. Then transplant the good working internals into the complete frame. Its much much easier to buy complete non working laptops than to buy just parts as private consumers want to get rid of old non working computers but dealers want to charge a premium for parts.

The T400/500 series is like upwards of 5yrs old and many many lease generations past. They should not be commanding good prices at all.

Thanks TonyJZX.
I'm now also looking into that possibility.

Or just "upgrade" to a W500 in good condition.
They're pretty cheap now.

Please be aware that by getting another used T500 or W500, the mg frame may be also broken or if it's in one peace it may sooner or later break again, this is a weakness in this series...

Alternatively, you may want to check for used R500's as well. They're a little bit bulkier but the screen assembly has no mg frame.

No cheap upgrades here - it's like a vintage car for me.
I sometimes even refer to it as a she...lol...

anyway, I'm now trying to negotiate with someone from ebay in canda for a complete frame with a damaged LCD screen, which I'll just have to replace with mine.
Just have to get this international delivery to where I live sorted out...

Please be aware that by getting another used T500 or W500, the mg frame may be also broken or if it's in one peace it may sooner or later break again, this is a weakness in this series...

There are actually multiple issues with these machines; the frame in the base of the machine ("roll cage") has a thin and
poorly designed area near the left hinge; and, of course, the frame in the lid.

All of this shows the great lengths that some of us will go to in order to avoid 16:9 screens...
Are you listening, Lenovo?

I'm surprised the 15" units have such weaknesses. To be fair I have never owned a 500 as I dont like 15" and in that phase of my life I moved over to the 1,920 x 1,200 Elitebooks.... but my weakness is the T400-420 and they dont have any significant failings.

The best feature of the T500 is the 16:10 screen ratio. I have several T500 thinkpads. They are not the easiest to open up and work on. Lots of metal plates and screws with mini cages that are not really necessary. The switchable graphics on the fly is a nice feature. I still have a 2.8Ghz processor that i have no put in one of my T500 machines with either a 2.4 or 2.5ghz CPU.

I would suggest getting a replacement T500 as suggested before and transfer your ram and HDD over.