W500 broken LCD frame, no FRU available

[bobones]

I've had my W500 for nearly 4 years (purchased Nov 2008). Twice in this time the LCD frame has fractured near the left hinge because the hinge is so tight that opening and closing the lid fatigues the magnesium frame. In Feb 2010, when this first happened, I ordered and replaced the LCD frame from IBM Parts UK. Now that the same thing has happened again, IBM parts are telling me that they can no longer service a replacement for 43Y9736. Is there anything I can do? Seems a shame to bin a £1500 laptop that's not even a year out of warranty. How long do Lenovo pledge to supply parts for old machines? Has this problem of tight hinges/broken frames been prevalent in T500 or W500 models at all?

I've now ordered an i7 T430s with 180GB SSD as a replacement, which should arrive tomorrow so I'm staying with Thinkpads. My old T43 purchased in 2005, which was replaced by the W500, is still going strong as a home machine and I would love to fix this W500 so it can continue to have a useful life.

[QWERTY Andreas]

Can you post a Picture?

I think i have the same issue on mine, however its not really a problem. Its working just fine for me.

[bobones]

Here's a a picture. The magnesium LCD frame is completely snapped around the hinge and the screw that attaches the front bezel has been pulled right through the plastic. You can see a part of the LCD frame still attached to the hinge. The rest of the laptop is fine, just opening and closing the lid is dodgy as you can imagine.

My main issue is that Lenovo are not supplying parts for Thinkpads that are not even a year out of warranty. The LCD cover parts (i.e lid and bezel) are not available either. I'm guessing this affects the T500 too.

[QWERTY Andreas]

Oh.. Thats not quite like mine. Mine is just "cracking" a Little bit when i open and close the lid, however i will take a look at it in the weekend.

But i really hope you can fix it!

However you can buy them on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0 ... cel&_rdc=1

[bobones]

That cracking noise might just be the plastic parts of the bezel not fitting together exactly.

But thanks for the Ebay tip. Seems this is exactly what I'm looking for!

[bobones]

Well, the good news is that I ordered the LCD frame from eBay and it was delivered from China to UK in less than a week. I've now replaced the broken frame and my W500 is as good as new and running Windows 8 Pro RTM like a champ. So good that I'm hardly using my week old T430s which is still running Windows 7.