Couple easy questions about an R40

[cmpcpro]

Hi everyone, I just brought home a used R40 that I purchased an hour ago. Everything is great except when opening the screen it is harder then normal to open it seems, and once open its got a little less than an inch of play. Also when in the closed position the screen does not sit tight to the base, it too has a tiny bit of play.. is this normal? And is there anyway to adjust any of this?

Thanks!!

Chris

[schen]

Sounds like you have hinges that might have one or more of several issues.
* Bent- in which case you need to replace
* Loose at the attachment point- You'll need to open up the case and see. (download the Hardware Maintenance Manual from Lenovo).
* Cracked plastics at or near the attachment point- see above

There's typically not a lot you can do to fix hinges themselves. You're better off just buying new old stock items or good used ones. You can check ebay, but I'd try the Forum's Marketplace first by putting in a Want to buy posting.

Congrats on the new "baby". I like the Rs quite a bit and have worked with a couple of the R40s. They are the last of the Acer contracted Rs before IBM partnered up with Lenovo for the R5x Series. They are good useable machines (especially the P-M version) that tend to be undervalued. I would be careful with the A/C adapter plug-in though. The Acer contracted machines tend to be weak in that area going all the way be to the i Series machines. So make certain you don't put a lot of lateral stress on it.

[cmpcpro]

thanks for the reply. the hinges are tight, we tried to tighten them, and they dont look bent, but the metal piece that sticks out of the laptop just moves a little when you open it.. and the one part, where its hard to open, is there no adjustment for that?

[Terrahawk]

We have two R40s here, both with fairly tight hinges. I would not think that to be a problem unless it is really causing issues with opening and closing the laptop.

Also, on my own R40, the screen sits just slightly up from the base when latched down. Both of our R40s are like that and I am pretty sure they are supposed to be like that. I would not think that to be an issue.

The R40 is a great machine - if it is well set up, you can embarrass people with more powerful but less well-set-up machines by the speed at which you can get a four year old laptop to boot up Windows and be ready for you use

[cmpcpro]

Okay guys, the part with the play is inside the actual lcd part. Everything on the base is tight, I took it all apart this morning and retightened all the screws, but I don't know how to do that to the ones on the LCD, as the manual shows how to take the bezel off but it shows the screws under these caps, but not how to take the caps off, any ideas?

Thanks again

Chris

[schen]

I've do it a couple of different ways. Using a sharp-pointed (such as an X-Acto) is the best to get under the edge of the little disks and lift it up. You can use a jewelers screwdriver in a pinch, but they have a tendency to mangle or warp the little disks. I've bought a sheet of them off of ebay so I have extras for when I need them, but you can save them by putting the ones you take off on a sheet of wax paper.

Of course great care should be excercised when working with a sharp knife!

There are typically 4 screws total on the 2 sides, but there are sometimes more caps, so don't be shocked if you get one off and there's nothing underneath. The empty ones are for differing LCD manufacturers that have their mounting holes in different places.

[cmpcpro]

Thank you so much for the advice!! Do you think I should purchase new hinges on eBay before opening it up or is there a chance that mine are just loose? Also, do you know how to remedy the problem when I close the laptop? (The two latches don't secure the screen down tight, there is a little play).

Thank you guys so much! You're priceless.

Chris

[Terrahawk]

I don't think you should buy new hinges - it sounds like they could do with a bit of tightening. My X20 was like that.

[schen]

I don't think you should buy new hinges - it sounds like they could do with a bit of tightening. My X20 was like that.

I totally agree with this. I've played with a lot of ThinkPads and even the ones with the worse play generally were not the fault of the hinges, but needed tightening some other place or a bad corner ding from a drop. Instead of spending the money, I'd definitely open it up and see if there's something that could be done first.

I look at it the same way I look at working on a car. Try the cheapest fix first.

[cmpcpro]

Thanks guys, you're both right, I will deff. open it up before I spend the money on hinges... when I'm opening the laptop those hinges give alot of resistance (Not even close to opening without holding the bottom...) it seems if they wouldn't have made it that way they wouldn't go so loose all the time...