X61 Tablet Hinge, part supercession?

[darisd]

Hi all. The hinge on my trusty tablet decided to lose all friction last night, so I am looking for the replacement part. I have been ordering parts through IBM up till now (fan/hs assembly and the latch assembly are all that have broken yet), and have been pleased with their speed. So I placed an order for the hinge, which their website's exploded parts view shows to be FRU 42W2545.

Then they send me back an email saying 42W2545 has been replaced (superceded) by 42W3477, and is no longer $60 but now is $35, and that I should call this random 800 number to verify the replacement.

But since I have no warranty, they won't talk to me on the phone about it. And they are not answering my email replies.

Does anyone else know about this updated hinge? Will I run into issues?

[darisd]

So I just got off the phone with both their Argentine and Atlanta centers... let me tell you getting information out of them off warranty is like pulling teeth.

So apparently they are out of FRU 42W2545 and are shipping FRU 42W3477. The TS agent claimed they were the same part, I am dubious, but I have their assurance it will work. Good, because they will pay the restocking fee if not.

I should get the part next week, and will let you know what the differences are.

[richk]

I believe the only difference is the part number. They are the same

[darisd]

I believe the only difference is the part number. They are the same

Thanks Rich. I managed to get the part (finally grr) and compared it to the broken hinge. There were several markings on the hinge, etched into the stainless steel pins that sit there under the screen. The part numbers were different, but the revision numbers were different as well. Mine was "E01" and the new one was "E02". There was also a difference in the shoulders of the bridge connecting the two SS screen pins: E02 has a beefed up shoulder.

As luck would have it, that is precisely where mine sheared off... on both sides

I am trying to get a picture of it... more to come. But yes, they are different. If anyone is looking to replace their hinge, definitely get the 42W3477 part.

[MichaelMeier]

The same problem (completely loose hinge) occurred with my X60T a few weeks ago.

My tablet was still under warranty, but I had to send it in and ended up paying around 270 Euros for the replacement with the new part. They claimed such repairs are not covered by the warranty.

If I ever buy another Thinkpad, I will definitely not purchase a warranty extension again. Complete waste of money. Replacing the part myself (manageable with the maintenance manual) would have been way cheaper and (with the tablet gone for 3 weeks) much faster too.

[soydeedo]

I just wanted to say thanks for the info, darisd. The same thing has happened to both my own and my girlfriend's x60 tablets, so I went ahead and ordered a pair of FRU 42W3477's. IBM parts (1-877-719-0841) told me that FRU 42W2545 was indeed discontinued. You can still find it on eBay for pretty cheap, but I figured I'd opt for the beefier shoulder, per your experience.

My only reservation was that the photo of the item according to this link looks pretty much identical to the one I pulled out of my tablet. You can kind of make out the FRU number in the picture too, so I guess I'll just have to wait and see what happens.



I'll post an update if I can ever put my laptop back together properly. =)