Bought a new X40 in terrible state. Help needed! *PICS*

[Tasurinchi]

Hi All

My new X40 which I've bought several days ago finally arrived. It's a 2371-8NG. The seller said that it was a used machine with "only" a defective drive, but reality shows it has more glichtes than that.

- The case is really filthy (The previous owner is a car mechanic), there is lot of dirt and grease in the hinges and everywhere else
- Many screws are missing. Does not bother me so much, but the one in the lower right corner of the LCD Bezel (see photos below)
- The battery is dead

The above is bad but not that terrible. My main worries go to the LCD screen. Pics follow below. Do you know what is the cause of the problem? Is it something that can be fixed? Or can I kiss the LCD screen goodbye and order a new one?





The complete bottom half of the screen looks screwed:



The missing screw. Can this cause any sort of extra problem?



The keyboard was also terribly dirty, many of the original screws were missing. I disassembled it to clean it and found out that the connector marked in red below (sorry for the bad editing job) was not connected. Can someone tell me for what is it?





Finally, the dirt/grease of this X40 is amazing. I posted a topic asking how to do a proper case cleaning, but now I need to know how to clean the inside without damaging the electronics. Any hints from the experts here? The next picture is a nice a little example of my problem:



Sorry guys for the question flood and thanks a lot in advance!!

Cheers

Tasurinchi

[Harryc]

The cable is a cover switch cable(suspend cable). The LCD needs replacement, you won't be fixing that. It's difficult to say what the damage is from...pressure? Liquid?

[Tasurinchi]

Thanks Harry for the quick reply... I will have to start looking for new LCD screens, but I assume they're not cheap...

[RealBlackStuff]

Wow, that X40 looks like the inside of a French car!

[sjthinkpader]

That LCD lower right side screw is important. It contributes to the structural integrity. Without it, closing, opening the cover may crack the LCD.

[Tasurinchi]

That LCD lower right side screw is important

Jesus... I don't know how long the owner had taken out that screw. A new set of screws for the X40/X41 is on its way from Ebay, but it may take a while to arrive...

There are also several screws missing under the laptop. RAM/Wifi card cover with missing screws, keyboard with missing screws and the back of the laptpop (close to the battery) is missing some screws as well. The bezel it's also broken in two places at least.

Wow, that X40 looks like the inside of a French car!

Actually, its much worse than it looks. Luckily for you I can't put the smell of the poor X40 in pictures...



Marry Christmas to everybody!

[lexicon]

Looks like some liquid found it's way entering the LCD layers from the bottom edge of LCD frame.
Same thing happened to mine when my wife trying to clean the LCD in vertical position and spraying too much cleaning fluid.
That marks will eventually faded, but still may visible on some angles.

[Tasurinchi]

Looks like some liquid found it's way entering the LCD layers from the bottom edge of LCD frame.

Well, the marks in mine can be seen in any possible angle

I tried cleaning the LCD but the result was the same. Now I will have to start chasing some LCD replacements. But what I could see in Ebay was not cheap at all...

[ThinkRob]

I tried cleaning the LCD but the result was the same. Now I will have to start chasing some LCD replacements. But what I could see in Ebay was not cheap at all...

Yep. :/ Looks like you're looking at about 100 USD to replace the panel.

It's actually probably cheaper to find a dead X40 and salvage the panel from that...

[Tasurinchi]

It's actually probably cheaper to find a dead X40 and salvage the panel from that...

I agree. I was thinking on trying to restore this X40, but it won't be cheap. I will need the LCD replacement and also a new case, the current one is broken in many places and I don't know if trying to dissasemble it will break it even more.

It's a shame because appart from the spots in the LCD and the broken HD, everything seems to run ok. I did a boot with a USB Stick running Ubuntu 9.10 and could connect to internet and browse without problems. It's just the outside which is a complete crap. It's depressing to see a X40 in such a terrible state