STONE NT310-H laptop - broken hinge repair

Bit of an odd one this. Tonight I have been fixing a broken screen hinge on a laptop. Two things were odd.

First was that this was a "Stone" brand laptop. I've never of them before but the laptop seems like a nice one. The laptop is nice and thin and comes with a chiclet type keyboard. The specs on this model weren't massive but once I'd finished the repair, the laptop started up quickly, ran quietly, and seemed to function fine.

Second, it didn't appear that the hinge had actually broken. Rather, a bunch of screws from the casing had dropped out at some point. The resultant slack had resulted in the complete hinge popping out:

And here is the popped-out hinge. It looks as though the only thing stopping the whole thing popping apart is some wiring that passes from the main board into the screen surround:

So, now it was time to take it apart. I couldn't find anything on the net about this so I just unscrewed the (few) screws that were left  in the lower casing. I also removed the two access panels and removed the memory and HDD. I also had to remove the wireless card to access the flexi connector for the keyboard. There were two other flexi connectors which also needed disconnecting. All three passed through slots in the main board. I made a mental note of their configuration:

The next picture is of the "broken" hinge. The hinge is still attached to a plate that ought to be screwed to the inside of the lower case. This plate had become detached from the case. The brass "sockets" for the screws had pulled clear of their plastic housings in the case:

So with the aid of a pair of pliers I removed the brass sockets and super-glued them back into the case:

During dis-assembly I also noted that one of the mouse pads mounted on the underneath of the top panel had become detached. This seemed to be a failure of a plastic weld. I super-glued it back in place. No idea how long that part of the repair will last...

I left things to harden and then began the re-assembly. This was a bit tricky because I was about six screws short. Moreover, it was evident that several of the screws were into plastic rather metal thread. The screws wouldn't really tighten. I therefore dabbed a bit of super glue on each one. As far as the top corners go, I found that the screws holding my Dell Mini 10 together were a perfect match. I borrowed a couple which I put through the case and into the hinges. End result: a fixed laptop :)

More soon, no doubt...

D

Samsung RV511 - Windows 10 Upgrade fun

So, I'm asked to "sort" this very nice looking Samsung RV511 laptop. I'm not entirely sure of the specs but the keyboard and screen are very nice. The laptop is running Windows 7 Home Premium. I offered to clean up the OS and take it through the free Windows 10 upgrade process. Having started the laptop up, it was clear it was heavily infected with malware and probably had a virus too. It's performance was woeful, and the three browsers (Chrome, IE and Firefox), had various hijacks. In my experience, that's fairly typical for a teenage girl's laptop and the root cause seems to be "free" emoticon packs. No doubt I could have spent some time cleaning the thing up but I decided a re-install of Windows 7 was the first order of the day. The install (Win 7 with SP1) was uneventful and within 30 minutes I had a laptop with (re)activated Windows 7 which was really flying.

Now for Windows 10. Since its release in August, I have been asked to install the Windows 10 upgrade on numerous machines (old and new). I therefore have all the various incarnations of the Windows 10 installation media on numerous USB keys. For this laptop, I slotted in the appropriate key and began the upgrade from within Windows 7. That part of the process completed successfully and the machine rebooted. It was here that things went awry. The process simply stopped on the Windows start screen. I left the machine running like that for an hour but with no apparent progress, I couldn't resist rebooting and trying again. Same problem. So I did a quick google for RV511 and Windows 10 upgrade and it appears I'm just one of many who have hit the same snag. Moreover, the issue is actually with the Broadcom WIFI card in this laptop which seems to prevent the upgrade. The specific card is the BCM94313HMGB and appears to be a dual WIFI/Bluetooth card. The solution, then, is to take the machine apart and swap the WIFI card for something else. As it happened, I'd recently been given a faulty Dell Mini 10 which needed a new motherboard. The second-hand replacement from Ebay came with a WIFI card still attached. This was also a Broadcom card BCM94312HMG. So, I followed this excellent tutorial on youtube and took the laptop apart. I swapped the WIFI card over, partially re-assembled and switched the machine on. This time the upgrade completed without any issues. Windows 10 even installed the driver for the new card. Happy days.

Some pictures:

The picture above compares the two cards (top - original equipment, bottom - from the Dell mobo)

More soon, no doubt...

D

Android tablet - broken power /charge socket (Part One)

Amongst everything else last week, I did a favor for a friend and installed the free Windows 10 upgrade on his Acer One netbook. It ought to have been more straightforward than it was but his copy of Windows 7 was corrupt. I ended up reinstalling Windows 7, activating it, and then doing the Win10 upgrade. All good. By way of payment, I suppose, I was presented with this Android tablet. It's just had a new screen fitted but the battery is flat and won't charge. It's mine if I can fix it. The problem is clear - the tiny pin inside the power/charge socket has broken off. It looks like a straightforward repair if I can find a suitable replacement surface mounted socket. The question is "should I bother?" Other than it being a tablet running Android, I know nothing about it (spec, version, etc). I'll probably sort it anyway. I don't need a tablet but I was thinking about adding the Plex app and then fixing it to the wall in the kitchen and hooking up to my pioneer A400 amp which lives in the kitchen. One can never have too many gadgets...

More soon, no doubt....


D

Rover 25 - Inlet Manifold Gasket Failure: Part Two - replacement gasket fitted

Even less to say here. And due to the inclement weather, no pictures. This afternoon I fitted a new gasket (from Rimmer Bros). Before fitting, I cleaned up the manifold and the head round the ports. I think the engine has had some K-Seal or something in it because the tiny wobble valve on the manifold was choked up with a copper-coloured slime. Anyway, I cleaned it all up and got the car started. No leaks and the car seems to be running a lot better. Presumably this is because there's no water penetrating into cylinders 1 and 4 during the combustion cycle. Time will tell whether this gasket was the problem, or one of several problems...

More soon, no doubt...


D

Technika LCD32-270 - flickering screen (Part Two) Fixed

I fixed this TV that had the flickering screen. The five capacitors which feed the 24v back-light were failing with the result that the screen was rapidly flickering. The new capacitors came from CPC and removing the old ones and fitting the new ones was very straightforward. I'm not doing a blow by blow account but there are some photos below showing the new caps in situ and the TV now working (its the one on the floor with the blue screen :))

More soon, no doubt...

D.

Technika LCD32-270 - flickering screen (Part One)

Got a new project from my friend with the Rover; a Tesco "Technika" TV suffering from a flickering screen. I said I'd take a look. On opening it up, I can see three of the five capacitors on the 24v channel are all bulging. The three that have failed are 35v 470uf. The other two are 35v 220uf. All five are "F-Con" brand. I'm not sure how old the TV is but I don't think its an ancient one. Anyway, I'll swap all five for something decent from CPC and hopefully that will resolve it.

The tear-down (once I'd taken the stand off so I could lie the TV flat on the floor) was straightforward - just 17 phillips head screws. Note the five screws near the middle/bottom are machine screws whereas the rest are self-tappers. Then just remove the heatsink cover from the right bank on the PSU and hey presto - blown capacitors in all their glory.

I'll order the bits from CPC and do a fresh post for the repair.

More soon, no doubt...

D

Rover 25 - Inlet Manifold Gasket Failure: Part One

A friend's Rover 25 had developed a coolant leak. There was nothing visibly leaking but the level in the expansion tank would drop from time to time and the car would cut-out if running, or would be difficult or impossible to start. The temptation with these cars is to assume head gasket failure (HGF). However, aside from the coolant loss, there were none of the other symptoms usually associated with HGF. A quick browse of the internet got me to this site here.

So, today I removed the inlet manifold. This wasn't particularly difficult. The main problem was getting access to the four lower 13mm nuts. Even so, my small 1/4 inch ratchet set with a couple of short extension bars managed the job nicely. The photos below show, I believe, clear signs of water ingress into the ports for cylinders 1 and 4. The gasket itself was squashed and perished. We've ordered a new one and weather permitting, I'll be fitting it next weekend.

More soon, no doubt...

D

Hairbows....

This is just a quick advert for my partner's site. She makes the most delightful hairbows. Her online shop is full of them:

She's also got a "market night" coming up on Facebook. Click here to get the details and join in! 



More soon, no doubt... D.