raymac46 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 (edited) I hate working on notebooks. But sometimes you have to. A couple of years ago my daughter got a new HP Envy Sleekbook - AMD Trinity A6 APU, 8 GB RAM - very nice. She's enjoyed it up until a couple weeks ago when she decided to leave it on the edge of the bed and managed to dropkick it onto the floor. She was going to junk it, but I convinced her to hook up the HDMI connector to her TV and see if it worked otherwise. It did and she copied her data off it to a thumbdrive. Then I decided to see if I could fix it. The display was totally trashed. Lots of broken lines, unreadable. I didn't bother checking out local stores and went right to the Internet for a new screen. There is a Canadian-American site called laptopscreen.com which had a good parts search engine. I put in the HP model number and the compatible replacement screen came right up. I ordered it last Friday and it arrived today. I wasn't looking forward to this repair but it wasn't too bad at all: Remove two little rubber covers at the bottom of the plastic bezel. Using a jewelers screwdriver, take out a couple of tiny screws. Snap the bezel carefully off the back of the notebook. Remove 4 more tiny screws and lift the old screen out. Remove a piece of tape and disconnect a tiny data connector. Reconnect the connector and tape it in place. Test the new screen. Yes, Windows boots up. Screw the new screen in place with the 4 tiny screws. Snap the bezel back in place. Secure bezel with the two bottom screws. Put the rubber covers back over the bezel screws. After a Malware Bytes scan and CCleaner run everything looks great. The secret is to get the proper parts and have a set of tiny screwdrivers. But give me a desktop any time. Edited July 23, 2014 by raymac46 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Great job! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I can almost take laptops apart without a manual these days. Complexity in repairs is the price we pay for portability. Adam 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
securitybreach Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Nicely done Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Complexity in repairs is the price we pay for portability. It seems to me that certain laptop designers do a better job of making replaceable parts accessible. HP is particularly good in this regard. Even a screen (not something you'd normally need to replace) was pretty simple to access. On the other hand I have a Dell Inspiron laptop here where you have to remove the keyboard before you can get at the hard drive. And I have an Acer netbook that you have to tear down completely just to add additional memory. Don't know what these folks were thinking. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest LilBambi Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 It is great when a company makes an effort to make things serviceable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abarbarian Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Excellent job, well done. Apart from step 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Don't know what these folks were thinking. I bet they were thinking that upgrades were just not that likely. I had an Averatec laptop that was just AWFUL. Sloppy construction and wires going everywhere. It was a super cheap laptop too. That probably has a lot to do with it. It is great when a company makes an effort to make things serviceable. Even the smallest effort. Adam 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zlim Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 (edited) Excellent! I have an ASUS netbook, where a door on the bottom allowed me to update the RAM. The two Acer netbooks, on the other hand, have one huge panel. I'm not sure what I'd see if I unscrewed that. (I haven't bothered checking YouTube; there are probably disassembly videos online). Edited July 24, 2014 by zlim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Rolson make a combination set of tools for game consol repairs . Every odd bit you might need . Really handy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 Do you have a link to the set? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt.Crow Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 I,ve just fell over the stool in the workshop .Pretty dark out there. Rolson :- There is 25 bits and holder tweesers and a very strange gaget which folds and has prongs . I got the set in >MAPLINS< an electronics store here . They have a web site and there is a shipload of stuff on there Fraid you'll have to gooooooooggle . Sorry no part no anywhere on case . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 Excellent job, well done. Apart from step 7 Well that's what came with the beast. I also set up an old Dell Mini12 netbook with Linux Mint 17 for my daughter to use while I was working on her HP. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raymac46 Posted July 23, 2014 Author Share Posted July 23, 2014 I bet they were thinking that upgrades were just not that likely. I had an Averatec laptop that was just AWFUL. Sloppy construction and wires going everywhere. It was a super cheap laptop too. That probably has a lot to do with it. Can't say for sure, but I would expect the commercial grade laptops would be a bit more convenient when it comes to upgrades and replacements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ross549 Posted July 23, 2014 Share Posted July 23, 2014 True, and the 299.99 walmart models would be significantly less so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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