broken hinge on hp laptop

becky4131

I dropped my hp pavilion g6 laptop and one of the hinges connecting the screen has snapped off. The wires underneath have split so although theblaptop will power up thefe is just a blurred image on the screen.

I took it to the local repair shop today and waiting on them ringing me with a repair quote. The guy seemed to think it would be in excess of the£150 so probably not worth repair but he wanted a second opinion from a colleague .
The laptop is only about 18 months old and so im reluctant to write it off completely but is it worth spending hundreds to repair?

onzey

Not worth spending literally hundreds on it.

Would you consider a DIY repair or know someone who could follow some instructions to do it?

If so, you need to establish the full extent of the damage although the shop will probably inform you of this.

If your interested in DIY I'd suggest getting the laptop back and hooking it up to an external monitor. Posting some pictures here might help assess the damage. As a matter of interest, was the laptop on when you dropped it? Also, is the screen itself cracked at all?

If it functions normally and displays ok on the external screen then you can be fairly confident that at worst a complete screen assembly is required, with associated wiring. If the laptop screen is fine then just wiring and plastic casing and hinges might be all that's needed. The parts might be obtained from eBay perhaps. There are screen replacement instructions on the Internet and you can get further help here.

Is it one of these models?

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/search-keywords/315_3226_30328_16_xx/pavillion+g6/xx-criteria.html

becky4131

Yes I would try a diy repair although im not very tech savvy at all!

The screen itself isnt scratched or cracked and I think it would work connected to a monitor (I dont have one to try it on). The shop seemed to think it would need new wiring, hinges and possibly both front and back casing. He said this would be expensive, still waiting for actual quote of costs though.

When I dropped it it was leaning on the sofa and when I got up it fell to the floor. Not a huge height but enough to snap the hinge and wires I guess.

It is one of the laptops on the link.

Graystreet

Are you covered for accidental damage to it under your home contents insurance?

becky4131

Unfortunately not, had a little look on ebay and the hinge covers alone cost around £60. might be cheaper buy a used laptop and sell mine for spares but there is a lot of things saved on the hardrive I would like access to.

onzey

Hinge covers at £60 is just crazy. Possibly get a dead laptop minus hard drive for that or less.

Should be able to retrieve things from your hard drive.

So it was off when dropped then?

becky4131

No it was on when dropped.

There is the same model on ebay fully working for around £100. Might be worth buying that and swapping the hardrive maybe.

becky4131

Quick updste, laptop shop think will cost more than worth to repair.
They are backing up all info off hardrive onto memory stick for me to collect later. They said if I leave laptop they will dispose of it for me and wipe hardrive, part of me wants to sell as spare/repair but I don't know how to wipe hardrive with no screen working.
Its cost more£60 so far for backing up data so just trying to recoup some of costs back.
Is it worth trying to sell or should I just let the shop dispose of it for me?

onzey

If they haven't backed up yet phone them and tell them you've changed your mind! You can get help here and save £60 to put towards another laptop if necessary.

Suggest you just get it back.

closed

they will dispose of hard drive! It doesn't need to be disposed, if it works, they will reuse or sell it.

It doesn't need to be wiped if you keep it, and I would never trust anyone else to wipe it properly

Ask for it back, it works, and has your data on it, , therefore copying data to a flash drive is pointless waste of time/money/effort - a usb caddy to retrieve your data costs about £3 and takes about 3 minutes to fit yourself, then you can reuse the drive as a backup device

macman

They'll make more out of the parts than they would have done for repairing it. You can wipe your own drive via a USB caddy as above for just a few pounds (and copy your own data).