Laptops: Butchered in vain

[xsixt]

How many of you (if not all...!) and how many laptops have you butchered unnecessarily or by accident?

Great day this week. Received parts to do a LCD conversion, to use up a panel I've had for years... mint X200T, I thought what the heck, I'll be careful - Disassemble the whole display assembly, snap tabs off bezel, to find out one of the parts they sent was wrong (and one part I needed and didn't order)... so I'll have to wait another 30 days for the part and either have screws laying around or put it back it together to pull it apart again. I thought lesson learned, check schematics and part numbers twice always... and don't pull it apart in a rush

However, another lesson someone thought I should learn was not to store laptops unwrapped in high places - as I pulled out the panel (in cardboard box) it caught on my spare X200t (mint) and after a 2 metre drop cracked the magnesium case and bent the lid.

Could have been worse - surely someone has some better stories of more collateral damage

[MikalE]

None.

I care for my Thinkpads like they are the expensive, unreplaceable laptops they used to be when I couldn't afford them when they were new. And I keep them that way.

[axur-delmeria]

How many of you (if not all...!) and how many laptops have you butchered unnecessarily or by accident?

I damaged part of the LCD cable (leading to the lid sensor) on my cousin's X60 while replacing a cracked LCD panel... in a food court inside a shopping mall.

I got a Lenovo S10-3 netbook to emit smoke when I incorrectly installed a cable (I was just trying to replace the LCD).

I'm still not sure if I blew the backlight fuse of an X60s I was playing around with or not.

I crushed the LCD cable of an Aspire One A110 with its own hinge.

and don't pull it apart in a rush

And that was the cause of incident #1.

The rest were caused by rushed reassembly.

[gfuller]

One day I was at one of my places of employment when someone walked up to me and told me he had a computer just like mine - pointing to the T42.

Apparently, he had taken an old T-series to the shooting range and shot it to pieces.

As far as stuff I've done, I have/had this Acer AspireOne netbook (some reason it's almost like it disappeared off the place of the planet since we moved.) The AspireOne was the first laptop I owned, and (though this may sound very strange) I had sentimental reasons for loving that laptop (it was given to me by a neighbor the day after our house burned down.) Anyways, I had to access the hard drive. Unlike our ThinkPads, you essentially have to disassemble the whole laptop to get to basic components like the hard drive and memory, and the first thing to come off is the keyboard. When trying to pry the keyboard off, I had accidentally broke a key off - even while being as gentle as possible.

I also experimented with Windows 10 on that laptop, just to see if it could do it. In short, it can't do it. It worked for a little while, and then started to not work as well. IIRC, the AspireOne wouldn't get too far after POSTing. It would POST, but something is preventing it from doing much after.

I guess if I can find it, I'll try to reinstall Windows 7 Starter on it. It's good for doing small things, but not much more.

[Thinkpad4by3]

I took apart a 570E with a bad LCD cable a long time ago with really bad tools when I had no clue on taking things apart right. I destroyed the living crap out that machine and stripped a half dozen screws. That machine went away a long time ago. Still have the LCD but I have no idea if it works. I think it worked once when I just whacked the screen lid and it came up purple once, and that was once.

[TPFanatic]

I put a T500 and later an R500 motherboard into my Z60m. When modifying the frame to fit the R500 motherboard in it broke into two pieces.

[Thinkpad4by3]

I thought the Z60 series didnt have a cage like the r-series?

[TPFanatic]

They have the lower magnesium rollcage, the first Thinkpads to have it. Next to follow T60 and R60 with lower magnesium. T61 is the first with lid magnesium.

You are on the right track with the R-series, the 15" R61 and R500 do not have magnesium in their lid. No R60 has magnesium in the lid. 14" R61 and R400 have the same lid as T61 and T400, so they do have lid magnesium.

[Thinkpad4by3]

I always had T-machines so I don't know too much about the R-series. I always thought the T42 lid was weaker than the T60. Thats nothimg compared to the 755C lid, it is basically a 1/2" Anti-Tank steel plate.

[Hans Gruber]

I have butchered several HDD covers on the X200/x201 models. There is a plastic hinge on the butt end that looks like a L. If you bend it down it will not fit. If you press it to hard the plastic L part will break. A $2 part but still frustrating. I have broken LCD frame clips but nothing major. I have destroyed keyboards trying to repair the scissor mechanism on broken keys. I have a test machine (T61) that I call the box. I use it for test repairs to avoid destroying other machines. I have a static strap that I keep for display purposes that I never use. All for show. I fully expect to short out a motherboard one of these days from static electricity.

[Thinkpad4by3]

I fully expect to short out a motherboard one of these days from static electricity.

I've swapped countless motherboard without frying a single one w/o a static band. Don't get your hopes to high about frying one soon !

[TPFanatic]

I always had T-machines so I don't know too much about the R-series. I always thought the T42 lid was weaker than the T60. Thats nothimg compared to the 755C lid, it is basically a 1/2" Anti-Tank steel plate.

Apparently most T4x lids are built out of Titanium, but some later ones are made of Magnesium like the T60.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Nevermind, I take that back. I must have tested a late T42. My T40 is a BRICK of a lid.

[axur-delmeria]

Unlike our ThinkPads, you essentially have to disassemble the whole laptop to get to basic components like the hard drive and memory, and the first thing to come off is the keyboard. When trying to pry the keyboard off, I had accidentally broke a key off - even while being as gentle as possible.

Yeah, that's the first-generation Aspire One all right. It was pretty frustrating to open up.

The only thing worse is my brother's Dell Inspiron 14 N4110. It's a 14-incher but the chassis is like an old netbook -- I had to remove the motherboard just to replace the HDD Ridiculous.

[Thinkpad4by3]

I had to fix some Pentium 350$ laptop once for someone and I had to tear out like 50 someodd screws to get to the fan assembly and the one was watching and sort of terrified because of how many parts there were. I replaced the fan to find out it was just clogged. Probably made in the same plant as the Aspire One.

[gfuller]

Unlike our ThinkPads, you essentially have to disassemble the whole laptop to get to basic components like the hard drive and memory, and the first thing to come off is the keyboard. When trying to pry the keyboard off, I had accidentally broke a key off - even while being as gentle as possible.

Yeah, that's the first-generation Aspire One all right. It was pretty frustrating to open up.

The only thing worse is my brother's Dell Inspiron 14 N4110. It's a 14-incher but the chassis is like an old netbook -- I had to remove the motherboard just to replace the HDD Ridiculous.

I don't even think it was the first generation one - it was from 2010. It was a purple model. Looked like this:
https://www.tusequipos.com/wp-content/u ... D260-1.jpg

I don't have any pictures of mine, and it's at home - hopefully. When we moved, it's almost like it disappeared off the face of the planet. I looked through every box, etc. and couldn't find it. I didn't pack it, so I wouldn't know where to look. It served more of a sentimental purpose than an actual useful purpose - it was slow all around, and after I tried to upgrade to Windows 10 things started to not work very well. Besides, Acer loaded it up with bloatware, like any other Acer product I've seen.

[Thinkpad4by3]

Those things are filled with so much hot-air from the factory and running that it probably floated away!

[gfuller]

Those things are filled with so much hot-air from the factory and running that it probably floated away!

It was filled with bloatware from the factory. But after loosing your house (including your computer and all your belongings) to a fire, it was a nice gift - hence the reason it has so much sentimental value. A neighbor bought it that night and gave it to me the next morning, and it was my only computer until my grandparents gifted me a desktop that worked much better (and I definitely still have - an Asus Essentio Series) on my birthday the next year.

I remember those netbooks (specifically the Acer ones) being such a craze... everyone wanted one it seemed, or at least the people I knew wanted one. Now we have iPads and tablets.

Before our house burned down, I didn't have a laptop. I got a laptop earlier but decided to return it due to the hassles of using it. (We were still on dial-up.) (I actually have a entry on my blog talking about the first laptop - it was a crimson red Dell Inspiron.)

Speaking of that Dell Inspiron, I have a funny story to tell. While these laptops weren't butchered, they were certainly abused and this story shows just how some stores will try to sell anything.

One of the stores my parents went into while searching for a cheap laptop to buy was one of those "rent-to-own" stores, which are fairly common around here. Every single laptop in there had some type of issue. My parents told me that every single laptop was scratched, had stickers, and others clearly had taken a fall at least once or twice. IIRC, they told me that a couple even had cracked cases and were missing keys on the keyboard. And yet the stores were trying to sell them for like-new prices.

It angers me when people abuse laptops and other computers. There are so many people who can't afford computers. Even an outdated or "obsolete" technologies (computers, software, etc.) can help some less fortunate people get on their feet and learn how to use a computer. Perhaps get a better job, and eventually become more tech-savvy, leading them to upgrade (on their own) to a newer computer.

I am currently helping a non-profit organization back in my hometown get a community computer lab up and running to let those less fortunate people use those tools. While we can't use them all (because they're either too old, or they're beyond economical repair and it'd be just cheaper to replace them), we try to salvage and recycle what we can't use - instead of using it for target practice. And of course, we'd (or I'd) never use any computer that is running good as target practice.

Meanwhile, there's the "one man's trash is another man's treasure." Many would probably take a ThinkPad TransNote or 700c to the shooting range thinking it's "worthless trash", while I'd love to have one of those machines. Of course, it's a different story if it is broken beyond repair and has no usable parts to salvage. That's when you recycle it.

[Thinkpad4by3]

One of my friends was going to trash an old PMMX machine. I took it and ran off with it. I really like that machine I got, it really plays many games quite nicely. Another time my neighbor was trashing an old Shortwave radio and I took it before he did. I looked it up and it was a Sony ICF-6800W Orange. That radio is worth around 600-1000$. He also has a X60t, I gotta see if it is SXGA+ or not but I think it is the regular XGA panel.

[gfuller]

Not laptop, but found this... so sad. RIP IBM PC-XT.

(Warning: involves the destruction of a vintage condition that was in perfect, new condition...)

https://youtu.be/QOG6DAVFrkc

[kfzhu1229]

I've had a 770ED that eventually killed itself. Power board failed and possibly fried the mobo as well. Otherwise aside from a few mini cracks made by myself from my T43 units as well as the coating on IBM ThinkPad wearing itself off, no damage had been done to the laptops I have.

[Whitieiii]

I've had many accounts of breaking laptops but my most recent one was where I broke a molded brass insert off that held the screw for the display to attatch to the palm rest on my Elitebook 8460p... The graphics card died while in use by previous owner and had to change out the motherboard after I bought it

[xsixt]

Has anyone ever pulled apart a Dell Precision M4600 / M6600? Gees these things make me angry, so many screws just to remove basic components, like the fan. I received one cheap and they didn't plug in the GPU fan, had to basically strip the whole laptop just to plug it in. There are so many stupid cables running from the palmrest to the mobo, and they are so fragile. The keyboard connector, you can break it with a feather touch....

[Summilux]

Lenovo butchered my Thinkpads

[kfzhu1229]

Has anyone ever pulled apart a Dell Precision M4600 / M6600?

I guess the name of it implies what to beware of during disassembly.

[TonyJZX]

ANyone who's worked for any business, from SME to Fortune 500 and govt. and schools in particular has seen many many machines destroyed before their time.

A good example would be when I worked for a school and I would test use many laptops before been given out to teachers.

I did a lot of remote work so I would VNC or RDP whatever and I would use a mouse 101 kbd ext. LCD anyway.

Teachers would then get these laptops after I used them for a while, of course they left my hands in perfect condition.

Sometimes then the laptops might be shared units and get passed around from classroom to classrom and hooked up to projectors tvs etc.

Many after less than a years use would be smashed garbage.

So after a year I would get a pile of veery very abused units and I would see which could be used for another year, which may go back for manuacturer repair or which can be cannibalised, ie. get two smashed units and create one working unit.

So many times I gave up as I was sick of trying to fix these things.

Student units are a million times worse than teachers units.

Working in schools sucks hard.

[wujstefan]

Has anyone ever pulled apart a Dell Precision M4600 / M6600?

Many times. Electronics randomly crimped inside the box. Imagine dropping everything into a small carton box, dropping it off the second floor and voila! you have the hardware layout of M6600.

Through the years I have damaged many units:
1. Replacing LCD with battery plugged (R61i); blown backlight controller.
2. Opening T60p lid resulted in broken LCD tape.
3. Corn puffs munched by my by-then-2-years-old son was crammed into air vent of T60p. 10 seconds, 100+C, burnt. The corn puff smell delivered some sort of nice taste, though.
4. Had a really bad day. A close-to-nothing in value R50e bluescreened me again, and I had a hammer. A big, 20kilos hammer. Lots of pleasure, really.
5. My two oldest sons had a bad day at school. Took 3x T60p's I've bought for ~2USD each, feel free guys to do what you want. This was like an execution order.

And the best one - non-thinkpad!
HP 8740w; 17" beast with powerful ATI 7820m MXM graphics. Swapped nVidia for this one, but forgot to plug in the fan. 2sec OK run, 2sec of artifacts on the screen, 0,2s to burn the GPU. Ah, memories

[Arc]

Most of my dead computers were not my fault. I swear!

I let someone borrow my T61 because they needed a computer, and I guess it was the little extra bump it needed to finally kill the GPU. They weren't very gentle with it, and it went kaput within three months. I bought a new palm rest and keyboard but those were also completely ruined, cracked and chipped and missing keys somehow. The screen also had a crack. Disappointing.

And, my Clevo W110er, which is just a terribly built computer. Eventually the screws for the hinges, which were just screwed into the plastic base, began to snap at the head. For a few years I, one by one, took other screws from the chassis and moved them to the hinges. I even eventually used super glue to try to save it. The plastic on the hinges snapped and that's when it was a lost cause. Eventually the LCD cable wore down until failure. So I took off the panel and used the base as a little media PC for a while. But now it's kind of a useless slab.

Then an HP Mini 110 with a busted screen that I opened up but tore apart the chassis because I was stupid, and then bumped a few resistors off the board so now it is trash. They are also not very well built, but I feel bad because it was pretty comfy.

At my job I also found some thicc Pentium II Acer with a Thai keyboard, the hinge was completely smashed. Turned it on and it had an invoice for a Sony laptop. Most likely an intern from years and years ago dropped his laptop, and bought a new one right there. Was pretty interesting, and also a reminder to do some cleaning in the office.

Take care of your computers, people!