Screwed up a laptop!

Junebug

Junebug

JAFO
I was getting up from the couch and had my wife's Dell laptop in one hand when it slipped. It fell while open and hit the floor (carpet), it works but has these lines- like scratches on one side of the screen. I'm kinda sick about this since it wasn't mine and I can't afford to replace right now. Am I hosed or is there a fix that doesn't cost about what a new one does?
 
I just swapped out a motherboard for a buddy's Dell.

They're quite prolific so you should be able to find disassembly instructions on the web like I did. Google the model.

You'll want to remove the screen, take it apart and see if anything is out of the ordinary in the connectors or holding clamps. The sudden impact could have shifted the actual screen a few millimeters thus causing the lines.

If worse comes to worse, go to Ebay and look for a replacement screen.

It could be fixed for a reasonable price if you do it yourself. If any shop is involved, the repair price would be close to a new laptop so try your best to do it yourself.

My buddy's laptop was quoted as 'over 500 to repair'. We did it for $140.



Another repair possibility would be to buy another identical model and just swap the hard drives. The wife would have all of her data on the old HD.

Another possible solution for the data would be to put the old HD into one of those 2.5 inch external usb drive caddies. You'd have your data preserved and could transfer it to your new laptop via usb if you decided on a new laptop. A usb drive caddy is less than 10 bucks. (ebay - drive enclosures)

If you were close, I'd say bring it over and I'll take a look for you but North Carolina is a tad far away.

If you need more help, PM me.

-John C.
 
Thanks John, the "scratches" are like jagged lines on one side - maybe 10-15% of the total screen area. They aren't deal breaking bad to see around, kinda thin like a spider web and the more I think about it, it's like you take a photograph - crumple up part of it, then straighten it out, you have those bend lines in it. The srceen feels smooth to the touch so I assume it's the inside stuff that got f...'d up.
 
Sounds like you cracked your LCD(the actual screen behind the composite/glass/plastic sitting between it and your face), see if you can order a new one, they aren’t difficult to replace at all. You shouldn’t need to replace the motherboard, just find a new screen on ebay for your specific model. A little googling should help. If you want shoot me a PM with the model, and screen size and I could take a look around for you.
 
Agreed with dmw, sounds like the LCD screen is cracked. You're very lucky actually, usually they'll bleed quite a bit and you get big blobs of dark liquid that don't get lit or have any display on them. I'd ensure you backup all the important data that's on the hard drive, in case at some point something does happen and you can't see part of the screen anymore.
 
You can buy the screen online and replace it. Its not that hard. Did it on my wife's laptop. Be advised that if you go this route the aftermarket screens do not have the propriety brackets that Dell uses on some of their LCD screens. You can only see the bracket when you take the screen out!

Doesn't matter, you can still fit the aftermarket screen without the bracket with no issues :)

Just letting you know because when I got the screen it didn't look like the Dell screen and I freaked out lol, but it was just missing the bracket on the top.
 
Try to remember the details of the fall. I bet those 'scratchy lines' are on the side of the laptop that hit the ground first, right?

Imagine the momentum of the fall and sudden stop driving the screen into the holding brackets a little more firmly on one side than the other. The torque of the sudden stop warps the screen a bit, causing the effect you see.

The fix might be as simple as releasing the torque, moving the screen back into it's normal position, maybe only a millimeter or so.

Give us the exact model of Dell, we'll hunt up disassembly instructions for you and you can take it apart and have a look/fix.

It'd be a natural! Guys love to take things apart anyway.

-John C.
 
It's a Dell Inspiron 14, about a year old. But FWIW, the wife is actually laughing about it. I guess it's the "no matter what she breaks" I can't say a word cause she was really nice about this. But, in the 22 years I've know her, I can 't remember her breaking anything much of value. It's not that bad and I'm using it now, she's doing what she loves best - shopping for something better.
 
Sounds like there's going to be a good resolution with the wife looking for a better replacement.

Just in case you want to give the repair a try, here's the service manual for your model:

Documentation



I'm thinking the M4010 is the fancy designation of the model 14.

-John C.
 
Thanks for the help, but I figured it out. I tried to run chkdsk, but the drive required formatation. I downloaded Recover my Files, a data recovery program. It searched the whole drive to find all my documents and copied them to my Desktop, then I reformatted it. Thanks for your help thought.
 
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