Inspiron 6400 screen

It no doubt is a hinge problem, but be sure you got the right parts - the hinge itself is part of the back cover assembly:

http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=3665

You'll probably also need:

http://www.parts-people.com/index.php?action=item&id=6021

I was going to post a new thread about this, when I saw this one. I don't mean to hijack your thread, but it seems like there are many out there with this issue(on the 6400)

. I have the same problem and my 6400(well it's my sons oldest gamer now) is under warranty. I mentioned it to My Tean Team, when I called them for a  hardware replacement issue on a Studio 1737, and mentioned the 6400 split, to her.

 I was told its cosmetic..lol they are hinges broken INSIDE, causing the outside of the LCD to split apart at the back. Far from cosmetic.

I wouldn't be as mad, if I hadn't paid like $387.00 a year ago, for a 4 year extension on the Warranty.  I plan on giving this lappy to an eleven year old neighbors daughter who's dad lost his job, and had to sell the new one he had just bought her, when he couldn't make the payments(and wouldn't let me out of pride) Giving her a gift is different if its used.

I'd like it to be in as good shape as possible, and I know the parts are only $18. But why did I buy an extended warranty anyway, if it won't cover defective hardware? Also, I would transfer the warranty to her, and want her to be able to get any other problems fixed, without (needing to )bring me into it

Besides I want the girl to have it look almost new, and to that, I have sanded & repainted the Touchpads' left & right  buttons as the paint flaked away a good bit(something I never saw on a Dell lappy yet) They are solid performers, apart from this hinge assembly issue!

I plan on calling back, & asking to talk with a supervisor tomorrow.

I might start a new thread, with a Video, showing this phenomenon I call the 6400 split. at start a poll to see how many other owners of a 6400/E1505 have had this happen

(Yeah I have two, and the same has happened to both) What are the odds?

I've seen other threads posted here, and over at nXXebookrXXviewX.com

It seems like whenever there are a lot of the same thing going wrong, with one Model # unit ; they..well that's another post.

Our two have these specs

 T7400 2.26Ghz @MB L2 cache C2D,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               2GB  (1GB X 2 ) kingston DDR2 667Mhz low latency                                                                                                                                                                                                                   2568MB  X1400  Hypermemory,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      250GB SATA II

(MEM & HDD are upgrades through Dell)

Dagra

  PS, I'll let you know what I hear from support

Could it not just be the screw in the corner has loosened over time and the cable has stuck out between the plastics. making it shooved out and hence stick when opening / moving.

Refer to here: http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6400/en/sm/display.htm#wp1022270

This gives you step by step instructions. Also there is just rubber caps over the screws on the screen easy to access. if it is how I say it might be, you don't need to remove the hinges and should be able to fix it by just removing the hinge cover.

However replacing the hinges etc is easy as you can see in the manual (if you have the parts).

Could it not just be the screw in the corner has loosened over time and the cable has stuck out between the plastics. making it shooved out and hence stick when opening / moving. Refer to here: http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6400/en/sm/display.htm#wp1022270 This gives you step by step instructions. Also there is just rubber caps over the screws on the screen easy to access. if it is how I say it might be, you don't need to remove the hinges and should be able to fix it by just removing the hinge cover.   However replacing the hinges etc is easy as you can see in the manual (if you have the parts).

Hi  Natakuc4,

Thanks for the advice, but all the screws, are tight. I even unscrewed them, and took off the Hinge cover assembly. Those hinges, are tweaked, and it looks like heat is the culprit, although I have always, kept the cooling unit working, at it's best, buy installing a dust cover, over the intake fan area (Something Dell should be doing with all notebooks all along) and I still spray it out with compressed air once a month. I did remove the cooling unit, and put Artic Silver 5, in place of the cheap white Thermal paste, about a year ago,(Too late unfortunately, as the damage had been done)

Dagra

apears to have been in a loop & posted twice

Could it not just be the screw in the corner has loosened over time and the cable has stuck out between the plastics. making it shooved out and hence stick when opening / moving. Refer to here: http://support.euro.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6400/en/sm/display.htm#wp1022270 This gives you step by step instructions. Also there is just rubber caps over the screws on the screen easy to access. if it is how I say it might be, you don't need to remove the hinges and should be able to fix it by just removing the hinge cover.   However replacing the hinges etc is easy as you can see in the manual (if you have the parts).

Hi  Natakuc4,

Thanks for the advice, but all the screws, are tight. I even unscrewed them, and took off the Hinge cover assembly. Those hinges, are tweaked, and it looks like heat is the culprit, although I have always, kept the cooling unit working, at it's best, buy installing a dust cover, over the intake fan area (Something Dell should be doing with all notebooks all along) and I still spray it out with compressed air once a month. I did remove the cooling unit, and put Artic Silver 5, in place of the cheap white Thermal paste, about a year ago,(Too late unfortunately, as the damage had been done)

Dagra

Hmmm hows that going, personally I would just buy the hinges from best buy or ebay and be done with it, I hate contacting Dell for Warrenty.

I took my Inspiron 6400 apart today. The hinges are in pretty good shape. However, there are screws or some kind of fastener from the rear of the back panel that holds the LCD to the hinge. Those are broken. The screws on the hinges can be tightened all day long, but they won't fix the problem at all. I don't know how to fix the real issue.

I'm having the same issues.  I've video taped the hinge and what is happening.  Mine is no longer under warranty, but I am completely technical minded and can replace it myself.  I just need to know what I need to order.  

OK so i took my laptop apart as best i could in this area to try and find a solution. Unfortunately my hopes of just tightening a screw were quickly dashed, as the issue that causes this is not screw related ( more like a lack of screws). IMO the problem lies with the attachment of the screen frame to the hinge itself. Vastidious's video definitely shows the problem area, the piece into which the three screws shown attaches to is of poor design. Its only mechanism to resist movement between the frame and the hinge itself (aside from that 1 side screw which as seen in the video is the rotation point and the source of the problem) comes in the form of 3 small pins that correspond to 3 small holes in the screen frame. So unfortunately buying new parts will only work until those holes wear and you'll end up back where ya started(minus whatever you paid for parts).

So my solution (which i'm gunna try this weekend) is to bond the small piece ( the one that has 2 threaded holes on the front for the hinge, 1 on the side for the screen and 3 pins in the back) to the screen frame using JB weld. I'm fairly optimistic for this kludge as the area i intend to bond has a good contact area and the pins should at the least keep everything alligned. I'm sure there'd be a variety of adhesives that would work and i guess if someone was feeling ambitious they could attempt to drill/tap some tiny little hole through the screen frame or something along those lines.

Anyways i'll give it a try, maybe even take some pics in hoping this will help someone. Will post with results.

I ended up being able to fix mine.  A client of mine from work, had a exact model that the screen died and the hard drive.  They wanted to recycle it and purchase a new one.  So I took the parts and 'recycled' them.  I took off the lid, removed the failed screen and then swapped them out.  It worked perfectly and we're working again.  

So my solution (which i'm gunna try this weekend) is to bond the small piece ( the one that has 2 threaded holes on the front for the hinge, 1 on the side for the screen and 3 pins in the back) to the screen frame using JB weld. I'm fairly optimistic for this kludge as the area i intend to bond has a good contact area and the pins should at the least keep everything alligned. I'm sure there'd be a variety of adhesives that would work and i guess if someone was feeling ambitious they could attempt to drill/tap some tiny little hole through the screen frame or something along those lines.

Did this excact repair 2 days ago.  Used JB Weld on that back fastner, which it held.  After 2 days, the case are starting to split again.  I could not get them to fit tight around the hinge also, which drove me nuts.  I had ordered a set of hinges form the Part People.com, thought I was getting new hinges, but they were used, and the left hinge had a bunch of play in the hinge....and frankly they looked worse than my current hinges, so I was goign to send them back, but at this point, I really feel this has to be a hinge that is binding up and causing the stress on this back fastner, to pull away from the case cover.  (my problem is on the right side hinge).  So what I am going to do, is pull it apart again, replace the right side hinge, and see what happens.  I will post when I am done, which may be later tonight.  May just say the heck with it, and get a new laptop LOL, although my current one is in great shape, besides this issue.

Well have pulled it back apart again, and the fastener has dislodged away from the backing plate again, breaking the JB weld.  It has to be the hinge, causing so much pressure, that it breaks the fastner away, even from the JB weld.  I cleaned it up, and am going to JB weld it again.  I have the new (new to me...used hinge) installed, and will put it back together to see if it works.  If it does the same thing with this hinge, I am at a lost on how to fix it, besides buying a new metal backing plate with the fastners included.

You need a new metal plate.  No adhesive is going to hold up under the force of opening and closing the system.

it's a single piece of metal - once it fractures, game over.