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In this guide I explain how to fix damaged hinge in a Dell Inspiron E1705 (aka Inspiron 9400) laptop.
Today one of my customers brought me a Dell Inspiron E1705 laptop with the display completely separated from the base on the left side.
At first I though the hinge was broken, the display cover damaged and the laptop needed an expensive repair but lately I found the damage wasn’t that bad.
Here’s how I fixed the damaged hinge.
Before you start, make sure the laptop is turned off and the battery removed.
First of all, I removed the screen bezel.
You’ll find step-by-step bezel removal instructions in this display disassembly guide for Dell Inspiron E1705/9400 laptops.
After the bezel was removed, I was able to take a closer look at the damage and… i didn’t find any!
The hinge wasn’t broken and the display cover was in a good shape too.
Apparently, the hinge screws got loose and fell off and because of that the hinge separated from the display cover.
I was able to rotate the hinge into normal position with a small screwdriver.
I decided to remove the power button cover to take a closer look at hidden part of the hinge and make sure the video cable is not damaged.
I explained how to remove the power button cover in another Dell Insprion E1705 disassembly guide.
In my case the hinge wasn’t broken but it was a little bit loose.
I tightened two screws to secure the hinge.
By the way, if in your laptop the hinge is broken, simply remove these two screws and replace the hinge with a new one.
You can find brand new hinges for Dell Inspiron E1705/9400 laptop here.
After that I connected the display panel back to the hinge and secured it with one screw (M2.5×5 mm screw).
I examined the video cable very closely and didn’t find any damage.
Make sure the video cable is routed correctly, as it shown on the picture below.
At the next step I attached the screen bezel back to the display and secured it with eight screws.
Finally, I covered all display screws with rubber cups and installed the power button cover.
The repair is done!
October 4th, 2010 at 10:37 pm
[...] UPDATE: in the next guide I explain how to fix damaged display hinge. [...]
October 4th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
[...] UPDATE: in my next guides I explain how to replace LCD screen and fix damaged display hinge. [...]
April 14th, 2011 at 9:59 am
thanks for the writeup!! i used it along with others on the E1705 to perform a few repairs.
October 18th, 2011 at 11:24 am
Thanks so much for this! Saved a ton of headaches!!
December 15th, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Just wanted to say a thanks here! Recently the left side screen hinge on my e1705 broke, almost wanted to just say heck with it and get a new computer as its 4 years or so old anyways. But thanks to this i realized its a fairly easy fix and way cheaper to stick with what i got.
February 15th, 2012 at 7:41 pm
hi i am trying to fix my daughters dell inspiron and bought new hinges. it might not be hinges. the right hinge keeps popping cover up and will not work properly any suggestions.? help mother trying to save daughters computer. and thank you for all your articles, they are great.
February 16th, 2012 at 2:30 pm
elizabeth,
It’s possible your original hinge is not damaged but loose.
Here’s what you can try:
1. Remove the keyboard cover as it shown on the 6th picture.
2. Check screws securing the hinge. Screws shown on the 7th picture.
I think your screws are missing and you can fix the hinge if you install them back.
March 28th, 2012 at 9:10 am
Hi,
I encountered the same problem with my DELL E1705 and purchased some replacement hinges. However I’m having a problem attaching them as both the hinges are in a “locked” position and I can’t seem to “unlock” them. This is what lead to my problem with the hinges in the first place. The left hinge became “locked”, under the bezel, causing the bezel to start to crack as I moved the screen back and forth and the right bezel just cracked.
Also when the original left hinge locked up, a screw ended up breaking off in the left Display cover hole (the same one indicated in picture 4).
Any ideas on how I can fix these problems?
Thanks.
July 24th, 2012 at 11:45 am
Thanks you saved me buying a new laptop as was ready to ditch this one! But realised how easy this was to fix and is now as good as new!!
August 18th, 2012 at 8:26 am
Worked like a charm, thank you so much, I thought the hinge was broken and it was just a simple screw. You saved me a ton of money having to not send it out for repair. I have a Inspiron E1705. Thanks!!