Home
In the following guide I will explain how you can replace broken display hinges on Dell Latitude C640 and Latitude C540 series laptops. Replacing and removing hinges is not a difficult task if you are careful and pay attention to details. I’m not sure if you can use the same hinges for both Latitude C640 and C540 but the following removal and replacement instructions should be the same for both models.
1. Find new replacement hinges.
2. Follow the laptop disassembly instructions below.
Proceed on your own risk and do not blame me if you destroy the laptop.
Before you start, remove the laptop battery.
Remove five screws securing the keyboard. These screws are marked with a letter K stamped on the base.
Remove five screws securing the display hinges. Three screws on the left side and two screws on the right side.
Carefully lift up and remove the keyboard bezel with a flathead screwdriver or another sharp object.
Lift up and remove both hinge covers.
Lift up the keyboard from the base. Be careful, the keyboard is attached to the motherboard with a flat ribbon cable. Disconnect the keyboard cable and remove the keyboard.
The keyboard cable had been disconnected from the motherboard.
Remove four screws securing the video cable.
Carefully disconnect the video cable from the motherboard by the yellow belt on the connector.
Remove six rubber screw seals with a sharp object. Remove six screws located under these seals.
Insert your fingers between the display bezel and the LCD screen and carefully separate the bezel from the display. Keep separating the bezel from the display with your fingers until you can remove it. Remove the bezel.
Remove two screws securing the LCD screen to the display hinges. You’ll find two screws on each side of the screen.
Remove the LCD screen from the display cover. Be careful the screen is attached to the video cable.
Unplug the video cable from the LCD screen (Green Arrow).
Unplug the video cable from the inverter board (Red Arrow).
Remove the screen.
After the LCD screen had been removed you can remove two screws securing both display hinges.
Remove both hinges from the display cover. Now you can replace both hinges, or just a broken one.
March 7th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
Jerry Shed,
Can you test your laptop with an external monitor? Find out if the distortion appears on the external monitor or not.
If the external video works fine, it’s possible that you accidentally damaged the video cable while replacing hinges.
March 7th, 2009 at 9:50 am
Great article on hinge replacement. The replacement went very well, however the screen display is now distorted and nearly unreadable. I went back to be sure the video cables were secure but still have a distorted image on the LCD. Any ideas?
February 28th, 2009 at 11:34 am
dennis walstrom,
I guess you want to replace the power jack.
In order to access the jack you’ll have to remove the motherboard. Follow instructions posted in the service manual for Dell Latitude C640/C540, here’s the link.
The power jack is soldered to the motherboard. The following instructions will explain how to remove the broken jack and solder a new one.
How to remove and replace laptop power jack.
February 27th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I need to replace the electrical conector on the back of my daughter’s Dell Latitude. I removed all the screws on the bottom(base), but it won’t come off. I can’t otherwise get at the connector. Any ideas would be appreciated!
February 20th, 2009 at 6:20 am
fantastic tutorial….thanks
please advise – my hinges are loose, not broken….any way to tighten them?
February 9th, 2009 at 3:37 pm
Thanks for the great step-by-step guide. Made the hinge renewal very easy!!
February 3rd, 2009 at 11:05 pm
Rhonda,
You’ll find instructions for taking apart a Latitude D600 here. Very similar to my disassembly guide.
I don’t know.
I guess it depends.
February 3rd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Need to replace the hinges on a Dell Latitude D600, which I have ordered from Dell. Do you have instructions? Is this an easy job for a female or would I do better taking it to a repair shop?
Thanks in advance
Rhonda
January 24th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Thank you very much, my laptop has been this way for SOOO long and its just so irritating, I might actually have to replace both because it was broke for so long.
January 21st, 2009 at 7:13 pm
Hey, just wanted to say thanks for putting this together. My 600m was working swimmingly except for the fact that the screen had started flopping around like a fish. I bought hinges for $15 on eBay, printed out this page and sat down at the coffee table. The whole thing took 20-30 minutes and I didn’t have to go through the pain and expense of buying (and transferring my stuff to) a new laptop. Thanks again for doing this!