Repair a Broken Toshiba Laptop Hinge

Recently I acquired a laptop from my daughter that needed some repair to the hinges. The laptop would no longer close properly because the hinge had broken loose from the laptop lid. The brass inserts pulled out and broke the plastic housings molded inside the lid. It would cost $200 to repair the laptop.It is a couple of years old, so it was not worth paying that much to fix it.

Cordless Drill

Drill Index

Hacksaw

3 mm coupling nuts

3 mm short screws

Small Screwdrivers

Vicegrips or vice

This diagram illustrates what has happened. It shows how the mount broke and how it should look. It gave me the inspiration on how to fix it.

On this laptop I had to remove 4 screws in the corners of the laptop. They had a small sticker on them that had to be popped off in order to access the screw. After removing the screw, unsnap the garnish.

Remove the screws from the good hinge. On the bad hinge, I had to hold the brass inserts with a pair of pliers and removed the screws.

I drilled 2 small 3mm holes through the laptop lid located in the center of the Plastic housings that held the threaded inserts. I needed these holes to insert screws through the lid that will eventually secure the hinge. I used a larger drill bit (Around 1/4 inch) and twisted it with my fingers to gently remove the remnants of the broken Plastic Housing. Do not drill into the laptop lid. You may have to use a small screwdriver to chip away any remaining bits of plastic.

I had a 3 mm coupling nut which I cut with a hacksaw to make threaded spacers to replace the Molded Plastic housing. I cut these the same length as the original housings (About 6 mm long) A 3mm screw attaches the coupling nut to the Laptop Lid. This screw goes a little less than halfway in the coupling nut. You need to leave some threads available for the hinge to secure to. There will be two screw heads showing on the laptop lid. The sketch shows the side view of how the coupling nuts are secured.

Reattach the hinges. The screws and coupling nut I used were 3mm. This was slightly larger than the original screws so I had to drill the holes in the hinges a little bit larger. The sketch shows the final assembly of the repair. After the hinges are attached, replace the garnish and the repair is complete.

The repair is complete and the laptop opens and closes like new. The only thing is there are now two screw heads showing on the laptop lid. I can put a piece of Black electrical tape over the screws if they annoy me too much! Good luck with your repair and I hope it works out for you!