I wonder if this is how that Carrie started.

September 24, 2007 4:49 PM

My laptop keeps closing. Not my programs. Not windows. LITERALLY, the screen part of my dell inspiron E1405 keeps coming down. And it always happens when I'm not there. So is this a defect or do I have poltergeists?

Okay this has been happening for a few weeks and it's a relatively new laptop. I will go away and, on occasion, the screen will come down until it's 3/4 closed. For a while I thought it was my cubicle mates. But then I came in on a weekend and I was the only one here. And it happened again.

So the computer is an Inspiron E1405. Does anyone know of a track record of this sort of thing happening? Or why?

I hope someone has answers. Otherwise am I simply developing telekinesis and this is the first step in my path to superhero-dom.

posted by rileyray3000 to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Well, I've a good deal of respect for needless grandiosity and don't want to discourage it here, but it just sounds like a plain old defective hinge to me.

I had an old Compaq laptop that eventually developed that problem. The screen would no longer stay where you put it but would slowly respond to gravity. Of course it had been around for quite a while. If yours is still under warranty, I'd get it replaced.
posted by Naberius at 5:01 PM on September 24, 2007

Is the screen being opened past 90 degrees?? (Straight up and down) When notebook hinges get weak they typically will succumb to gravity and the screen will kind of "droop" down by itself and not stay exactly where it was positioned. If you are opening it well past 90 degrees (so that it is pointing away from the keyboard) and it is still closing itself - that's pretty rare without human/supernatural intervention.
posted by ninepin at 5:17 PM on September 24, 2007

If it is a matter of the hinges getting loose, you can retighten them pretty easily.

Open the screen all the way flat. Along the top of the keyboard is a plastic strip almost as wide as the whole laptop (the power button is somewhere in the middle of this strip). Now take a small flathead screwdriver, insert it under the right side, and gently pry up. The strip should pop off without too much force.

Take a small screwdriver (bigger than a jeweler's screwdriver, smaller than a regular one) and tighten the 3 or 4 screws you'll see at the base of the screen hinges. They'll be vertical screws that point straight down into the laptop. See if this fixes the problem. If not, there's two more screws to tighten. They're located under the rubber cushions at the bottom corners of your screen (as you look at it). Pull off the rubber pieces and tighten them also.

If you tighten all those screws and the screen is still loose, if it's under warranty, call Dell. It'll be covered.
posted by mysterious1der at 5:45 PM on September 24, 2007

It's PAST 90 degrees. Usually significantly so. For whatever that's worth.
posted by rileyray3000 at 6:03 PM on September 24, 2007

mysterious1der has it almost right, but there's a couple of screws in your way.

Here is the Dell Service Manual for the E1405 Laptop. In it, you'll find precise instructions (including pictures) on how to get into its innards. You'll want the "Hinge Cover" step. Once the hinges are exposed, you should see how to tighten them. If not, look at the "Display Assembly and Display Latch" step, and tighten everything involved.
posted by CrayDrygu at 6:08 PM on September 24, 2007

Aww shucks CrayDrygu, good catch! I knew I was taking a 99/100 chance that he didn't have one of those models where Dell just had to break it's own trend and use screws, but apparently I was wrong (and too lazy to go log into the DCSE site).
posted by mysterious1der at 7:36 PM on September 24, 2007

It's PAST 90 degrees. Usually significantly so. For whatever that's worth.

Wait. So it's closing against gravity? It's rising to a 90 degree position, before falling closed? Or is there a spring mechanism in the hinge that pushes it into the closed position, even against gravity?
posted by The Deej at 9:07 PM on September 24, 2007

If it is still under warantee, send it back. It won't get better on its own and you shouldn't have to open it it to fix it if it is new. Part of the benefit of buying machines from reputable dealers is you get to raise a stink when it fails.
posted by chairface at 11:01 PM on September 24, 2007

FWIW, my E1505 just recently developed the same problem. It's only about a year old, but I think I've loosened it by adjusting the super-shiny(TM) screen incredibly often so that the crazy thing doesn't blind me.

It's probably a hinge problem, and it's very nice to know that there's some kind of fix (see CrayDrygu's post), at least for your computer at least.

Oh, and on final thought: I definitely back the suggestion on the warranty. I sent back my Inspiron 5100 after a nasty scene, and Dell gave me this nice, new, upgraded (incredibly upgraded) e1505 for my troubles. But it took some hassle, and some back and forth--if you have on-site service covered, you might try that first.

Good luck! Oh, and keep us updated, too....
posted by librarylis at 3:33 AM on September 25, 2007