How to disassemble Toshiba laptop

[Haole Boy]

Customer sent me an email stating that the hinges on his Toshiba Satellite S875-S7140 broke. I can find replacement hinges in several places on the internet, but what I cannot find is a guide on how to disassemble the laptop. I've looked in the usual places like the Toshiba website - absolutely nothing related to repair / replacement of any physical parts of the laptop - iFixIt.com, YouTube, and found nothing for this version of laptop.

Anyone have any suggestions on where I might find a repair / replace guide?

Mahalo,

Harry Z

 

[Larry Sabo]

Not your exact model but does this help at all?

 

[HCHTech]

I'll bet the hinges are just fine. The plastic mooring for the hinges, on the other hand has probably broken / disintegrated. Don't buy anything until you see it. You are probably in for a new bottom plate, if it can be found.

 

[Big Jim]

I'll bet the hinges are just fine. The plastic mooring for the hinges, on the other hand has probably broken / disintegrated. Don't buy anything until you see it. You are probably in for a new bottom plate, if it can be found.

And if its an obsolete laptop and you are struggling to find parts, I've had good results with the baking soda/super glue combo recently.

 

[britechguy]

I personally hate super glue for this particular application and favor plastic bonder epoxy instead if you have all the pieces present. It does have the disadvantage of your needing to be careful not to use so much that you get significant ooze into the threaded channel, but it's much stronger and more durable under typical service conditions.

In some "worst case" scenarios, where saving the equipment was the client's paramount concern, I've used epoxy putty to rebuild the lost bits either around a screw I've coated with a very thin coating of petroleum jelly or drilled and tapped it. When things get to that stage it's only because a client will not let go of a given laptop, as the expense of doing that sort of reconstruction work on old equipment is never cost effective.

 

[River Valley Computer]

I personally hate super glue for this particular application and favor plastic bonder epoxy instead if you have all the pieces present. It does have the disadvantage of your needing to be careful not to use so much that you get significant ooze into the threaded channel, but it's much stronger and more durable under typical service conditions.

In some "worst case" scenarios, where saving the equipment was the client's paramount concern, I've used epoxy putty to rebuild the lost bits either around a screw I've coated with a very thin coating of petroleum jelly or drilled and tapped it. When things get to that stage it's only because a client will not let go of a given laptop, as the expense of doing that sort of reconstruction work on old equipment is never cost effective.

Agreed. We have repaired numerous broken laptop bases and LCD backs using the epoxy method. We found that if we rough up the area around where we put the epoxy it has a better success of bonding. We keep broken brass bosses in our misc. hardware tray in case we need them.

Also we have several times, with the owners approval, drilled holes in the base and put bolts and nuts in when this is a computer that they can't be without and the base can't be found or ridiculously expensive. We file the head of the bolt down so it doesn't scratch a persons leg or desk.

 

[Fred Claus]

Nothing stating what model this is, but hope it gives you some help.

 

[Larry Sabo]

@Fred Claus,

Toshiba Satellite S875-S7140

 

[Big Jim]

I personally hate super glue for this particular application and favor plastic bonder epoxy instead if you have all the pieces present. It does have the disadvantage of your needing to be careful not to use so much that you get significant ooze into the threaded channel, but it's much stronger and more durable under typical service conditions.

In some "worst case" scenarios, where saving the equipment was the client's paramount concern, I've used epoxy putty to rebuild the lost bits either around a screw I've coated with a very thin coating of petroleum jelly or drilled and tapped it. When things get to that stage it's only because a client will not let go of a given laptop, as the expense of doing that sort of reconstruction work on old equipment is never cost effective.

Super glue on its own is useless for this application.

I am talking about baking soda and super glue, the reaction between the 2 creates a very hard material (don't know if you can call it plastic) that you can build up if needed and then shave down if you have used to much.
it appears to be extremely strong, I have had very little success with various different epoxies over the years, so much that I pretty much gave up with them.

Not sure if you guys over the pond get different (read better) compounds than us though ?

 

[Larry Sabo]

I now use just hot glue to reattached hinges that have broken their mounts. It beats everything I have tried, including epoxy, and the equivalent to cyanoacrylate+baking soda (Q-Bond). A junked but functional old soldering iron lets me shape a mound to hold the knurled brass nut where it should be, then pour in a stream of glue to surround and meld with it to form a large bonding surface. The grip is incredible!

I found that Q-Bond and epoxies tend to shatter under stress whereas the glue is more ductile.

 

[Diggs]

For those using super glue (CA) and baking soda just a note that there are medium, thick and gel formulations available removing most of the need for the baking soda that lowers the strength. Combined with a CA kicker you can just about extrude or weld to any size and shape. I've used CA in different formulations for over 30 years as I'm an RC modeler. That said, I've found CA to be too brittle for reliably bonding hinge mounts. I tend to use epoxy in those areas.

 

[britechguy]

I also want to emphasize that I will most often use epoxy putty if a "complete rebuild" of a given support is required. The stuff hardens to rock-like hardness and can be sanded, drilled, and tapped. If one is using the small brass bosses these can simply be pressed into the putty while it's still putty.

I have yet to see this break.

I also have yet to see plastic bonder epoxy, which actually chemically "melts" the plastic surfaces to be bonded very briefly on their surfaces such that they and the epoxy "become one." Regular epoxy will often end up either cracking off of even roughened surfaces and definitely likes to peel off of any shiny plastic surface over time.

 

[Haole Boy]

Not your exact model but does this help at all?

Well, that's where I'm totally in the dark.on Toshiba model numbers. i.e.:Is an S875 mostly identical to an S855? And I think I found a YouTube video for an L875 or something like that. Anyone here able to decipher Toshiba model numbers so that I can have some level of confidence if I find something close?

Mahalo for all the replies. I'm off to the mainland for the holidays. Will get the laptop from the customer when I return so I can fully assess what needs to be fixed.

Harry Z

 

[Larry Sabo]

Is an S875 mostly identical to an S855?

I honestly don't know. However, it's close enough to be helpful, I suspect. That's what I often find.

 

[britechguy]

I honestly don't know. However, it's close enough to be helpful, I suspect. That's what I often find.

Same here. For any given time period there is an awful lot of physical similarity in the laptops put out by a given maker. Unless you are a complete neophyte (and even sometimes if you are) figuring out the differences is generally not anywhere near to impossible. The big trick is looking for "hidden fasteners" before trying to really pry pieces apart.

Even the documentation in the service manual for a specific model is often wrong. I just encountered this for an HP laptop, where one of the screws that held the base on was not documented, was not under a foot, but was hidden under another tiny "foot-like" screw cover.

Patience is a virtue.