Hinge Cracks

Several 68XX owners at another notebook forum similar to this one have complained of hinge cracks. Some have even posted pictures. After a month I noticed a small stress fracture on the outer hinge on my machine. To my delight eMachines has already graciously and expeditiously repaired it under their warranty.

However, this forum has been silent with respect to this issue. Have any other owners encountered this situation?

 

Yes i have an M6809 with a Crack in the hinge on the left side. It seems to be an Issue that alot of people are having Here is the thread people have been posting in

http://notebookforums.com/showthread.php?t=25140&page=2&pp=15

 

i am posting there too and i have the same crack, i am going to start the same poll here so we can firgure out the ratio

 

I am curious as to when the notebooks were purchased. This might be a batch issue (an issue that is indicative of a certain batch rather than the whole line).

I have owned mine for about two months, and have yet to discover any issue, including this one, with my system.

 

Zero issues on my 6809 after one month. Knock on wood.

 

I was having a few problems with my old M6805. This is from another one of my post:

1. I had a defective CPU fan. The noise from it got steadily worse (it started to sound like an electric eggbeater).
2. The USB ports on the side intermittently failed to detect USB devices.
3. I also discovered a bunch of dead pixels and a “smudge” on my display.
4. The leftmost hinge was cracked ( [ !] unusual for a unit that’s babied).
I’ve been reading post where owners have had similar problems. So far the replacement is working fine.

I purchased my first M6805 in February (with the BB Extended Warranty). BB was happy to replace it on the spot (on 20th of June or so). The whole ordeal took 15 minutes. I'm happy to report no cracks anywhere on the new unit (so far). [ ]

 

That is about when I got mine, and I have had no problems. I have sent an email to eMachines about this concern, but tech support is not one of eMachines strong points. Let's see what they say.

 

I too have cracks on both sides at the bottom of my less than two month old M6809's display. Now the screen has front to back play in it. Unfortunately I was given the brush off by their "customer care" saying it was normal wear and tear....preposturous, I treat this thing with kid gloves. I call it a manufacturing or design defect, either way it's unacceptable.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by bballbill

 

It was purchased in early May. I haven't even received my $100 rebate yet

 

the M6809 i have now is a 2 month old replacement and as i described in my earlier post the right side Hinge has also started to develope cracks, as of early yesterday. i went to bestbuy and they dont have anymore M6809's in stock and they cant get anymore in so im stuck untill the new models come out. i'll keep you updated as to how it turns out.

 

Note to "Controller", you say that e-machines has "graciously and expediciously repaired your cracked hinges, could you please e-mail me the details of how you got them to repair it. Seems a little unfair that they would do it for one person but not others with the same problem. I would appreciate it greatly.

 

This is in response to bballbill's post.

Quite honestly, when I called eMachines regarding the cracked hinge, I wasn't even aware that this was an issue with so many other M680X laptops. It wasn't until I read the many posts at another web site that I realized that this was not an isolated occurance.

At any rate. When I called tech support, I mentioned that I only had the laptop for about a month and I treat it with a lot of TLC (which is the honest truth); therefore, there is no way that this crack could possibly be caused by any type of mishandling or negligence on my part.

The tech guy was very supportive and mentioned that it could be a defect in the hinge itself. I don't recall his exact words, but he said that replacing the LCD shell is not a big deal and the turnaround time is pretty fast. He then issued me an RMA #. I received the box from eMachines to return the laptop, and a few days after that I received my laptop back with a new LCD shell. I am glad they didn't replace the LCD itself because the original was already pixel-perfect.

Overall, the experience with eMachines exceeded my expectations. I was very polite the entire time, and eMachines tech support was corteous and understanding in return. I called a couple of times to get a status report.

I agree with the person who said it here or at another forum, your luck really does depend on the individual you speak to at tech support.

Even though the hinge was replaced, it is possible that it could crack again. Until a permanent fix is resolved, my temporary solution is to simply keep the laptop open. I use it as a desktop replacement anyways, so it no big deal for now. When I am not using it, I cover it with a plastic bag. I know doing this defeats the purpose of having a laptop over a desktop, but in the short term what can you do!