eMachines Hinge Cracked?

Sent mine in got back in three days door to door not bad emachines..Best Buy was absolutely worthless in this endeavor.
ddown[8D]

 

I bought the eMachines m6810, and less than one month of owning it, it developed a crack in BOTH hinges!!! I did not purchase the extended warranty from Best Buy. I feared the worst. I called eMachines, and I am suprised at their helpfulness. They are going to send me a box to ship it in, free of charge, and I will pack up my notebook, and send it to them via. FedEx free of charge, and she asked if it was ok that it would take two weeks. I said "yes", then she processed my request for the repair, and gave me a new estimate of 10 days, maybe even sooner! They will then ship it back to me at no charge. Even though I am frustrated by a problem such as this with less than a month of ownership, I am very happy that eMachines is taking care of the problem swiftly. I suppose they could have charged me shipping, and take 2 months to get it back to me, but they seem to be a better company than that, and I am very thankful they stand behind their products.
-Pete

 

Is it too late to purchase the extended warranty from emachines [?]

 

I see at Best Buy they stopped stocking the Emachines notebooks but they sell a Gateway that is exactly the same, shoddy case and all!!

 

My sister has an eMachines M6811 and the hinges cracked. She returned it to Best Buy twice already and they gave her a replacement. They said anytime that they crack just bring it back in and they'll replace it with a new one until eMachines does something about it. That's pretty cool but it seems like it would get annoying after a while. I was playing on her computer (playing Subspace Continuum) when I closed the screen to get something to drink and reposition myself and I saw the cracks. I searched the internet and found a bunch of people saying that their hinges were cracked. I told my sister and when she went back to Des Moines she took it back.

It's cool that they are stocking Gateway notebooks. If I were to purchase a notebook to be mobile, I'd definately look at the Gateways. I wonder what they'll do for my sister if she has more hinge problems.

I am really how much I liked the M6811. I'm not a big fan of eMachines, but that system was a decent value. I wouldn't get an eMachine for myself just because I prefer brands like HP and Sony. They are so stylish.

 

Style over substance?

Anyway, Gateway is bringing a computer to market that matches the older m6809 spec for spec. Even built by Arima. I hope that the hinges on the new 7405 models do not break.

 

My hinge cracked twice. [V]

Bought at Best Buy, they replaced it first time with a new machine. Cracked again and went with an HP...disappointed with how this was handled by emachines...they told me it would be a week to "fix" my machine. Not practical for me as I use it for work.

According to emachines they "overtorqued" at factory.

 

As someone said (here or in the other board), the hinge is too small. Compare it with other 15.4" laptops or smaller laptops. Unless arima changes its design (also I heard they did but not sure), this problem will liekly happen again.

 

[?][ !]My notebook M6805 is only 3 months old (too late to buy an ESP from emachine) I also got it from Best Buy and the hinges are cracked!!!!!! Something is wrong with these PCs; they give a hell of discount to buy it but never were a disclosure about manufacture problems.
Someone can tell me what to do aside from the already known statement "cliché" from emachine?

 

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

 

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

 

[ ]Wow! I just called emachine because this message was posted in other site:
"United States 1-801-401-1419

The Emachines company DOES cover cracked hinges and corners of screens that connect to hinges on their laptops now. Because of people like you, who post problems and call in about these problems, they have now taken this part (cosmetics) off of the "we do not cover" part of their warranty. Even if you get a new computer or check online for warranty issues, you will not see a change... which should be expected since this is a huge problem and they would rather take their time in changing warranties so that they will not have to cover a lot of free repairs.

Call the number above and select the options from the automatic operator so that you may speak to a rep. about your emachines laptop cracked hinge concerns. Tell them that you did nothing to it and that it just started to appear, like thousands of other users who have had this same problem. I have had mine for only a few days and decided to get to the bottom of it.

The polls show that many of you have this problem, so i suggest calling that number asap and tell them that you just noticed this problem and you have done nothing to cause it to occur. They will send you a box to send your laptop in, and the shipping/labor/parts should be free.

Hope This Helps!! "
======
well it was helpful to me, they will send the prepaid label and box to send my PC and replace the hinges.The rep was very nice and told me that was a defect due to the material used and now is been replaced with a new technique, so hopefully is not going to happen again.

 

The cracked hinge problem is old news. At least 2 or 3 month's ago, eMachines's had admitted that the cracked hinge is due to a manufacturing defect. There is nothing hidden or secret here. For all those who have cracked hinges and your serial number is in the N4043-47 range, simply call eMachines Tech Support and they will issue you an RMA.

 

Well hello from Canada ... last month they shipped all the cracked M6811s from BB to Futureshop here. I just bought one yesterday ... the crack developped while I was setting up XP within the first hour. Brought it back and picked up another one - lets see how long this one lasts [V]

 

whats funny is the laptop i had before the emachine was a Sony Viao, and the screen hinges also cracked, i had another friend of mine who also has the exact same notebook have his screen fall completely off, and sony told both of us basically to go 'f' off (it was only 2 yrs old too when the cracks got sever.) so i decided it was time for an upgrade anyways and went to the M6809, there are cracks in the hinges here too but not nearly as bad as in the sony, plus i got the 3 year warranty thing with BestBuy so i could swap out the notebook if it got too bad. My mom has the first notebook that Emachines put out under the 6000 series (the Athlon 3000+ XP) and her hinges are completely differently designed and seemed to have held up a lot better, and seems it could be a solution to the problem that has effected many laptops from many differnt manufacturers. also on a side note for those that call the emachines "shotty" etc. these notebooks have actually been an exception to the Emachine rule of quality. these have actually been some of the best working notebooks i have been on especially for the price. just wish they came with a faster hard drive =) but hey you can always drop a new one in =).

M6809 supersized!

 

[xx(]Well, here I sit broken hearted, paid 2 grand and the hinges parted. It was a leap of faith for me to buy an eMachines in the first place. M6811, on my second machine in less than a month and I sit here crying on my cracked hinges. A previous post said that eMachines shipped all the defective notebooks to Future Shop in Canada? I did buy the 3 year warranty (NEVER buy a laptop without it)and have so far replaced it once, but they have already uttered the 'cosmetic' word. If I get stuck with a cracked laptop, somebody will need some cosmetics. Any info for us lost eMachine souls in Canada would be appreciated. BTW, eMachined does not offer an extended warranty in Canada. The warranty is provided by Future Shop.

My hinge is cracked again!

 

I recieved this in my inbox today.

Thank you for contacting eMachines.

I understand that you see a crack hinge on your M6811 eMachines
notebook and you are looking for information on what you should do to this
matter.

eMachines is aware that some notebooks manufactured between March and
August of 2004 (depending on the model number) are now beginning to
crack along the hinges. Further investigation has revealed that a change
in the manufacturing process of the TFT bezel piece is responsible for
this issue, and a correction has already been made to the way these
notebooks will be manufactured in the future.

Our warehouse has received a large stock of sturdy replacements for the
TFT bezel pieces, and that any repairs made to the system are free of
charge for in warranty service.

You may try to arrange warranty service for your system by contacting
our Technical Support Department at 801-401-1419. Technical Support is
open 7 days a week, between the hours of 5:00 AM - 12:00 AM PST. I
apologize for any inconvenience but we are unable to arrange for warranty
service or parts via email.

Please be advised that there may be a product evaluation before any
warranty service can be setup.

I could relate to how inconvenient situations like this can be and I
hope that you may find this response informative.

Should you require further assistance with your eMachines system,
please feel free to send another message. Your comments and suggestions are
welcome.

Sincerely,
XXXXXXXXX

eMachines recommends you frequently backup data files off the system to
prevent data loss.

eMachines now offers one and two year Extended Service Plans (ESP).
For more information or to purchase an eMachines ESP**, please call us at
877-566-3463 or visit us on the web at www.emachines.com/esp.
**Currently not available in Puerto Rico, Arizona or for Canadian
Notebooks.
============================================================

eMachines authorized replacement and upgrade components are available
by calling 1-888-368-7898 or visit us on the web at
http://parts.emachines.com/emachines


My hinge is cracked again!

 

I am from Toronto. I don't know how emachines would treat canadian cunstomers.

I bought my M6805 6 months ago at futureshop. Both the hinges are cracked. I haven't called emachines yet. They don't even provide Canadian customers with a toll-free number!

Anyway, the major reason I have not contacted them is I am wondering if emachines actaully fixed this problem. If the replacement still will be cracked in some months, it is meaningless to get the screen hinges replaced. And It is not worht risking the damage to other parts such as hard drive during the delivery.

 

Future Shop may exchange it for another defective laptop.

My hinge is cracked again!

 

Has eMachines fixed the cracked hinge problem? I'd like to purchase an eMachines 68xx but am scared about the hinge. Have they started manufacturing these correctly now or do all of them still have the problem? I really don't want to have to get it replaced every month .

 

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

 

Actually, I also read the whole thing. My brain can't put it together, however. Some are still complaining of recent cracking while eMachines started new batches. I'm confused and was merely soliciting information.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by supermike
I haven't called emachines yet. They don't even provide Canadian customers with a toll free number
<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'></font id='quote'></blockquote id='quote'>
you can lose the inferiority complex because nobody gets a toll free number []

further their service is available only half-days, if the cnet review of the 5405 can be believed [?]

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by labradogs1

 

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

 

I recently Back in September noticed that my hinges where cracked and it took almost 2 months before I got a hold of the right service tech to get it fixed, I received the box to return it in on Tuesday and shipped it out the next day it was back in town by saturday fixed but because of some mess up of FedEx [ !] which said by address did not exist, I had it back by the following wednesday.[ ][:I]

Jim Boatright

 

I have had my M6809 since June/July and have already had to send the laptop back to get the hinges fixed. Yesterday I noticed that one of the hinges is broke again! Anyone else have this happen to them? If so, how did emachines respond?

 

[8D]I have an M1205. About six months old and just developed a crack on the left hinge. Best But contract said they had to send it away for at least three weeks for repair. They say they can not order parts because they are not authorized to do the work ..... has anyone repaired this? I would like to know i there are instructions out there ..... I'll get the part and repair it myself.

Dale Cozad

 

That is an excellent idea. I've often wondered that myself and thought it can't be that hard to replace the hinge cover. If anyone has done this or has step by step instructions and knows where to purchase replacement hinge parts, please, do tell.

My hinge is cracked again!

 

I ordered a reconditioned M6805 from TigerDirect a few days ago. It will be arriving in a couple of days. After ordering it I began checking the Internet for this model and came across this site.

After a couple of nervous days of wondering if I made a serious mistake, I called eMachine support. I told them I suspected the "reconditioned" machines on sale (for a very good price BTW) were machines that were returned because of the hinge problem. He agreed that that was probably the case and said the hinges, or at least the "plastic material" of the hinge had been replaced on all of them with a much stronger material. He said that the problem was that an inferior plastic had been used on some of the machines. He assured me that there should be no problem with recurrence and encouraged me to call them if there were any problems and they would take care of it.

I was encouraged by the attitude and assurances I got and feel quite positive that all will turn out well. For some reason extended waranties are not offered in Canada so all I have is the 90 day waranty offered on reconditioned items. I intend to give the computer a good work out to make sure nothing breaks.

 

Bought my 6809 in July and I got a cracked hinge. I have been trying for 3 weeks now to get e-Machine to send me the box to RMA the unit but I keep getting the problem escalated to nowhere... I have talked with 3 techs and they keep telling me that somehow I got overlooked....

Obviously the e-Machines were overated.... Worst support I have ever got.... After reading all these posts, I am sad to see my mistake in buying an e-machine...

Well I got everything documented for my lawyer in case I need to pursue this legally...

 

That's pretty weird. I have had to call Emachines twice about a cracked hinge and the wait time just on the phone was like 17 seconds and 2 minutes. They sent my box out to me the next day.

I personally think that the emachines service is about as good as you can get...

 

When might EMachines come out with a new laptop, like the 6812? There's absolutely no sense in taking my 6811 back to the store again for exchange, cuz the hinges will just crack again. Might as well wait for the next model, then exchange it? What does everyone else think? Any clues as to when they are planning to launch their next new laptop, with a new hinge design? Thanks. Paul.




------------------------
My Canada Does Not Include Celine Dion

 

reading all the reviews i think the turth is this is a bad error in the emachines,is the company getting a recall on this topic[?]

 

I have had my M6805 for a month now and after using it every day, there are no signs of cracks. It is a "reconditioned" model from TigerDirect so maybe that is the difference. I am very happy with it so far.

 

My experience w/getting my M6805 hinges repaired was EXCELLENT. Called the support number, told them I had an M6805 w/cracked hinges. Support rep asked for the serial number (which I already knew was in the 'bad batch', said they'd send an RMA box and assigned a case number (told me to write it all over the box). Within a day or two I had the shipping box complete with FedEx prepaid label. Packed it up (after backing up) and away it went. Less than a week later, I've got a spiffy lookin' M6805! Same serial number, same data on the drive, no cracks (screen pens noticeably easier, but not flimsy, either).

This laptop is a great bargain, even with the (slight) hassle w/hinges.

 

Thanks to banagirl323 for the good information. Contacted Emachines and got a great customer rep and will recieve RMA box to send out in a few days. I would just like to confirm that there are updated hinges available and repairs are being made in a timely manner to units under warranty. I cant imagine any other way to fix it although the metal duct tape does sound like the best bet for out of warranty units. My experience with superglue and the like over the years is it doesnt fix anything other than cracked teacups like you see on the glues package. Emachines was very eager to help with this problem despite the horror stories I have read about their customer service on the web. Peace. Frodo has lost the one ring to president Bush and it has driven him mad. God help us all.

 

<blockquote id='quote'> quote:<hr height='1' noshade id='quote'>Originally posted by barny43055

 

[?] I bought two M6809s from best buy in April 2004 (SN start N3043) and started noticing cracks on both hinges on both machines. Two of my co-workers also bought M6809s...same cracks. Because my 1 year expires next month, I called emachines. I hope the rest of the experience is as good as the phone support. They were prompt, friendly and, like others have said, gave me an RMA and are sending me a box w/fed-ex return label.

Having owned several laptops over the years I have had this problem a few times before. The hinge on my old IBM got to the point where the screen flopped around enough that the display began to flicker while in use and sometimes would not come on.

I have noticed from time to time on my M6809 that the backlight occasionally flickers slightly (I suspect this may be related to the hinge issue). I mentioned this to the emachines rep and they said they would check this out too. I only mention this here because I noticed several people asking if the cracked hinges are a big deal in the long run. I don't know if the flickering is related, but I think it is likely.

Just something to keep your eyes open for....

 

I sent my laptop to eMachines to replace the cracked hinges over a week ago now. I called the help desk and they told me that they replace the LCD screen when they repair the hinges and that the LCD screens are on back order. Big surprise. The very friendly support person said that they have many people that have been waiting for a replacement since January, so it may take a while. I'm very disappointed to say the least. I've read on this board about many people having a 3 or 4 day turnaround when sending their machines in for this repair. Now they tell me it could take months because parts are on back order. I wasn't the least bit prepared for this. Anyone else had this happen? Thanks.






------------------------
My Canada Does Not Include Celine Dion

 

Bought a Tigerdirect refurb on Mar 4th, a 1/2" long crack just appeared on the left hinge. The screen had been very stiff but is now a bit more relaxed.
So it goes.
Now I get to deal with e-machines support, which was great at taking care of my problem with a EM desktop years ago and has always been very friendly and appear willing (if perhaps unable i.e., sp2) to help.
The bios flash (f0800...) went like clockwork, and I consider my m6809 a very good, reasonably stable machine.
Other notebooks
Vaio PCG FXA was a stable though slow workhorse (900Mhz Duron 384, sp2!w/very weak support [relatively])
My Compact Presario nb was faster but prone to self destruction (power supply to battery link) and they had snide useless support.
Older Compact (circa '97) was clunky but rock solid.
Apple Powerbook (circa '94) - a stable calculator - who needs support.

M6809 2ghz, sp1,

 

Hey Gang,

I purchased my M6809 (refurb) from Tigerdirect.com on 1/27/05. I noticed the hairline cracks last week after reading some of the posts on this forum. I called e-Machines on Wednesday and they sent a box the next day through DHL. I packed it up called DHL for pickup on the sameday, Thursday (4/14/05) and got it back on Monday (4/18/05). I'm very pleased with the customer service.

They replaced the entire screen and the bios was reflashed. I already had it flashed to the latest version (0F08) but they did it again??

Prices at Tigerdirect.com as of 4/20/05

M6805 - $829.97
M6809 - $989.97
M6810 - $899.97
M6811 - $1039.99 ($1059.99 w/wireless router)




-Airdog
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
M6809 • WinXP Pro SP2 • Athlon 64 3200+ @ 2.0ghz • 80GB • 1.2Gb pc2700 • Radeon 9600 • 802.11g Wireless • DVD±RW • USB 2.0 • Firewire • 6 in 1 Media Reader

 

Like I mentioned, my Tigerdirect refub 6809's hinge (left side) started cracking after 1 month.
Called the emachines on Thursday; got the box on Friday (from Gateway); DHL picked it up on Saturday (to Arima in Houston); and got the computer back today (Wednesday).
Magic!
The e-machines rep said they had new hinges and while not 100% successful, they had had very few re-returns.
They also extended my warranty on the hinges 3 more months.
GREAT service - I just hope the fix works.
By the way, I had flashed the bios and told E-machines -they said," no problem."

M6809 2ghz, sp1,

 

My friend owns the M6809 and for a while he's noticed these horrible, horrible lines/grating on his LCD monitor. What's worse is that it constantly morphs everytime you change the screen resolution or restart the computer. Here are some pictures so you guys have an idea:

<img>

<img>

<img>

<img>

<img>

<img>

As you can see, this occurs the second the computer is turned on, including BIOS etc etc. which means it's probably not a software issue. The strange thing is that I suspected it to be a software issue since the display driver happened to be corrupted and I had to reinstall it. When I reinstalled it and restarted the comp, everything was normal but then it reverted back to this crap once I rebooted again. But then I noticed the BIOS was messed up too so I figured that it's either the radeon 9600 screwing up, the mobo breaking or the connection coming loose. I was hoping that the connection was loose so I decided to open the laptop to see what was wrong with it. Unfortunately, I had a hard time trying to open it, (the mechanism for it is terrible) so I googled on how to do it and somehow got here. I read some of the posts and realized that this could be caused by the hinges breaking so I checked the hinges and lo and behold... both hinges had cracks on them.

Thus I called tech support and spent half an hour on this very very simple problem. It went something like this:

----------------------------------
Tech Support: Thank you for calling Emachines tech support, my name is Steve and my ID number is 55169, how may I assist you?

me: hi, I would like to request an RMA for my notebook model M5809. There seems to be a problem with the LCD.

Steve: mmmmfffffoaisdojadljaldj (incomprehensible crap with a severe lisp)

me: uh....

Steve: mmmmfohfajdlaksjdla00asd8ayopdha@(*#$(@#? (more incomprehensible crap)

me: uh.. sorry, can you repeat that again?

Steve: mffashlajdkdhaveadhoadyouhakdaregisteredadsdyourahdaducts?

me: have I registered my product? yes, the serial number is N32394E98

(at this point I'm thinking he's f**king with me, especially since he's making me spell out my address, I mean how hard is it to spell New York? He's also making me repeat everything two or three times, especially when it comes to numbers like my zip code and phone number.)

Steve: siryoaudlaskdayoruounuladalsjd 0245050904 (Sir, your RMA number is 0245050904)

me: ok 024505904...

Steve: no, it's not 5904, it's 5094.

me: oh ok... 5094...

Steve: no, it's 5904.

me: you just said 5094! are you f**king with me?!

Steve: oh, sorry, I'm dyslexic...

me: .....

--------------------------------------------------------------------

In conclusion, the moral of that story is to not buy an Emachines laptop/system, ever.


Oh and, people who're dyslexic shouldn't be working in tech support or any other job that deals with correct number/letter sequences. If you can't get my phone number/address or RMA number correct then you're just wasting my time. I'm all for worker's rights and etc but this is on par with giving someone suffering from glaucoma a job driving school buses. The guy obviously has enough intelligence to work in tech support, I'm sure he'll be much better off working at a Mcdonalds drive-thru, at least then people won't be surprised when their order gets screwed up.

Oh and some other interesting things I've noticed: Emachines won't let me install the latest ATI RADEON 9600 Mobility drivers. None of the ATI drivers work, not even Catalyst. Apparently you have to install only Emachine drivers or something (can someone verify this for me?). I deleted the display driver several times in my hardware manager and it would automatically get replaced on the next startup. I guess that's Emachine's method of making it fool proof so none of their idiot consumers will accidentally delete drivers and whatnot.

Anyone else suffering from this line/grating problem? I know Emachines is really cheap and that's why people buy them but is it really worth it? I'd much rather spend an extra 100+ so I won't have to deal with this crap. If you do any sort of deal hunting, you'll notice that Emachines aren't really all that cheap considering the defects and crappy HDs/RAM/mobos they use. They just have nice specs like processors, HD/RAM size and video cards since that's pretty much the only things average consumers look at.

 

I have had a totally different experience with eMachines. I have found Tesh Support to be knowledgable and helpful. But be that as it may, have you eliminated power problems? Have you taken the computer to a different location, plugged it in and tried it? How about running it on the battery alone? It could be a 60 cycle frequency problem or a problem with the neutral in your house's power circuit. If taking the computer to a location that used a different power service (pole mounted transformer) solves the problem, call your Power Company immediatly and report the problem! Your other electronic equipment could be in danger.

 

WOW!!! That's almost funny!! Little did you know that emachines included a case of hypertension with your notebook(at no extra cost).

 

hah, if it was just a power problem, there would be a lot more problems than just a messed up LCD. and yes, obviously i've already tried it on battery power alone, it's definitely a connection issue between the motherboard and LCD. The fact that movies and 3D games run just fine (despite the grating) and the fact that there are virtually no other problems on the laptop suggests that the video card and motherboard are probably physically fine and it's merely a connection issue, albeit it's annoying as hell. I was just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem with their LCD besides the usual cracking.

Also, I never said Emachines tech support wasn't knowledgable or helpful. I'm sure Steve here is very competent and was able to solve my problem. HOWEVER, the guy obviously had a speech impediment as well as dyslexia. None of that affects his knowledge in helping with laptops tech support. It's just that he had problems communicating with me, and there's a very good chance that he messed up my address/phone number and RMA number. Sorry but is it asking too much for a tech support that's somewhat comprehensible? Emachines should do a better screening of their tech support employees, you can't give certain people with disabilities jobs that requires them to excell at their area of disability (such as communication). Although it was funny as hell for my friends to listen to my phone conversation.

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

 

Say - those of you that sent in your machine for RMA - did you remove the Hard Drive before sending - to eliminate having to ship it (breakage) and more importantly - security of your private information? Did Emachines have an issue with that?

THanks - Ron

 

I sent mine with the hard drive intact. They have to test screen function, so they probably would need it. They even ask for your password if it is activated.




------------------------
My Canada Does Not Include Celine Dion

 

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