Notes on U430 repair: top half lower section (keyboard + touchpad), LCD hinges

Question

Hello, I wanted to share some of notes on the repairs I did on my U430. First I want to thank Lenovo Benelux for their awesome support. They were very friendly and sent me a new part immediately, after I indicated that I could fix the issue myself, at home. This is really outstanding service.  This was the first time taking my laptop apart to this extent, and I just wanted to share some notes. When taking it apart I found that in fact it had some more serious problems, namely the plastic near the LCD hinges on the lower section was broken, something I already suspected, but had walked around with for more than a month (daily use). This is a common problem with the U430 and related laptops (U310, U410, U530), see this official reply from Lenovo staff: https://forums.lenovo.com/t5/Lenovo-U-and-S-Series-Notebooks/U430-Touch-Screen-Hinge/m-p/2031546#M40623 Disassembly begins by removing the 12 screws of the bottom panel. Then begin taking everything out. This should be a relatively painless process, but you have to be really careful. Start with the battery. The connector is very flimsy so I removed the screws holding the battery in place first. This means that there is still power on the mainboard so be really careful not to drop any screws. The battery is taped to the shell, pull it off slowly. When free, the connector should release from the motherboard without the use of any tools. Undo all the other connectors. The flatcable conns come off by wedging the black section upwards. Use fingernails of left and right hand simultaneously for the wider ones. The LCD and SATA conns require quite a bit of force. Some of the flatcables need to be peeled from the shell (slowly, low angle) Remove all the screws. There is one hidden motherboard screw under a "warranty void" label. The motherboard should come out without the use of any force. You do not need to remove the 4 heatsink screws, but there is one extra screw holding the fan in place.  The other two boards are also simple, but the power/reset button board only barely makes it out of its nook. Now for the interesting part. Before taking out the 4 hinge screws, open the laptop to about 90 degrees. Then, simply swap with the replacement and replace the screws. While the LCD assembly was separate, I found that one of the hinges felt quite loose. Therefore I popped the plastic panel on the lower rim of the LCD assy and tightened the screws.  Putting back together is simple, just reverse steps of previous. Carefully fold the keyboard flatcable (don't try to put a crease in, just let the battery push down on it). Screw in battery before plugging in the battery connector. Plugging in the battery should be the final step before closing the cover. Use an ESD wristband to earth ground. Good luck!           

Answer 1

Yes - it would be too bad, to throw it into trash because such a small damage.
My posting above now can be read with more details in the knowledgebase.
German users will find the HowTo in the german ThinkPad-Wiki
The last days i did the same with a ThinkPad 390E - with success
Broken holder of both hinges, the right one was in a better condition because the upper side of the holder still existed partially:
The repair pieces for the left corner
and the right corner
Last test, whether it fits
after sticking together
after attaching the system board there absolutely is no space between repair piece and the board next the DC-in-connector- all inserted parts on the bottom of the basecover must be insulated with tape. The system board touches the left part (under the DC-in-connector)
after attaching the laptop
Just to explain:
All these repairs can be done without knowledge in metallworking
A great challenge will be to repair this 390 basecover:
The inner side of the basecover at the top of this posting had the same damage but only the wall still existed.
My home-forum: http://www.thinkpad-forum.de
Wiki: Deutsches ThinkPad-Wiki English ThinkWiki
My ThinkPad-Collection