Thinkpad repair?

[Stephen Ryan]

On 10/14/2011 11:51 PM, Joshua Judson Rosen wrote:
> I'm going to call this `on-topic' because there are so many
> Thinkpads in the Linux community--and because, since our
> software doesn't just spontaneously `rot', so many of us
> run them until the hardware just fails irreparably. So, I'm
> hoping someone can give me some helpful comments on getting
> my 4-year-old Thinkpad repaired....
>
> It's an X60 convertible tablet/laptop, and that precarious
> little multidimensional swivel-hinge just went `snap'
> in some way such that the screen is no longer self-supporting
> at any angle less than ~60 degrees.
>
> (and, while I'm at it, I guess I might look at fixing a few other
>   issues that have accumulated over the last couple of years:
>   broken palm-rest over the PC-card slot, broken HDD bay-cover,
>   no-longer-functional SD/etc. memory-card port...).
>
> Is there a local shop in/near Nashua to whom I should take this,
> or am I going to have to call Lenovo? Alternately, is it
> worthwhile to even consider just getting the parts and fixing
> the thing myself?
>

I've had pretty good success repairing my Thinkpads with parts from 
eBay; the repair manuals are available online at lenovo.com (maybe 
redirects to ibm.com?), and they are very thorough; just make sure you 
have a way to get at them that does not involve the Thinkpad being 
repaired. ;-)  I replaced the hinges on my wife's T40 that way.  I tried 
a local (Lebanon) retailer once, years ago, but they charged me $75 to 
tell me that it was broken without actually doing anything to fix it, so 
I haven't been back.