Display hinges
Display hinges connect two halves of a laptop – the display panel and base assembly. All regular laptops have two hinges located on the left and right sides of the display panel. Tablet PCs have one hinge-swivel located in the middle of the display.
The LCD screen mounts to the the screen mounting brackets which are permanently attached to the display hinges. There are two or more screws securing the LCD screen to each mounting bracket.
The display hinges are not repairable. If the hinge is broken or too loose to keep the display in an open position, you have to replace it with a new one.
On the picture below you see a laptop with removed LCD screen.
In order to remove and replace hinges, you’ll have to disassemble both, the display panel and laptop base.
HINGE RELATED PROBLEMS
1. The laptop display feels loose. It will stay in the up position, but when you move the display it feels floppy.
First of all, try tightening screws securing both hinges to the laptop base and display cover. If tightening screws doesn’t help, apparently your hinges are worn out and will have to be replaced soon.
2. The display will not stat in the up position. When you open the display and leave it in the up position, it falls back.
Most likely one or both hinges are broken and have to be replaced. Even if only one hinge is broken, I would recomment replacing both hinges because the second one is worn out and could break too in the near future.
Laptop parts | Repair Man | 
December 26, 2008 3:20 pm
February 1st, 2009 at 11:06 am
david,
It really depends on the condition of the left hinge. If the hinge doesn’t feel loose, there are no cracks, I guess you can replace just the broken one.
You see, the problem is that when you are using a laptop with one broken hinge, the second one gets worn out much faster because it has to support the whole display alone. If you can find both hinges inexpensively, I would suggest replacing both of them, just in case.
I know that for some laptops hinges are very expensive. If that’s the case, then replace just the broken hinge and hopefully the left one will last for some time.
February 1st, 2009 at 10:27 am
OK, I’m fixing a Dell laptop for my friend. The screen was very loose and I took it apart. The right hinge is completely broken and the left hinge looks OK. Do you think I’d be better to replace both hinges of should I go just with the right one?