Replacing broken hinges on a Toshiba Satellite A45 laptop
Guys, replacing broken hinges on this model is not for beginners. During this repair you’ll have to open up both the laptop case and the display case. A lot of steps, a lot of screws. If you are doing this repair yourself, get organized.
Steps 4 and 5 will shown how to access the heat sink. Yep, this model tends to overheat. If your laptop shuts down during normal operation, most likely it happens because of overheating. In this case access the heatsink and clean it.
Be careful when you are removing the LCD screen. Do not press on it, handle it very gently. Be careful with the top edge of the LCD screen, usually it has “Do not touch” sign, so do not touch it.
Here are part numbers you can use to find new hinges for your laptop.
There are two different modifications (not sure exactly what the difference is). Some laptops have letter “C” stamped in the battery bay, I believe somewhere on the case under the battery. Some laptops have letter “S”. In some cases you can find this letter stamped on the bottom of the laptop base, no in the battery bay.
OK, here are part numbers:
For laptop with letter “C”
Left hinge: P000392250
Right hinge: P000392260
For laptops with letter “S”
Left hinge: P000394150
Right hinge: P000394160
March 15th, 2009 at 2:52 am
Hello everyone, this guide is fantastic, but I’ve had a big problem along the way… At “step 14″ of this guide we have to remove the speaker cables and LCD switch cable, unfortunately the little plastic plug on the end of one the cables crumbled into pieces when I unplugged it from the motherboard & now there’s no way get the 2 wires that no longer have a plug back into their slot! Based on the diagram photo in step14, it’s the furthest right with red & black wires, I’m guessing that the red & blacks are speaker cables and the blue & black is the LCD switch, please correct me if I’m wrong. So can anyone please tell me what the plugs are really called so I can search for a replacement online, or would it be possible to just solder the wires directly onto their terminals? If anyone has any ideas I’d really appreciate your input cos I’m stuck! Thanks for reading!
March 4th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
Hey R D….
I don’t know if I am supposed to post website addresses but look for the part number and encompass. Looks like they only have one side in stock now….
Create an email account, post the email address (I wouldn’t post your primary account) and I’ll send more info to you.
Steve
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:04 pm
Steve B, can you list the website where you bought your hinges? Mine just broke and I need to order a pair.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:53 am
I have significant experience building and repairing computers but had never done repairs on a laptop. Even with your step by step procedure it looked like a difficult task but I decided to try it… what was there to lose, the computer was useless with both hinges broken.
Your procedure and pictures are absolutely fantastic and necessary. I finished it in a couple of hours and the laptop feels like new.
One suggestion is to check for prices because I found prices that varied from $100 down to $10 per hinge. Why, I don’t know…. but I got them both delivered to my door for under $30!
Thanks for the help!
Steve
February 11th, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Thanks!
awesome instructions. this was the only place i found when looking for tips changing memory modules. great!
January 9th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
I called toshiba parts warehouse NPD for hinges for my A45-S120 they are very reasonable $30.00 for the left and 35.00 for the right + $10.00 shipping, they will be here in 2 days. I would suggest to anyone looking for hinges for a toshiba to call the parts warehouse.
September 8th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
P. D. mi laptop is an A45-S150
September 8th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
Wonderful help on this topic. Could I also get some help on where to find the broken hinges. Are they available through the internet? Thanks for your help
August 29th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Wonderful instruction!
I changed the 2nd DC FAN, and now it is very quite!!!
August 18th, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Thanks! This worked well for me. One must set aside 2 hours for this deal, or more if they’re to do it right.
I ordered two hinges, and I’m glad that I did, as the second one went out during the process. – I just wish that I had been able to find a WiFi antenna for this beast. I have a card, but no antenna.
Again, thanks!
August 14th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
June 30th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Hi,
I’ve just repaired the hinges on my A40, got them for £10 inc delivery from ebay woohoo. However, the system fans are also faulty. They do not automtically start, however Speedfan detects my temperature sensors and is able to control the fans still. Hope this saves someone from replacing their fans, because it’s a pain in the ring, that’s for sure. No quick way to do it, full disassembly required boo hoo
May 27th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
The cover of my Toshiba A45-S120 is limp — cover will not stay in an upright position. Because of the VERY high price of replacement hinges … will the cover stay open if only ONE hinge is replaced? Any suggestions?
Walter
- I managed to get both replacement hinges on e-bay for just $50 bucks. You should try checking there to see if you can find a good deal.
-Fabian
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:58 am
Hi CJ2600,
The cover of my Toshiba A45-S120 is limp — cover will not stay in an upright position. Because of the VERY high price of replacement hinges … will the cover stay open if only ONE hinge is replaced? Any suggestions?
Walter
May 22nd, 2008 at 3:44 am
Hi
I recently broke my hinges for Toshiba Sattelite A-80.
now my laptop screen does no stand and i am very confused on how to get it repaired a si live in India?
Laptop – Toshiba Sattelite A-80
Problem – Broken Hinges
Country – India
Query – How to get my laptop repaired & new hinges.
May 15th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Hi! I got a Toshiba satellite A45-S120, it was working fine then I stop using it while I waited for a memory upgrade. Finally when it arrived I installed and tried to power on but it didnt work, no cooling sound, or hard drive activity, power led was green and charge was orange. I thought that battery was drained and I charged like 4 hours, still nothing. Removed all unnecesary parts (dvd, hard drive) still nothing. Any suggestions will be very appreciatted. Thanks
March 26th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Hi! Thanks for the instructions. I removed the CPU heatsink and placed it back and didn’t place it in correctly the first time. After turning on the power, nothings works. Is the motherboard burned? I then took out the CPU heatsink and some of the little fingers were bent, and a few are cut off now. I placed it back in and when i give it power, it gets real hot, so i just turned it off.. what am i to do? what could have gone wrong?
March 18th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Toshiba Satellite A45-S250 OS=XP When started it go to the safe mode menu. I choose “Start Normally” And nothing happens. I choose “Safe mode” It runs through about 15 files and stops. Could this be the bios battery?? If it is, how do I find it and change it?? If it’s not the battery, what could it be, the hard drive??
February 22nd, 2008 at 5:47 am
I have a toshiba Satellite A80 notebook. Can anyone tell me the codes for the left and right hinges for this laptop? Thanks!
February 1st, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Hello friends,
Could you please show me how to open underside of Toshiba A45-S250, because I ready removed all screws but I can not take underside case out. I đid it for cleaning a dirty fan.
Thank you for your help to resolve thís problem
January 30th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Hi,
I have a Toshiba Satellite A45 that has a broken hinge. I was just wondering if there is a trick to tell which one it is without having to take the whole thing apart. It is my sole computer and I just didn’t feel like having to do this twice. Thanks for any help.
January 21st, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I wanted to thank you for the photo informational on replacing the
hinges on the Toshiba A45. I found it useful when I was putting my A45
back together after replacing both of the system fans. I unfortunately
did not take any photos of my disassembly and it took me a few weeks
to locate and receive the fans. By then I was like.. Crap.. where does
tis piece go? The photographs you had made that an easy glance. I sent
in a small $10 donation fo my appreciation. The one thing I wanted to
add was maybe you could do a topic on the fan replacement on these
machines, since I have seen many posts about them failing. If I was
smart I would have taken photos myself and sent them to you.
The reason I replaced the fans, was that I was getting a system error
saying that a key part of the nternal cooling system was failing and
to shut down the system immediately. Both fans appeared o work and
cleaning and replacing the heatsink did not yield better results, so
my next assumption was that possibly the sensors in the fans had gone
bad. Since I was unable to tell which fan it was I just replaced them
both.
Thanks for the great how to’s
Have a good week
December 11th, 2007 at 5:18 pm
Great site. I haven’t replaced the hinges yet because I couldn’t find any at the price I was looking for them… With the price of laptops falling so much, I don’t think spending a couple of hundred dollars on hinges is very economical. Having said that, what would you say is a reasonable and realistically attainable price to buy these hinges? (I need both sides…)
Thanks.
November 25th, 2007 at 5:15 pm
Thank you for writing this article. Worked like a charm.
October 31st, 2007 at 10:24 pm
Hi, cj2600 i need some guild for open the motherboard. for sateillte A45. the guild i have check only for lCD change it. but is was great. now i need to open the motherboard and replace the cooling fan on it.. please tell me or emial me thank you for help.
September 18th, 2007 at 9:09 am
Will this procedure also work for the M45-S169? I have a broken right side hinge that I need to replace.
September 14th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Hi cj2600,
Thank you for your suggestion; really appreciate it. However, both the adapters were of same voltage. I used to use them alternatively earlier – one at home & other at office.
However, curiously enough, I switched my laptop on today, using the earler adapter… and voila…. it started working. To start with, it showed that the battery is running on AC with less than 7% charging.
This makes me surmise that the battery may be working properly…
But at the same time I have two doubts:
1. The moment there is a power outage, within a couple of minutes, the 100% charged battery shows it is in critical state (i.e., at less than 15% charge) and goes into hibernation within the next couple of minutes…
Why does this happen, if the battery is working properly?
2. If the battery is working properly, what else could be the problem with the power system of my laptop (Toshiba Tecra 8100)?
Pl help me out..
Thank you in advance,
- vskdraya
September 10th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
vskdraya,
The AC adapter is getting hot but it’s possible that adapter doesn’t work properly. Find a voltmeter and test the output voltage.
You mentioned that you tried a different adapter. Was it a correct one, with the same voltage as the original adapter?
If the adapter is fine, then you might have a problem with the motherboard.
September 10th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Hi, This is not a comment; but a request for help.
I have a Toshiba Tecra 8100. For some time now, I’ve not been using it. A couple of days back I tried to switch it on using an AC Adapter. However, the laptop is not switching on. First, I thought that the battery might have completely drained… So, I left the power to stay on, as if it were being charged for the first time after purchase. But even after two hours, the power switch on the Laptop doesn’t glow. that means, there is no power supply to the Laptop at all. However, when I touched the AC Adapter, it was hot… to show that the AC Adapter is actually working. I tried supplying power to the laptop using another Adapter also… but the power bulb on the laptop doesn’t glow at all. can you tell me what might have been wrong? Is it that I have to change my battery? Can I work without the battery, on AC power directly?
Pl. help me.
September 8th, 2007 at 10:26 am
I read the guide, and it’s pretty solid and straightforward. I’m wondering, is there a simple way to just replace the little plastic hinge covers? My hinges are fine, but one of the hinge covers appears to have snapped, and I’m just wondering if there’s any way to get at it without going through all the internal disassembly steps in your guide. Thanks.