• Please review our updated Terms and Rules here

Compaq lte 386s/20 hinge repair

compaqportableplus

Veteran Member
Joined
Apr 21, 2011
Messages
1,043
Location
USA
Let me start this off by saying anything negative towards me that you have to say about this will fall on deaf ears (In other words, I don't give a damn). This is not a rare or one of a kind machine, so I did what I had to to make it usable.

The left hinge mount finally gave up on life yesterday on my LTE 386s/20 (not the proto unit I now have, this is just my regular one). So today I got creative and finally got it all back together after about 4 hours of trial and error.

This is hands-down the ugliest mod I have ever preformed. Let’s just get this out of the way, here’s a picture of the finished product (well, not quite; I actually did cut the excess length off of the screws afterwards):

IMG_4562.jpg


:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

Beautiful, isn't it? I chuckled my ass of when I got it all back together and got a good look at it. I think it's absolutely hilarious.

Here's two more pictures; the first I one of took of it when it first broke and the second one is one showing the two newly-placed screws on the inside when I was putting it back together:


IMG_4560.jpgIMG_4561.jpg

So those two new screws are where it's anchored now. As sketchy as it looks, trust me, it's super solid, and it probably more well-secured than it was originally.

This last pic is of it all back together, working and happy :) :

IMG_4563.jpg
 
Also, the nuts that I used are too big to fit closely together, so I’m going to try and do something about that eventually. But for now I’m just glad I don’t have to baby the left hinge anymore!
 
If we are, as a society, going to achieve a cyberpunk aesthetic like some movies and novels predict it is hack jobs, mods and repairs like these that are going to get us there. You will be remembered as a cyberpunk pioneer my friend.
 
Personally, I would have used some solvent cement to stick the hinge back together. But old plastic is slowly dying anyway--just ask any museum curator.
 
If we are, as a society, going to achieve a cyberpunk aesthetic like some movies and novels predict it is hack jobs, mods and repairs like these that are going to get us there. You will be remembered as a cyberpunk pioneer my friend.

Thanks! Lol




Personally, I would have used some solvent cement to stick the hinge back together. But old plastic is slowly dying anyway--just ask any museum curator.

I would have much preferred that route too. I have tried epoxy before with disastrous results, but maybe I was doing something wrong. In fact, I actually ruined the display housing I tried it one, so I’ve been a little scared of epoxy since then. I am going to do some more experimentation with cements and expoxys to see if I can come up with something that’ll hold for more than
couple of days.
 
Yup, it's ugly all right...

I've repaired a few hinges, even Compaq ones, but never attained that level of ugliness... ;-)
 
Yup, it's ugly all right...

I've repaired a few hinges, even Compaq ones, but never attained that level of ugliness... ;-)

I’ll take that as a complement! :rofl:

How exactly did you repair yours? In fact, I’d like to hear from everybody else that has successfully repaired issues like this before as well to give me some more ideas for when I do this in the future. I’d love to find a more elegant solution to problems like this.

It’s so funny, this repair really shows how “fed-up” I was with these broken hinge mounts. Seriously, they have been the bane of my existence since day one, and this was my way of saying “screw you!”.
 
Last edited:
I am hoping that there is someone out there who can help me with a Compaq LTE 38s 20. I have recently managed to get a power supply for this machine, and although it powers up fine, the system is corrupt. Fortunately I have all the original disk as well as the handbooks and clip on tracker ball, but unfortunately the floppy disk drive has a problem. and will not read the disk - just screams. I am trying to open the system to replace the floppy drive, but cannot open the case completely. I have manage to unclip it all the way round and removed obvious screws, but there are two points where the plastic case will not lift . It seems as if there is something that is holding under the key board, but I cannot see what.


If anyone can offer any help I would be most grateful. The real reason I want to get it going is so I can wipe the HDD before selling it on. I will probably also have to do some repairs to the hinges, which have demonstrated the characteristics of this model and failed !

If a videoa would help, please let me know

Many thanks
 
Back
Top