Hi folks,
I purchased a Tecra m7 off ebay after cruising the forum and seeing a few posts about their sheer awesomeness. I am really pleased with the way it has sped up making sketches “pop” with the addition of sketchbook pro. My only problem is that the hinge is becoming very very loose. If its not locked into tablet mode the screen looks like its head banging whenever something bumps the desk. Has anyone tightened this up? Or know how to tighten it? My fear is that it falls off, but as long as the wires remain connected i guess i could continue using it. Thanks.
I pulled my M7 apart once to clean the inside of the screen (who leaves the inside of an LCD exposed???) and that hinge is effectively all 1 piece. If it’s been worn down I don’t think there is much you can do to tighten it back up, aside from replacing the hinge.
You could try calling a Toshiba repair place and seeing if they still have parts for it, but they might charge you $100 for that hinge alone. (I’m also not sure if the LCD flex connector is integrated with it, if it is, it will definately be expensive.)
Bummer. I guess once it fails completely I’ll have to do something. Maybe try to solder some longer leads on it and use it as a full on tablet. The dust in the screen is beginning to get to me as well. I really don’t understand why this only happens to toshibas and their company does nothing to fix it. While I have an audience I guess i should ask, does your M7 not wake from sleep if its in tablet mode? Maybe mine is lazy. Thanks for the info, If i figure anything out I’ll let you know.
Actually sold it a while back, but I never had any issues that I can remember (other than the dust in the display). They did something to fix it, they stopped selling them completely lol last 14" tablet you could really buy.
I don’t think I ever put it to sleep without closing the cover though. Usually you need a mouse click or key press to wake from sleep, so it probably wont wake up in tablet mode.
I Don’t know if the Tecra M4’s hinge is similar or not but I am able to tighten a couple screws on the M4 to tighten the hinge. To access the hinge screws on an M4, you have to open the front bezel which involves peeling off those stickers that cover the screw holes on the screen bezel.
The only M7 disassembly guide I know of is:
The screen removal should be similar between M4 and M7. Here is the screen removal steps for M4. If you look at the Step 4 picutre there are 2 small black screws a few inches away from each side of the hinge, 4 screws total at the bottom of the picture. Those are the ones I tighten on the M4 to firm up hinge.
Good luck.