A515-51G-53F6 lid hinge snapped, bezel broke, LED shattered: qqs re upgrading/parts needed

enzoofthejungle · November 2019

I have an Aspire A515-51G-53F6 (part no. NX.GTCAA.009), that appears to have succumbed to the left-hinge fault that so many here have discussed but that has not been acknowledged as a manufacturing defect by Acer. (See here, here, here, here, here, etc. etc., or just search the forums for "hinge"). One day, I noticed a crack in the bezel; I never dropped it or anything, so I neglected to tape it up or anything. Two days later, the screen had a crack, and the bezel was gaping open. I opened up the case, and the hinge had broken off at the base.

So I need, at the very least, a new set of hinges and a replacement LED. This model came with a notoriously bad TN panel (BOE NT156FHM-N41). I'd like to upgrade it to an IPS panel, and I'm seeing nothing that decisively says, with some backing, that it is possible. After hours of research, the best I've found is that if the following are all the same, it should work, but it isn't a "sure thing":

The display area and outline size, with a slightly thinner display (~0.1 mm) ok;
Pins (30) and interface (eDP); and
Resolution (1920x1080).

I'm looking for something with a bright display and since I do some creative work, the best color accuracy possible given the constraints--I don't think refresh rate is that important since I'm not a gamer. I came up with this spreadsheet of potentially compatible IPS panels (the original BOE monitor is at the top, in italics; the panels that appear to be the best, all things considered, are in bold).

So Question 1: would any of the upgrades in the table (linked above) work--is there a definitive answer? Is there something else I should be looking for?

It looks like the service manuals for these give models that definitely work, but they're all relatively low res and not terribly better than the BOE model--but if anyone has a print out (or even better, the service manual itself), I'd really appreciate a list.

And if it's helpful, here is the info I saved from AIDA back when I was trying to figure out whether this was an IPS screen (both Acer and Newegg originally listed it as such, which is one of the reasons I bought it)--it has some info that I think that Panelook might not.

Question 2: Can anyone help me find a service manual/schematic, or determine which of the many YouTube videos might have the same design?

I've read that this model is similar to the following: A515-51G-5718 (the usb ports are all that are different); the -515J, the -515J, the -53PU, and the 50AC, but I haven't really delved into it. This model is one that has a M.2 SSD, an empty bay for a hard drive, no optical drive, and 8gb RAM (AIDA says it is two sticks of four each, but the specs say it is one stick of 8gb. I ask because if I'm going to upgrade the screen instead of buying something new (which I really can't do--I'm on a fixed income), I was thinking about adding a hard drive and upgrading the RAM to 16gb (it looks like it's only $60 right now per the Crucial tool). A service manual would be really helpful, or at least a schematic.

Thanks for your help--if you need any more info, please let me know and I'll get it to you ASAP.

Commodore_1995# · November 2019

Hi! I checked your message.

1) About the display, some users were able to successfully install an IPS display, see:

https://youtu.be/npqWG8hGcYk

The google driver and panelook link don't work.

2) About the hinges, you still have problems? Is your notebook still under warranty?

3) Service manuals are only available to moderators and ACE users. We cannot post them for download.

4) About the upgrade:

4.1) Ram memory: your processor supports up to 32gb of 2400mhz ddr4 ram, see: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/en/ark/products/124967/intel-core-i5-8250u -processor-6m-cache-up-to-3-40-ghz.html

However, your model's motherboard accepts up to 20gb ddr4: