CB311-9H and the left hinge broke when tried to close the lid

davoid

This discussion was created from comments split from: Acer C731 issue with broken hinges, Poor design.

davoid

I have a CB311-9H and the left hinge broke 24-May-2024 after 3 years use.

I tried to close the lid and the hinge broke. No warnings.

Looking at the hinge: the metal part that screws into the case broke in half.
Moving it is very hard to do. It looks like the spindle has seized up.

billsey

It's really unusual for the hinge to break on any of the light and thin laptops, but not unusual at all for the hinge to pull loose from the case. Replacing a broken hinge isn't too tough, fixing where it's pulled loose is more problematic. Here are the part numbers for the hinges:

Note those are specific to the CB311-9H and CB311-9HT models, they likely don't fit any other model.

davoid

Thanks for the part number. The only part I've found online is Aliexpress and its a pair of hinges for $30.

Then I either have to become an engineer and fix it myself, or pay someone probably hundreds of dollars to do it.

If you search for broken hinges for Acer Chromebooks and many other brands, you will find it is a common problem.

billsey

Actually almost all the incidents of "broken hinges" are really hinges that have pulled loose of the case. I've been hanging out here for more than ten years and can only remember a couple where the hinge itself actually broke. The pulling loose thing is a fairly big problem on all the thin and light designs, with the cases not being deep enough to use long enough screws and the need for less weight means the screw mounts are thinner than they used to be. It's pretty much all the manufacturers where only the highest end system have metal cases which hold the screws under repeated loads when the case is opened and closed.