Michael,
> 1. It has been suggested before that this syndrome results from a
> manufacturing error where a spring is used that has one leg too short,
> resulting in it eventually popping out from under its retaining screw.
> However, the short-legged spring in my eMate appeared, in the opinion of
> some sharp-eyed observers in the operating theatre, to be broken, rather
> than to have been made that way.
That was my observation of the eMate I repaired. The end of the spring was
not bright and angular nor did it show any signs of fracture or work
hardening - it was the same colour as the rest of the spring and had the
same rounded end as the good spring. Nothing fell out of the eMate I
repaired or was heard to be rattling around after the problem happened.
However, it's entirely possible that an overtightened screw could have put a
nick in the spring leg and caused it to fail after a lot of screen
articulation. In this case the creased washer fix on the hinge would be a
good preventative measure.
It would be very useful to have feedback from anyone who has had this
problem as to whether there was a loose bit of wire rattling around and the
appearance of the ends of the spring legs.
> 2. Regardless of which theory is right, there is a dire need to find a
> replacement for that darn ribbon cable.
This proving to be very tricky. I have researched the technology of flat
flexible cables and their connectors and there are a few issues:
One can't just obtain a length of this stuff and make a replacement cable
because it's very hard to expose and tin the conductors at each end where
they need to mate with the connectors on the motherboard and the display.
The cables are made my laminating several layers of pre-cut materials
together with a powerful resin and the ends are not stripped after but part
of the design.
I think it's conceivable we might find another straight cable which has the
same conductor spacing and number of ways (or a few more) which could be
folded in such a manner that it wraps around the hinge but I haven't found
one yet.
It really needs to be an off-the-shelf item designed to be a routine
internal interconnect between PCB's - a custom cable would be very
expensive.
As you say, it really is shame to think that many eMates are disabled for
this reason but how would we ever reach those people and who would be ready
to perform the repair?
Thanks for your comments,
Joel.
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