17" HP Envy Coming apart at the left near screen hinge

[naggs20]

Same thing is happening to me.   The corner of the left hing pulls apart every time I open my 17" HP Envy.  For $1200 I would expect this computer to last longer than a year.

I use I wired internet connection and it separates far enough down to where I lose my wired connection until I squeeze everything back together.  I also noticed that I'm missing the screw that is right next to the ethernet connection. 

Anyone have a solution to this?

[Omar-E]

@naggs20

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Thank you,
Omar

[jac_]

Same problem; same 17" Envy:  Left corner pulled apart after about 6 months of normal use.

I did not claim, as I thought that it was my fault for not holdung this large laptop with both hands.

The gap grew up, and 6 months later BOTH hinges came apart.

I tried to buy a new case, but I was told that there were no replacement parts in Spain (probably not true).

I was busy and did nothing else to solve it.  Handled with care the "only" problem were little bits of plastic that kept coming out of the laptop.

But 2 days ago I got a "cpu fan not working", so I had to solve it.

I am sure that you won't like my solution, but this is what I have done:

I opened up the laptop, removed lots of plastic broken pieces (most from the hinges)

All the hinge nutserts were loose.  >>>  I think this is what HP should improve. <<<

I removed the fan expecting to see some plastic pieces blocking it.

To my surprise one of the three screws used to fix the fan was missing.  And I found it inside the fan assembly.

(The other two screws were secured in place).

I think it is a production mistake, and not related to the hinges issue: the screw fell into the fan and nobody care to take it out.

Once solved the fan issue, with all 3 screws in place, I took out all plastic bits of the hinge assembly.

Then added some rubber glue to the hinges: it is not enough to hold the nutserts in place, but will prevent further bits of plastic coming apart.

To hold the hinges in place I double taped both sides of both hinges, trying not to block too many vent holes (I have a low wattage i7).  "American tape" outside the case, to hold it all.

I do not care too much about the new less glamorous style ("less-Envy") of the laptop, and solved the problem in a couple of hours (and seems it will last).

[scflmark]

Just an update on my previous post about the defective hinge design on HP Envy. I was eventually contacted by an HP representative and ultimately offered a small reduction of the usual $200 fee to send back and pay them to replace. They offered about $60 off, but since I had patched it up and do not think HP laptops and HP Support are worth me wasting my money on, I elected to just live and learn.

Obviously, I will never recommend HP laptops to anyone, and will never buy any HP product. I'm sure some of the HP products are worth buying, but after seeing how there is absolutely no competent support, it is not worth the risk. Those looking to buy a new laptop should really think Dell.

After disassemby of my HP Envy 15, it seems that both hinges are secured to the main assembly mounting frame with three screws. One of the screws on the left side was not screwed in at all and was floating around inside the case. The hing is entirely too tight, and the remaining two screws were not enough to keep from popping out the screw receiver. I epoxied the nuts (the threaded insert), but since it is obvious that the left hinge is way too tight, was concerneed that it would not last.

To loosen the hinge, there is a nut on the hinge which you cannot see since it is behind the plastic housing around the hinge. You have to remove the touchscreen to get to the two screws which hold the hinge cover, then loosen the hinge nuts. Problem here, it that while prying on the screen carefully seperates the screen at the top and the sides, there is a mystery element holding it in place at the bottom. Be careful at the top of the screen since there is a very small connector at the top left which can be disconnected. Make sure you can see and handle small connectors if you disconnect.

If you pry along the bottom corners of the screen, there is a glued on triangular cover hiding two screws. Once these screws are removed, you can finish removing the screen and get to the two screws holding the hinge cover (4 total). Remove the cover and loosen the nut which compresses the spring unit.

In summary, Dell support forums, online documentation, phone support, and videos show how to repair all sorts of things, Dell offers reasonable On Site repair options. Dell has support techs which seem to listen, understand, and help with any issues. Why on Earth would anyone want to buy a product from HP with the terrible support of their product they exhibit?

The hinges on HP Envy are defective, and a VERY bad design or quality issue. This should have been addressed with a recall. HP not only isn't standing behind their product,but doesn't even have a field retrofit, video, or a simple fix bulletin for this problem.

Stay away from HP and save yourself time and money.

[Neuro1]

HP is completely missing the boat on this one, way too many hinges to not be a recall. I hope others will join me in changing brands next time you need a computer. I was able to get our sons laptop repaired for $99, but it is a repair expense that should have been covered by the  bozos who pay the incompetent design engineers who put this little time bomb together. 2nd scenario is this hinge did exactly what it was designed to do - fail in the 18 month time frame.

HP bombed this with customer service.

[naggs20]

Update:  

I contacted Costco's since that is where I ordered my envy from.  They contacted HP and put me on the line with a Rep from HP.  They ended up mailing me a pre paid box and fixing my broken hinge and case for free.  Took about a week and I had my laptop back in working order.  

Thumbs up to Costcos and HP for standing behind the products they sell.

[scflmark]

I'm glad Costco helped one individual get the repair of defective hinges on his HP laptop fixed. Of course.. that's what you buy a warranty for. Too bad the thousands of other HP Envy and other laptop purchasers are left out in the cold. 

I hope that any Envy owner who paid good money to have their laptop "fixed" has better luck than most folks on the forums have expressed where the "fixed" laptop breaks again about a year later. If this is OK with you, I'm glad. My expectation when paying good money for a laptop or anything else is that it will last for a reasonable amount of time without failure.

The Hp Envy simply does not last much more than a year without failure. You might make it to two years if you are careful, but there is simply a bad design for the hinges which ensures they will fail. 

If you ship the unit off under warranty or pay the $200 they charge, they will do like all large rework centers... either simply grab one off the shelf which was reworked, or perhaps swap your drive into a bare bones one which was reworked. The broken ones get stocked up until enough are there to send to rework, then the "techs" slap the same bad design parts into the broke ones and they go back into the pipeline.

End result... the HP Envy is a bad design... HP has done nothing to address the core issues with a retrofit or recall, and anything you get back will fail again.

I really can't give kudos or thumbs up to HP for honoring a warranty. If the one "fixed" laptop owner on this thread got it done out of warranty, I will give Costco a thumbs up for forcing HP to fix it or for paying for it themselves, but anyone who doesn't have Costco working on their behalf is simply left out in the cold. HP DOES NOT stand behind their product. They have NOT addressed the issues with their laptops, and the ONLY folks who get a TEMPORARY fix are those under warranty or who pay for it themselves.

I worked for a major intenational IT equipment manufacturer for 30 years as a field technical representative. My employer continually developed field retrofits to address early life failures of equipment. These FROs were documented, and even after warranty, the units were upgraded. The company stood behind their product. HP fixing one laptop after being called by one of their largest sales partners is NOT standing behind their product.

[Jude_Love]

I think one thing that can be done is to warn people to stay away. I wonder why HP does not simply come out to say this was a mistake, remove all those laptops from the shelves and apologise to the unlucky ones who bought them already. If you have noticed online, this is a very common problem. And the cost of fixing it (Mine went from hinge -> parts in fan -> dead keyboard) is close to the price of a decent laptop from another brand. 

Every time someone walks up to me, admires my laptop and is amazed by the sound and other stuff, I quickly point them to this thread as well as show them my other laptop that I had to acquire. 

I have never felt this much betrayed by a service provider. 

[naggs20]

Just sharing "my" experience to hopefully help others with the same problem.  I'm not posting to bash or promote any brand of laptop just trying to help others with the same issue.

For the record I did not buy a warranty.  

I believe HP has a one year warranty that I was over by a few months.

I believe if you buy from costco they extend that warranty out to two years.

I'm not sure how it works between costco and HP but the slip from HP said "no charge" so whether HP picked up the cost or Costco's did I'm not sure.

My experience with getting it fixed was quite good and about as easy as it could get. 

One call to Costco.

They had an HP rep on the line within a couple minutes who I explained my issue to.

He said a box with a prepaid shipping label will be delivered in a couple days with instructions on how to package your laptop .

Boxed it up and shipped it off.

I was working out of town and just getting ready to leave at the time so I called and had them change the return shipping to a different address and about a week later I had my laptop delivered to my jobsite. 

Was it Costco or HP that made this what it was im not sure but with "my" experience it simply couldn't have gotten any easier.

Again this post is not to bash or to promote any brand.  It is simply to explain how I went about fixing my issue which appears to be a common problem.  Simply saying not to buy one doesn't help someone who already has one that is trying to search for a solution.

Are the hinges a bad design.  YES

Do they have a major issue with breaking.  It appears so

Do companies typically fix their products outside of their warranty period.  NO

Will it break again.  Who knows.  Time will tell and I will update if it does.

Am I satisfied with the way they corrected my problem.  YES

[arunanand]

Hi, 

I am facing the same issue on my HP envy 15 Notebook PC. I wont recommend this product to anyone, looks like design flaw. Please let me know how I can fix this.

Regards

Arun