I’ve been dreading booting back into Windows recently because I upgraded my motherboard/CPU and know they are going to make me buy another license.

Windows tends to be better at this these days. If this does happen though, go through the activation process and start the troubleshooter. There’s an option there to transfer the licence from another machine. You should be able to transfer it from the same machine if Windows thinks it’s a new one.

This assumes that it’s the same version of Windows, but in your case it shouldn’t be changing 👍

I’ve genuinely seen a post asking for help because DISM wouldn’t run, where the recommended answer was to run DISM 🙈

It’s a 7th gen i5, so I’ve definitely had my money’s worth :)

I’m hoping that epoxy will be enough. I’m going to strip everything out, clean and lube the hinge, then epoxy that in and rebuild the rest around it. I’ve got a replacement base, as that was also broken, and as the laptop shouldn’t need to be opened again, I’m hoping that it will hold :)

I’ve got to give them their dues, it’s a Stonebook branded Clevo laptop, and it’s a 7th gen i5, so it’s lasted a long time. It seems to have been dropped onto its corner, which broke the base and weakened this part. Hopefully the epoxy will do it :)

Stonebook branded Clevo laptop

I’ve managed to find a replacement base, as that was broken too, but not this part. It looks like I should be able to fix it with some epoxy though :)

Stonebook branded Clevo laptop. It’s been a rock solid workhorse in all fairness, but seems to have been dropped onto the corner.

Fair enough :)

She sounds similar to my mother. She’s got a laptop that never moves too, but refuses to consider a desktop 🤷🏻‍♂️

In fairness to them, this is a Stonebook branded Clevo laptop, and it’s a 7th gen i5, so it’s been doing well :)

That was going to be its fate if I couldn’t get the parts :)

Yes and no. The backplate was attached but broken, and I didn’t realise that the broken piece was where the third screw for the hinge was.

In fairness to the manufacturer, this is a 7th gen i5, and it was doing great until my wife ‘definitely didn’t drop it’ on the corner >.<

It’s hard to see from this photo, but the area below the insert is quite thin. It’s a bit wider than the screw, but with some supports. I don’t know if there’s enough to take a new insert.

My plan is to clean everything up, then epoxy the existing inserts in place, screw the hinge in, then put some epoxy around that too, leaving room for the other screws that come from the other side of the case.

As far as I can see without stripping everything yet, it looks like it’s a pin. I might just have to clean and lube it, and hope for the best.

Yep, it’s the mounting point here. As someone pointed out below, the insert that holds the screw has ripped out of the plastic. The base of the laptop was already broken, so put extra pressure on this part.

I’m going to strip everything out and epoxy the inserts back in place, then epoxy over the bottom part of the hinge once the screws are in. The laptop should never need to be opened again, so a bit of overkill won’t hurt here.

I’m going to try to loosen the hinge slightly too, but it looks like a pin design rather than a screw, so it might just be a case of cleaning and lubing it instead.

This is years out of warranty, it’s a 7th gen i5 :)

The photo is of the top part of the laptop base, so where the keyboard is, but from underneath. The base below it was already broken, which is what put the extra strain on the top.

As you say, I should be able to put some epoxy on and hold it together, as none of this needs to be removed again. I’ve got a new base coming, so as long as the pictured piece doesn’t move, it should be fine :)

Don’t scare me, I haven’t fixed it yet 😅

I was debating doing something similar, and putting it behind the TV to replace the Fire Stick, but I’ve found what looks like compatible plastics on ebay. My base has broken quite badly too, so replacing both is going to be my best bet.

Daft question, but have you tried ebay for the hinges, or a spares or repairs listing?

I’ve been looking at replacing the mounts with brass ones, but as it’s an old laptop, I should be able to get a replacement case for around £40. I don’t really want to spend any more, but if I can get the case I’m going to go down that route :)

That being said, I hate the formatting of most forums. Reddit and Lemmy’s comment nesting is excellent. It’s very easy to follow conversations.

You could set that up on a lot of forums, you just had to select threaded view in the settings 👍

Depending on what you’re doing, Krita is worth a look. I gave it a go for cropping and lightly editing some photos recently, and then tried their version of the clone stamp tool. It’s hidden under the brushes presets, but worked better than the Photoshop tool 👍