LG Gram, Laptop Warning

For owners of the LG Gram, I have a word of caution.
These are great computers. So slim and light that Macs are casting envious eyes on them.

They seem to have a systemic problem at the hinge.
It’s strong enough, but if cycled open and closed a lot, the 4 internal screws that hold the screen to the body can start to work loose.

Eventually, if not dealt with, they can come completely out of the screw holds.
Before this gets to that point. On the hinge that feeds the WiFi antenna cable up to the screen.
The loose plastic moves just right to slowly pull on the antenna wires and eventually pulls them out of the connectors at the WiFi card end. It breaks the wires at the plug end.
This is not a trivial fix. There is no way to reattach the wires once broken. And the connectors are way smaller than the normal laptop WiFi coax antenna plugs.

So, if you notice the hinge on your LG starting to separate, even the littlest amount, you should correct the problem before it gets worse.

The fix is easy.
Find the instructions on iFixIt or? And see how to remove the bottom of the laptop.

Pluck off the rubber feet and the little round disks that cover the screws that hold on the bottom.
Take the screws out. Then gently pry off the bottom using a plastic guitar pick.
Locate the hinge screws and tighten them down.
I’ve been using blue locktite to make sure they stay put.

IF still under warranty LG will do this for you, but you have to mail the darn thing to them and it’s gone for 3 weeks or so.

This has happened to about 5 of the 70 or so of the LGs that the upstairs IT dept has deployed to it users.
Note that these laptops get opened and closed many times a day.
And since the users didn’t pay for them, and get a replacement free if they break it, they tend to treat them accordingly.

All the Best,
Jeff