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Three years in and I just realized most techs are using the wrong screwdriver for laptop hinges
Swapped from a #0 Phillips to a JIS #00 on a Dell Inspiron 15 hinge repair last Tuesday and suddenly the screws actually fit without stripping, so has anyone else dealt with cheap drivers ruining hinge mounts or am I the last person to figure this out?
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gibson.sean16d agoTop Commenter
Hit up a broken HP Pavilion last month and the hinge screws were so stripped I had to use needle nose pliers. Found out my "precision" kit was total junk. Swapped to a proper JIS #00 set and it was night and day - the screws actually caught and didn't wiggle loose. I honestly think most of those cheap amazon kits are just rebranded toy tools. It's wild how much difference a real JIS tip makes on those tiny hinge screws.
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mason_jackson16d ago
I bought a $15 precision screwdriver set from Harbor Freight two years ago and it's been fine for every laptop I've worked on including like five HPs with those tiny hinge screws. People act like you need some special Japanese tools but those screws are just cheap metal that strips no matter what driver you use if someone overtightened them at the factory. I think most of the stripping happens because the screws are garbage and Loctited from the factory not because of the bit quality. The JIS cult online is basically the same as audiophiles claiming $500 cables sound different. Real techs at my local repair shop use the same generic bits I do and they fix way more laptops than me.
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