Another surface Pro question, WWYD ?

[Big Jim]

We replaced the hinges in a surface pro 6 back in March and now the customer is complaining that the screen is lifting.
It is only lifting slightly along the top edge from the left corner to about half way along.

The frame is bent slightly, the most obvious bend is along the bottom edge (there appears to be a stage lighting effect on the screen right where the bend starts)
The frame is bent upwards (if the surface were lay on its back) in the top left corner where it is lifting, but I had to get a straight edge against it to be able to tell properly.
It seems to have small bends in each side also.

My thoughts are that the bent chassis is causing this problem, but I imagine with how flimsy these things are that they get bent under normal conditions and don't start to release the screen from the frame.

We could run some screen adhesive along the edge where it is lifting and clamp it down, but if the bent frame is the cause of the lifting screen then it could potentially lift again.

has anyone run into similar ?
@gadgetfixup

 

[Computer Bloke]

Not wanting to spoil your day, but this can be an early sign of a failing (and swelling) battery.

 

[Blues]

I would lean towards the adhesive fix myself not sure anything more is worthwhile but it would be a temporary fix possibly and would want to try and determine if you do have a bulging battery issue.

 

[britechguy]

I'd also warn the client that these are all signs of likely impending failure. You can only hold these things together "with bubble gum and string" for so long.

 

[gadgetfixup]

Those frames are magnesium and once they're bent you won't get them straight again. That is one thing we look for when quoting a screen replacement, bent corners or bent frame, if either, we tell them we can't fix it. Glue it and clamp it and hope for the best. Stage lighting is typically one of the ribbon cables isn't plugged all the way in, damaged connector on the screen or mainboard or blown filter.

As another said, make sure the battery isn't swelling but with a bent frame, that's probably the issue.

 

[Big Jim]

I'm reasonably confident its not a swelling battery, as the screen is lifting at the top of the device (and only very slightly) and the battery is in the bottom.

I don't think the stage lighting is connector related, purely because it is right where there is a bend in the chassis, and nowhere else. (ie not the whole length of the device like we normally see)

I think what makes this more difficult is, this customer had a problem and didn't contact us, instead went straight to a 1 star on google, we actually contacted the customer in this case to try and resolve the issue.
From what I can tell (from his google reviews) he bought this device 2nd hand and left a bad review from the place he bought it and then we broke the screen removing it which cost him more money (we explicitly tell customers that we will only work on surface devices on the premise that the screen may break and that they would have to incur the additional cost for it, they have to agree to this before any work is carried out)

so all in all it looks like this tablet has been a bad experience for him.

 

[britechguy]

This is why I do not worry about the occasional bad Google Review.

If you were able to find, from another Google Review of his, that the device was purchased secondhand to begin with and he left a negative review for that transaction, I'd point to that in my response, even if my response was attempting to resolve the issue.

There are plenty of times when secondhand is just great, but others where, as my father used to say, "You're just buying someone else's troubles." Any time you choose to buy secondhand you should be prepared for the latter possibility, and when you've been warned by your repair professional that the probability of screen breakage during extraction is high, there should be no surprises or negative feedback when it happens.

For myself, this is not a customer I'd want to keep.